Panama City (EFE).- 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 to more international support to address this unprecedented crisis.
“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, everyone here needs humanitarian assistance to grow exponentially as well,” the head of the humanitarian response of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) told EFE. ), Veronica Martinez.
The numbers
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 number historic last year.
Martínez stressed that the majority of these walkers “arrive in a desolate, inhumane state”, and that the Red Cross provides them with “first aid, basic health care and access to water. Also, hygiene items, information, internet connection and referrals to specialized institutions.
“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, like 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.
Red Cross asks for help
The official highlighted that “it makes it even more urgent” for more support to arrive as soon as possible, the fact that the region is “at the gates of a new season of rains and hurricanes” that will last from “June to November” next, and that will expose to migrants who transit from Panama to Mexico “to river floods, floods and storms.”
“We are preparing to face this scenario, but as we warned last March, we need allies,” Martínez told EFE.
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.