To reach freedom, migrants risk Panama’s Darién Gap, the most dangerous jungle in the world

  • Slug: BC-CNS Panama Video Story, 80 words.
  • 1 photo and caption below.
  • Video here.

By Delia Johnson
Cronkite Borderlands Project

Desperate migrants from across the globe are increasingly braving Panama’s Darién Gap – considered the most dangerous jungle in the world. Most come from the Caribbean, Africa and Asia, starting in South America and traveling north, funneling through the gap in hopes of eventually reaching the United States by land.

Many die en route, and those who survive describe a nightmarish journey of robbery and assault, starvation, exposure, snake bites and drowning.

The Cronkite Borderlands Project’s Delia Johnson recently chronicled the terrifying journey.

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Migrants from Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo  stop to rest in the Darién region of Panama last spring.  After getting  robbed in the jungle, they couldn’t afford the boat shuttle to continue north, so they set out on the  six-hour trip on foot. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Cronkite Borderlands Project)