(Canaan Membrillo) Avec difficulté, des centaines de migrants vénézuéliens avancent en file indienne dans la boue de la jungle du Darien, à la frontière entre la Colombie et le Panama, avec un seul objectif en tête : rejoindre les États-Unis.
Publié à 18h49
Les pieds parfois en sang et après des jours de marche à travers cette forêt vierge de 575 000 hectares, ils arrivent par groupes dans la petite ville de Canaan Membrillo, premier poste frontalier au Panama. Plusieurs voyagent avec enfants et bébés.
« Tout le monde [ici] risking his life to have a future, but I really don’t recommend anyone to go through the jungle, it’s very hard, ”testifies to Jesus Arias, a 45-year-old Venezuelan.
Dressed in a simple T-shirt and blue shorts, the man arrived at the border crossing on the backs of other migrants after fracturing his knee during his week-long journey through the jungle. He explains that he wants to go to the United States because “there is no future in Venezuela”.
But his dream may never come true after Washington’s decision last week to systematically send back to Mexico all Venezuelans who try to cross the border illegally.
In return, the United States, which seeks to slow down the pace of arrivals, has promised to establish a humanitarian program to immigrate legally directly from Venezuela.
“We will still go there. We will go to the United States”, assures however Jesus Arias, who worked in a network of fishmongers in his country.
” Many casualties “
According to official data from Panama, between January and mid-October, some 185,000 people crossed the Darien jungle, including 133,000 from Venezuela.
I saw “a lot of dead people, a lot of mountains and a lot of rivers that carried away a lot of people […]it was horrible,” says Nélida Pantoja, 46, on her way to the United States with several members of her family.
In addition to the complicated topography of the jungle, between mountainous areas and swamps, migrants are at the mercy of poisonous snakes and criminal groups.
In Canaan Membrillo Venezuelan migrants, but also of other nationalities, enjoy a respite, resting in tents or playing basketball.
“I got lost for three days in the jungle with my family. With my children, we were going too slowly and I couldn’t keep up with the group,” says Darwin Vidal, 33. Sitting on the ground, a cap protecting him from the sun, he explains how they kept calm and “prayed to God” before managing to find the group with which they had left.
“My mom, my dad, my brothers and sisters are waiting for me [aux États-Unis]then […]if the worst is over, there is not much left for me to do, I must continue, ”says Rusbelis Serrano, a young 18-year-old Venezuelan.
According to Panamanian forensic authorities, at least a hundred people have died trying to cross the Darien since 2018, with 2021 being the worst year with 53 deaths.