Colombian President Gustavo Petroassured that the position of closing the border between Colombia and Panama – whose limit is marked by the dense and mountainous jungle of the Darién Gap – to stop the increase in the migratory flow «is not effective.»
«There is a position that is to repress, to close borders. In the case of the Darién plug it is to plug the plug, which is quite difficult (…) I believe that this position is not effective,» said the president from New York, where he is to participate in the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations.
On Sunday, during a meeting with Colombian residents in New York, he suggested that «the political powers of this country (USA) have asked us to plug the plug, as if that were easy; that we build a kind of wall so that people do not cross to the United States; They have asked us to in some way cross the border between Mexico and the United States at their immigration posts so that immigration posts can be installed in Colombia», something that the US Government has denied.
Petro considers that to reduce the flow, problems in the countries of origin must be addressed. «What we seek is to effectively reduce the flow of people from all over the world through that plug and produce well-being in their countries of origin. The best way to end the exodus is for there to be prosperity,» the president said this Monday.
And for this, He once again insisted on the unlocking of Venezuela as a solution to the «exodus» and specifically on «progressively releasing funds.»
«We have requested that through the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) the money owned by Venezuela be processed in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the so-called special drawing rights, for an amount of 5,000 million dollars to begin to achieve better well-being for the population in Venezuela, which is what would allow the Darién flow to be substantially reduced.»he pointed out.
The dangerous Darien jungle
Petro will meet this Tuesday with his Panamanian counterpart, Laurentino Cortizo, to address this issueafter the Government of the neighboring country has on several occasions accused Colombia of inaction in the face of the crisis that is being experienced on the border, where an average of 3,000 people are arriving every day on the other side of the jungle.
In their journey through this mountainous jungle, which can last a week, they face natural dangers such as flooding rivers, slippery cliffs, lack of food. and drinking water or animal bites, but also to criminal gangs – migrant trafficking is led by the Gulf Clan on the Colombian side – and attacks and rapes by gangs.
On Saturday in his speech during the meeting of the Group of 77 and China (G77+China) held in Havana, Cuba, lPanamanian Foreign Minister Janaina Tewaney asked – as Colombia has also done – for greater coordination to execute «effective and realistic migration policies.» that guarantee the human rights of the hundreds of thousands of people who cross the Darién jungle.
«Please, Darién is not a route and it cannot be»remarked the Panamanian chancellor, highlighting that this year alone Panama expects between 400,000 and 500,000 people to cross the Darien jungle on their way to the United States and that, so far this year, her country has received four times more migrants than in a period of five years.