The number of irregular migrants crossing the Darien jungle, the natural border between Panama and Colombia, was reduced by 89% in the first two weeks of January, compared to the same period last year, when the flow through the area decreased by 42%, according to statistics released by Panamanian authorities on Wednesday.

Between January 1 and 14 of this year, 9,002 people arrived in Panama after crossing the jungle, 8,048 fewer than in the same period in 2024, which represents a drop of 89%, indicated a press release from the National Migration Service (SNM) of the Central American country.

2024 closed with a total of 300,549 migrants arriving in Panama after crossing the Darien, 41% more than the record figure of 511,103 in 2023, according to official statistics cited on January 2 by Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino in an accountability report to Parliament.

The vast majority of these travellers are Venezuelan, although there are migrants from around fifty countries around the world. They are all headed mainly to the United States.

According to Panamanian statistics, at least 55 migrants have died in the jungle for various reasons, including muggings, animal attacks, illness or fatigue.

The Panamanian government, which took power on July 1 for the five-year period 2024-2029, links the sharp drop in migratory traffic to measures such as the closure of roads in the jungle to leave only one, which it has called a humanitarian corridor, the application of fines for entering the country illegally, the rainy season in recent months, and a deportation flight program financed by the United States.

Under the agreement with the United States, the first deportation flight of the year departed on Wednesday, carrying 43 Colombian citizens, 14 of whom were expelled “because they were considered a threat to the country’s collective security, due to having criminal records linked to crimes such as: drug trafficking, arms trafficking, theft and sexual assault.”

“With these immigration control actions, the Panamanian State has returned 1,022 Colombian citizens to their country of origin on 28 flights” that departed from an airport in Panama City bound for Río Negro, Medellín, according to the official letter.

The director of the National Border Service (Senafront), Jorge Gobea, told EFE on January 6 that the arrival of migrants to Panama through Darién in the first days of this year was “insignificant,” even having “days of zero entry into the country.”

In light of the announcement by Donald Trump, who will assume the presidency of the United States next Monday, to increase deportations of irregular migrants, applying policies such as mass raids, the Panamanian official assured that the border police are “preparing for different scenarios” both of a greater drop in the crossing of travelers through Darién, as well as an increase in those who may undertake their return to the South.