Social networks, the deception that encourages thousands of migrants through the Darién jungle

Horrible, horrible, many migrants repeat. The passage through Darien jungle, the natural border between Panama and Colombia, is not as they imagined. Guided by videos that flood social networks and the stories of acquaintances, misinformation and deception accentuate the migration crisis.

“Strength, strength!” cheers a man as he guides a group of migrants through the current of a river. They cross together in a chain. Two girls cry and scream as they are dragged through the water, but they are held by the wrist to the other shore.

It’s not the first time. At many points the rivers mark the path so as not to get lost throughout the jungle, and their meandering makes submersion inevitable.

“There is a lady who has been lying there for ten days.”says a young man who has just crossed the river in the Come Gallina area, at the exit of the jungle. They stay because of exhaustion, dehydration, or because they were injured. They also suffer attacks from wild animals or criminals, who rob them.

Venezuelan Delia Gómez, 51, is now safe in what migrants know as “the UN”the Lajas Blancas immigration reception center installed by the Panamanian authorities, where they are given shelter, medical care and food.

She is sitting under a tent, sweaty with a lost gaze. She has a bandaged knee.

“That’s horrible, I don’t recommend it to anyone, I was left alone. My companions left me alone, without food, without anything. I don’t remember what time I had there in the jungle, really, I lost track of time. “I saw many dead people.”says.

The first town they reach when leaving the jungle is Bajo Chiquito, located on the banks of the Tuquesa River. This indigenous settlement of a few dozen wooden houses is overflowing with thousands of migrants, who queue for hours to register with the Panamanian authorities.

This record continues to break records: according to official data, so far this year more than 385,000 people have crossed that jungle, compared to 248,000 in all of 2022, the highest number ever. They expect that in 2023 they will reach 500,000.

In August alone, there were also almost 82,000 arrivals, an unusual figure compared to the 31,000 in the same month last year, crossing an average of almost 3,000 daily. 20% are children.

Venezuelan Noelia Rojas holds her daughter in her arms in a camping area in Bajo Chiquito. The girl turns around, smiling at the camera. Then her mother begins to tell of her journey through the jungle.“awful”and when remembering the dead the little girl’s expression changes to sad.

“If I had known that that path was like that, I wouldn’t risk my daughter.”, recognize . ““I came confident (…) because I had no idea that this was going to be like that.”

It was informed “on social networks, but what they present on the networks is not even a quarter of what one experiences in reality.””. Then the girl approaches her mother’s ear and tells her a secret. “A dead child” in the path. She is traumatized, she says. TikTok, the guide

just write “Darien” in the TikTok application to witness dozens of migrants’ stories about their adventures through the jungle. There are some sweetened ones, laughing, as if it were a Sunday walk. Others are harsher, showing muddy trails, dead people, or people abandoned on the road.

To avoid these dangers, those who promise trips are then advertised. “VIP” with “experienced guide”, “insurance”. Some tell their experience: the guide “He was very kind.” And it is that “If your dream is to travel to USA, This year you can do it.”

Olivier Tenes, specialist at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Border Governance and Migration, explained that “groups involved in the smuggling of migrants skillfully use social networks.”

“Migrants, desperate for their economic or family situation and frustrated by the difficulties in accessing regular migration options, easily give in to the false promises of easy and safe travel made by traffickers”details Tenes, who recalls that in 2022 there were 1,457 dead or missing migrants on American routes.

According to Camilo Ramírez, director in Colombia of the humanitarian organization HIAS, migrants prefer to obtain information through TikTok or other social networks due to the closeness they feel with the person who is narrating their migratory experience.

Is different “that a Venezuelan who has done the route tell it to another Venezuelan who wants to do it, that voice to voice that he achieved it and that it is not that difficult,” to have someone else tell it, and that is why “it is the preferred source, although not the most reliable.” It’s not reality.

Mariángela Torcate, Venezuelan, tells what her trip was like: “You want me to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t recommend that to even my worst enemy. Really, that is not a route to migrate. What happens is that out of desperation, out of the need to be there, you make that decision.”

But they didn’t expect it like that, since, he says, they saw some things on TikTok “but not what it really is”. He says that she let herself be carried away by what he saw on the social network and that she did not look for another means of information because “as I say, it is the desperation of fleeing.

Source: EFE