Just over a year ago, the small Panamanian river port of Lajas Blancas was filled with people trying to reach the United States. Now, the makeshift migrant camp has turned into a ghost town.
More than a thousand migrants a day crossed the terrifying Darién Gap, a jungle corridor and rugged terrain between Colombia and Panama. In 2023, migration through the trenches of the pass set records with more than 500,000 people making the exhausting journey, according to the Panamanian government, hoping for a better life.
For several days, people traveled in vulnerable conditions through the tropical jungle paths and then boarded narrow wooden boats to cross rivers. Most were left in Lajas Blancas, where they crowded into migrant camps filled with families and boarded buses to cross Panama and continue their journey north.
In the few months since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, with his hard stance on immigration, his government effectively cut off access to asylum along the U.S.-Mexico border. And although migration drastically decreased during the last year of Biden’s administration, it slowed to a trickle, and in Lajas Blancas, only about ten people are counted per week.
This shift has left some stranded, triggering a “reverse flow” of Venezuelan migrants who, with no other options, traveled by boat along Panama’s Caribbean coast in an attempt to return home.
“For all practical purposes, the Darién border is closed, eliminating the problem we had in Lajas Blancas,” said Panama’s president José Raúl Mulino last month.
After months of the Panamanian government blocking journalists from visiting the port and other key points along the former migration route, authorities granted The Associated Press access to the strictly controlled area. Shortly after arrival, immigration agents stopped the journalists and revoked their permits, citing vague security reasons.
Still, reporters saw the large tents that once housed migrants now empty, and the boats arriving at the riverbank were few and far between. The makeshift shops selling food, water, and other products to migrants were empty.
In the Darién Gap, organizations like the Red Cross and UNICEF, which once provided aid to migrants, have closed their doors. Panama’s border police now strictly control access to the port, and authorities have long adopted a discouraging narrative to prevent people from migrating.
A handful of migrants from Venezuela, Angola, and Nigeria remain in the Lajas Blancas camp, sleeping on the dusty ground, guarded by the police.
