Local officials in Colombia are helping them enter Panama illegally.
A half-million people are expected to enter Panama from Colombia through the Darién Gap this year. Let that sink in. It’s a big number for a trail through dense jungle that only three years ago was traversed by about 20,000 souls annually.
Many who have made the trek this year are Venezuelans. There are also Africans, Cubans, Ecuadoreans, Middle Easterners and Chinese, among others. Most are heading north to the U.S. border. But they aren’t making the dangerous Darién journey on their own. Public officials in Colombia are helping them…