Petro insists on unblocking the Venezuelan economy to “stop” migration in the Darien

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has insisted again that the unlocking of the Venezuelan economy would have positive consequences in terms of migration in the jungle area that separates Colombia and Panama, known as the Darien Gap.

“If we really want to stop the humanitarian disaster of the exodus through the Darien, we must economically unblock Venezuela,” said the Colombian president through his profile on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter.

While Petro has made this proposal, the Colombian Foreign Minister, Alvaro Leyva, has met in recent hours with senior US officials, including the White House National Security Advisor, Elisahbeth Sherwood-Randall, to whom he has shown his concern about increased migration.

“They addressed the challenges that both countries face on different fronts, especially those derived from irregular migration. They committed to maintaining joint work, in instances such as the tripartite group (which they share with Panama), in regional and multilateral spheres and, above all , bilaterally,” reads a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The United Nations Office for Human Rights has denounced “multiple human rights violations” against migrants who risk crossing the Darien Gap, an obligatory point of passage for those seeking to continue advancing irregularly towards the northern part of the Americas. , and has regretted that there is “limited” humanitarian assistance on both sides of the border.

So far this year, more than 330,000 people have already crossed the jungle, an unprecedented number and one-fifth of which corresponds to children. To put it in perspective, in all of 2022 some 248,000 migrants undertook this route, so 2023 is on track to become a record year.