Venezuelan José Gregorio Hidalgo woke up in a hospital in northern Panama, wearing a neck brace, unable to move. He had survived the accident last February of a bus with migrants in which 39 people died. “The American dream is practically insane“, the Mint.
She did not remember her daughter when she opened her eyes, nor the “awful” I pass through the Darien jungle, the natural border between Colombia and Panama, where when crossing it I saw “eight dead shot”, as he later recalled, among them “a lady with a girl in a tent (and) a man who had fallen from a hill”.
The jungle was the most dangerous part of the journey, but once the rivers were swollen, the possible muggings and rapes, or the lack of drinking water contaminated by the corpses and excrement of migrants, all that remained was to move north, toward the United States.
So, accompanied by his Ecuadorian partner and her teenage son, he got on one of the buses authorized by the Panamanian authorities to expedite the passage of migrants through the country and they began the journey towards the border with Costa Rica.
They never arrived. When they were only a few meters from the immigration reception center in Gualaca, in the border province of Chiriquí, the bus began to wobble. “Be careful, my love!she yelled at her partner, grabbing her.
The vehicle left the road and fell into a small ravine, turned into a jumble of iron. 66 people were traveling, the driver, his assistant, both Panamanians, and 37 migrants, several of them minors, died.
His Ecuadorian partner survived the accident, rescued by his son who suffered minor injuries, but his face was disfigured, having to undergo successive surgeries to rebuild it.
“The American dream is practically insane, if you get my drift”, the 26-year-old told EFE, also noting the recent attack in front of a migrant reception center in the United States, in which at least seven Venezuelans died.
The defeat of the return
Hidalgo plans to stay in Panama for a while while they recover and for now he is not planning to resume the trip to North America. He does not seek to return to Venezuela either. “I don’t want to return to my land defeated, arrive there empty-handed. As my mom tells me, that doesn’t matter to her, but it does matter to me.”.
His Ecuadorian partner, who requests anonymity, only thinks about recovering “to 100%” before thinking about the next step, and she is frustrated that she had “stagnant” in that center, set up by a Catholic organization for those injured in the incident.
The woman worked in a pharmacy in Ecuador, and had also taken a nursing assistant course, something that is evident when she describes each of the fractures and wounds on her body. you “he had to leave because the salary was not enough”.
With a salary of US$450, he spent half of it on renting his home, to which was added the daily transportation of two dollars, US$45 for Social Security, among other expenses. Also, he recalls, his quiet town had become very violent, so his son could be “easy preyfrom the gangs. So they decided to migrate.
They had the experience of acquaintances who had arrived in the United States in 10-15 days, even with a smaller budget than theirs, of US$1,000 compared to the US$3,000 they carried.
But unlike when they traveled, “now everything is silver”, becoming a constant indentation. Everything costs money, be it washing, camping, transportation. Migrants, however, continue to travel, and more and more.
In the first four months of this year alone, more than 127,000 migrants heading to the United States arrived in Panama after crossing the jungle, a number six times higher than the same period in 2022, which closed with the record number of more than 248,000 people transiting. Around the area.
When asked, they all remember that jungle “maddening”, which is complicated when traveling with children.
“That is where the majority of migrants are in danger of losing our lives. In fact, it was on that walk that we found corpses, in what was in tents and other covered”, she explains, although for her the real danger would come later.
“It was almost 4 in the morning, when the bus began to wobble. (…) I remember my husband told me, ‘Hold on, love, hold on’ (…) What he did was hug me, I held on to the seat in a fetal position. And the bus turned over, until then I remember.
Source: EFE
Source: Gestion
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
