Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado had warned on election day that another ‘three, four, five million’ people would likely leave if Maduro ‘grabs power’ © MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP
Many had hoped to return under a new, opposition-led government, which polls had predicted.
But the prospect of another six years of Maduro — whose re-election claim has been rejected by dozens of countries, including the United States — has pushed more to leave instead.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado had warned on election day that another “three, four, five million” people would likely leave if Maduro “grabs power.”
In an interview with AFP over Zoom on Friday, she warned that “some people can’t wait” for the situation to improve.
“When you are starving, when you cannot enroll your child in school, when you cannot afford medicine… you cannot wait for these processes to consolidate.”
At a migrant reception center in Lajas Blancas, a jungle hamlet some 250 kilometers (155 miles) east of Panama City, hundreds of people sleep in wooden barracks or tents.
In 2023, a record 520,000 people crossed the Darien, risking treacherous terrain, wild animals and violent criminal gangs that extort, kidnap and abuse © MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP
The Panamanian government, with international assistance, provides basic services that allow migrants to recover their strength before starting the next leg of their journey, to Costa Rica.
In 2023, a record 520,000 people crossed the Darien, risking life and limb in treacherous terrain dotted with pumas, jaguars and other wild animals as well as criminal gangs.
So far this year, the number stands at about 260,000 — some two-thirds of them Venezuelans.
The number is down from last year due, Panama says, to it closing several jungle routes.
A Venezuelan soldier, who asked to be identified only as Jose for fear of reprisal, told AFP in Lajas Blancas he left before the July 28 vote, with his family and their pet dog.
“Very few soldiers decided to stay. I was one of those who decided to leave my country, because I do not agree with the things happening there,” he said.
“We had hoped this government would end and we could return,” but now, “all those illusions are gone.”
‘People are going to starve’
At the UN General Assembly in New York this week, Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino held up Venezuela as a “concrete example” of the political instability he said was driving “massive migration.”
Since taking office in July, Mulino’s government has expelled dozens of migrants from Colombia, Ecuador and India on flights financed by the United States.
Migrants rest at reception center after crossing the Darien jungle, and aid groups provide basic services before the arrivals continue their journey © MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP
Washington has pledged $6 million for migrant repatriations from the Central American nation in the hopes of reducing irregular crossings at its own southern border in an election year.
Panama is allowing Venezuelans through, however, given the dire political and economic situation in their country.
Ruiz’s travel companion, Marcos Arcilla, predicted more Venezuelans will leave “because people are going to starve there.”
“Nobody goes through there (the jungle) because they want to,” added Perez.
© 2024 AFP
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Publish date : 2024-09-27 15:47:00
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