Doctors Without Borders: “You see the dead, you are hungry and they rape you”, the testimonies of migrants who survived the Darien jungle | International

“You see the dead, you are hungry and they rape you.” Solange, a 21-year-old Cuban, who crossed the Darién Gap, the thick jungle shared by Colombia and Panama, puts a voice to the suffering of migrant women at this pass, considered one of the most dangerous border limits for migrants on their way to the United States.

They did not rape her because she ran away when she saw that her group was going to be attacked. “They took everything, money, cell phones. The girls were then taken behind some bushes. In the group, they heard the cries (of one of the raped women), ”explains Médecins Sans Frontières, who has compiled testimonies of the terrifying journey that thousands of Haitian migrants have traveled, for the most part, but also Cubans, Africans and Venezuelans.

According to figures from the Panamanian authorities, from June to date, 18,000 people have entered the country by land. So far this year, there are 46,483 people, including 13,395 women. However, no one knows how many were left dead on the road.

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What is clear is that migrant women are paying the price. At least 88 of them said they were sexually assaulted while looking for money and, frequently, were raped when arriving in Bajo Chiquito, the first population migrants find in Panama, where they are. cared for.

Solange’s testimony is not the only one to speak about the harassment of women. “They took our food, our money. They searched me and touched me. I had my period and they left me alone. It was very aggressive, very dirty. They raped a young woman of around 20 or 25, ”explained Nadine, a 40-year-old Dominican from Chile accompanied by her six-year-old daughter and her partner. For the protection of their lives, MSF only publishes the first name.

“Assaults by armed men, especially women, are one of the worst risks on this road, which is indeed very dangerous. We ask the Colombian and Panamanian authorities to protect the road. That being a migrant is not a crime, ”Raúl López, field coordinator of Doctors Without Borders, which has a health center in Bajo Chiquito, told EL PAÍS. The medical organization has also been installed in the Migrant Reception Stations (ERM) of Lajas Blancas and San Vicente. Since the end of May, they have carried out 14,000 medical consultations.

In addition to sexual violence, there is the risk for pregnant women and children. We know, according to testimonies to the NGO, that at least four gave birth on the track. And that there are cases of unaccompanied minors crossing El Darién, as recently explained by the director of Migration Colombia, Juan Francisco Espinosa. This, explain the migrants, because during the attacks, families disperse and many children continue the journey without their mother or accompanied by neighbors who welcome them.

Tamara, a 39-year-old Haitian, is six months pregnant and had no choice. The woman told the doctors she was wrong. He paid $ 2,600 to an alleged agency that offered to take them across by helicopter via El Darién, but they left them on the mountain and tied them up. “It shouldn’t happen. There can’t be people dying there. They should be able to save people or prevent access. They must warn that we must not take this path, ”explains the woman among the testimonies collected by the NGO.

“A nightmare with 1001 demons”

To physical trauma, says Raúl López, we must add mental trauma. What migrants experience on this route marks them forever. Several of them sum up the experience as the worst nightmare of their lives, seven days or sometimes more of unimaginable cruelty in a humid jungle, with animals, cliffs and chasms where people fall with children and swollen rivers.

“They warn you from the United States, ‘don’t do it, it’s terrible.’ But the need is there and then you think, if he did it, why couldn’t I do it? But really, don’t do it, it’s terrible, ”says Juan, a 59-year-old Cuban. his story, like that of other migrants, there is one constant: the Loma de la Muerte Even in the videos posted on WhatsApp and the social network tiktok, you can see the slope of the slippery mountain.

Also the stories of rivers, rapids and flash floods and pictures where they are seen dead, as well as injured people just waiting to die. “On the way, we saw a woman asking for help, her leg was broken. She had been alone for six days, she said. He asked for a machete to cut off his leg. We couldn’t help it, we couldn’t carry it, ”Daniel, a 33-year-old Haitian who crossed the Darien with his wife and two daughters, aged three and four months, told MSF.

It’s terrifying for everyone to have to abandon the injured. In the case of the fractured woman, Daniel’s story saved her life. Thanks to the information she gave about where she was left, she was rescued by helicopter by the Panamanian authorities. Not everyone has the same luck at the border and that is why they hope that this Thursday, when the Colombian and Panamanian governments meet, will take place the organized and humanitarian step that will prevent more migrants from exposing their life to the traffickers and the harshness of the jungle.

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