The IOM is asking for more funding for unstoppable migration flows to America

Panama City, April 5 (EFE) .- In the first two months of 2022, almost three times as many migrants entered Central America on their way north through the Darien Jungle compared to the same period in 2021, evidence that this phenomenon is far from declining and requires more funding and Cooperation management, warned the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In Latin America, the economic and social crisis caused by the pandemic is forcing thousands of people to leave their country or those where they settled to try to reach North America and fulfill the “American dream” of finding work and prosperity.

“We are facing ‘a situation that is here to stay,'” Santiago Paz, head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) mission in Panama, told Efe.

More funds and cooperation are needed

Paz stressed that in 2021, according to Panamanian migration authorities, nearly 134,000 people crossed the Darien jungle, the country’s dangerous natural border with Colombia, which is more or less equal to the one registered during the entire previous decade. , Which shows the “dimension” of the phenomenon, stressed Paz.

And the same official source from Panama, a country that records migrant biometrics and offers them health and food at stations along its northern and southern borders, reports that 8,456 people arrived in the jungle from January to February, compared to 2,928. The same period of 2021.

“We need to be clear that these movements will not stop, on the contrary, they will continue,” Paz said, recalling that the IOM had already made a “$ 75 million regional appeal” last year to “support” all countries affected by the transit. Migration trying to reach mainly the US, as well as Canada and Mexico.

“We have been able to get some support, but unfortunately we still need more,” said an IOM spokesman.

Paz reiterated the call of the international community to “join efforts to deal with the phenomenon, which must be manageable from a regional point of view (…), to know what its reasons are, in order to identify alternative solutions.” Maybe. ”

IOM called on host countries to maintain access to asylum procedures, expand regular stay options for refugees and migrants, crack down on smugglers and traffickers, and combat xenophobia and discrimination, among others.

Venezuela transit increases through the jungle

As well as the flow of migrants crossing the Darien, the number of Venezuelans is also increasing: in the first two months of 2022 it was about 2,500, almost what was added in 2021 (2,819 people) when it was almost 134,000 people. 70% of the movement in this area was Haitian.

In the first two months of 2022, in the midst of a “growing influx of migrant population”, “Venezuelan population prevalence was revealed”, even in Haiti (1,084) added to the Brazilian (307). Who are the children of islands inhabited in Brazil, explained Paz.

Explaining this fact among the reasons is the employment crisis caused by the pandemic that pushes many Venezuelans who have been to third countries in the United States where temporary immigration status has been approved for this nationality.

“It’s still too early to know what the underlying reasons may be, however, a trend has emerged over the protection status that Venezuelans can access (in the US). “We talked to some people who were in transit and they said that their main motivation was the American Dream,” Paz said.

The IOM said that while many Venezuelans crossing the Darien jungle have lived in other South American host countries, a growing number are coming directly from Venezuela.

The World Organization recalled that there are more than 6 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela in different parts of the world, more than 5 million of them in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“In 2022, the Venezuelan Interagency Situation Coordination Platform (R4V) launched a $ 1.79 billion plan from Venezuela and communities that have welcomed them to meet the growing needs of refugees and migrants in 17 countries in the region. Regional unit.

Giovanni Ferulo m.