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Bottleneck of the Americas: Crime and Migration in the Darién Gap
Migrants from far and wide are trekking northward through the Darién Gap, a dense jungle where they face dangers including criminal predation.
Steps to improve law enforcement, ease crises in countries of origin and provide more humanitarian aid would push policy in the right direction.
What’s new?
Each year, hundreds of thousands of migrants cross the Darién Gap, a strip of jungle between Central and South America, on their way to the U.S.
With little state presence in the area, Colombia’s Gaitanista drug syndicate is overseeing human smuggling rackets while gangs in Panama perpetrate assaults on migrants.
Why does it…