"THEY'LL NEVER FIND MY BODY HERE": AN INVESTIGATION INTO MIGRATION AT THE DARIÉN GAP
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2024
Submitted on
2024-05-31
Pages
68
Abstract
Historically, Colombia has seen much migration—both internally and externally, voluntary and involuntary, to and from other countries. The primary destination of Colombian migrants has predominantly been Venezuela, as well as being a host for Venezuelan migrants. However, in recent years its shared border with Panama has seen a sharp increase in migration flows to and from Colombia: visa restrictions in other Central and North American countries has led to Colombia posing as a transit country in migrants’ journeys to countries like the U.S. and Canada. The Colombia-Panama border, more commonly known as the Darién Gap, is the only landbridge between the continents meaning that anyone aiming to travel from South to North America is forced to travel through the Darién jungle. Here they are met with a host of dangers, ranging from other migrants, cartels, paramilitary groups, and armed assailants, to geographical dangers, weather, and wildlife. This paper evaluates existing literature such as news articles and press releases against our chosen conceptual framework including critical border studies by Noel Parker, Nick Vaughan-Williams, Luiza Bialasiewicz et al. (2009), migration systems theory by Oliver Bakewell (2014), theories of forced migration by Etienne Piguet (2018) and Anthony H. Richmond (1993), and the aspirations-capabilities network by Hein de Haas (2021). Through these lenses we aim to illustrate the challenges evident in the Darién Gap faced by migrants and governments alike.
Keywords
Darién Gap ; Panama ; Colombia ; migrants ; migration ; refugees ; migration systems ; forced migration ; border studies
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