MSF also provides care to survivors of sexual violence—88 women have reported being sexually assaulted or raped during robberies. “You see dead bodies, you go hungry and you get raped," says 21-year-old Solange from Cuba. Solange narrowly escaped assault by running away when she realized her group was about to be attacked. “Those in the group, they heard the screams of those who were raped."
“Don’t do it, it’s terrible”
The future is uncertain for everyone in Bajo Chiquito, where access to clean water, showers, and decent toilets is limited or, for some, nonexistent. Eventually everyone will be transferred to the reception stations in San Vicente and Lajas Blancas, but from there they will have to make their own way forward. Some migrants can afford to buy a bus ticket north, but many cannot. And certain nationalities—including Colombians, Ecuadorians, and Bolivians—are held for processing and then deported.
Those who have pending administrative or judicial processes—for example, if they are seeking refugee status in Panama or are witnesses in a case against traffickers—are held at migrant reception stations for weeks or months. Detained people describe inadequate food and shelter, a lack of clean water and showers, and no way to communicate with their families.
But despite the risks, people continue to attempt the journey. By the end of July, around 8,000 migrants were waiting in Necoclí, Colombia, to start their trek through the Darién Gap. “They warn you from the US: ‘Don’t do it, it’s terrible,” says Juan, whose group was assaulted by a group of men with rifles and machetes. They took their money, mobile phones, and food, and raped the women in the group. “But you have to. And you think, ‘If he did it, why can’t I do it?’ But honestly, don’t do it, it’s terrible.”
A lack of safe and legal routes for migrants forces them to take dangerous ones where they are exposed to violence and trauma. MSF repeats its demand that the governments of Colombia and Panama establish safe alternative routes between the two countries and deploy the necessary protection mechanisms in their territories to prevent more needless death and suffering.