More than 127,000 people in mobility heading to the US arrived in Panama 

The Red Cross warned this Thursday that the avalanche of migrants who are arriving in Darién, in Panama, on their irregular route to North America , “overflows the humanitarian service points” where the organization is present, and asked for more international support to address this crisis. without precedents.

“Despite all the efforts to meet the growing needs, aid in Darién is beginning to be insufficient. The people who migrate, the local communities, the humanitarian agencies, all of us here need humanitarian assistance to grow exponentially as well,” he told EFE . the head of the humanitarian response of the International Federation of the Red Cross, Verónica Martínez.

In the first four months of this year, more than 127,000 people on the move heading to the US arrived in Panama after crossing the Darién jungle, the dangerous border with Colombia, six times more than in the same period of 2022, which closed with the historic figure of more than 248,000 migrants passing through the area.

Now,“The number of migrants arriving in Panama via Darién is growing exponentially. In recent weeks we have seen up to 2,000 and 3,000 people arrive per day, a figure that exceeds the humanitarian service points where the Red Cross provides services,” Martínez asserted .

Panama, which takes the biometric data of these travelers and offers them health care and food at stations located where more than a dozen international organizations are present, has warned that if this pace is maintained, 2023 could end by doubling the historical figure. from last year.

“We need aid that is sustained over time, that can adapt to changes in the context and that is aimed at saving lives and protecting dignity, such as the one that the Red Cross receives thanks to the continued support and humanitarian aid funds from the European Union. and the Spanish Cooperation, among other actors”, he added.

The official stressed that “it makes it even more urgent ” for more support to arrive as soon as possible because the region is at the gates of a new season of rains and hurricanes” that will last from June to next November, and that will expose migrants that transit from Panama to Mexico to river floods, floods and storms”.

The Red Cross asserted that it has only raised 5% of the nearly 20.3 million dollars it requested last August through an emergency appeal for international support, to provide humanitarian assistance to 210,000 people along the migratory routes of Central America and Mexico.