Panama installs barbed wire to block migrants traveling through the Darién Gap

Panama has placed barbed wire across several routes in the Darién Gap, the country’s Ministry of Public Security said in a statement Thursday, in a bid to block migrants making their way north.

At least five passages near Panama’s border with Colombia have been shut using barbed wire installed by the country’s border agency (Senafront). Meanwhile, Panama’s navy is patrolling areas in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.

The government said the navy is instructed to stop and detain people traveling by boat with “irregular migrants” and to hand them over to police or immigration authorities from Colombia. On land, border authorities have closed irregular access areas with the goal of rerouting people through established border points.

The United States and Panama signed an agreement this month on immigration issues that aimed to “close the passage of illegal migrants” through the Darién Gap. Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino has also vowed to stop the Central American country from being a transit route for migrants.

“I will not allow Panama to be a path open to thousands of people who enter our country illegally supported by an entire international organization related to drug and human trafficking,” Mulino said at his swearing-in ceremony on July 1.

Mulino visited the Darién Gap days before Thursday’s announcement, saying 300 border agents were going to be deployed to monitor the area and declaring that no one would enter Panamanian territory without a passport or a valid document.

Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office has criticized Panama’s latest move saying that the barbed wires affect at least one Colombian town’s commercial and cultural exchange with areas in Panama.

“The barbed wires in the jungle will only bring drowned people into the sea. Migration is stopped by removing economic blockades and improving the economy of the south,” Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro wrote on X.

The Darién Gap, a mountainous rainforest region connecting South and Central America, has seen an increase in the number of migrants willing to risk their lives and safety to cross it.

The 66-mile (106-kilometer) hike through the Darién Gap brings migrants from Colombia to Panama and is a crucial passage for those – many of whom come from other Latin American countries – hoping to reach the US and Canada.

Panamanian figures show at least 174,513 migrants crossed the treacherous Darién Gap, from January to June 6 of this year.

The latest figures are higher than around the same period in 2023, when more than 166,000 crossings were reported, according to Panama’s National Migration Service. According to migration service figures, a record 520,000 people crossed the jungle last year.

Other countries along the migration route have also taken steps to restrict people’s movement. In June, Ecuador said it would temporarily suspend a visa waiver agreement with China over what it called an increase in irregular migration flows of Chinese citizens.