The migration leaders of Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia called for the shared responsibility of all the countries of the region with respect to the migratory flows that occur in the region.
This was pointed out during a meeting to discuss the issue, which is being held in Panama. The appointment takes place in the midst of a crisis due to the large number of migrants, mainly Haitians, who arrived in Colombia and seek to pass through other countries to reach the United States.
At the meeting, which was attended by foreign ministers from various countries on the continent, the three representatives presented a report on a flow model controlled by quotas that they have already established. In this way, it can serve as a basis for providing solutions that respond to the needs and limitations of each of the countries.
“An understanding has been reached between the three countries in having a shared responsibility, a call for international cooperation to address these migratory flows,” said Raquel Vargas, Director General of Migration of Costa Rica. Next week there will be a meeting of all the Migration Directors of the region to attend to this migratory flow.
Thousands of migrants on the way
Meanwhile, some 2,000 migrants, mostly Haitians, resumed their journey to the United States on Thursday. This, after Colombian authorities lifted the order not to sell them bus tickets on the border with Ecuador.
Guarded by the police, a crowd with women and children threw themselves against the ticket offices of the Pasto terminal, in southern Colombia. There they bought trips to the northwest of the country, where migrants cross the Darien jungle to enter Panama through clandestine passages. “They are going to allow 200 Haitians to be sold a day,” Jhon Rojas, governor of the Nariño department, where Pasto is located, declared.
No controls
The migrants arrived from Ecuador in defiance of the current border closure in that country. They went through “irregular points where there is no control by the authorities due to geographical difficulties,” he explained.
According to the governor, the Colombian immigration authority “did not allow the terminals to sell tickets” to “avoid congesting” the small port of Necoclí (northwest). There are already migrants in transit to Central America.
The ban was lifted after hundreds of Haitians blocked the Pasto bus station on Wednesday night. “Here are women with children and they were sleeping in the street with the rain,” claimed a Haitian who was waiting in front of one of the lockers.
At the end of July, some 10,000 migrants were stranded in Necoclí. That amount exceeded the capacity of the shipping company that had to take them to the Darien jungle, on the border with Panama. The local authority declared a “public calamity” due to the shortage of drinking water.
Severe increase in the flow
The country is experiencing a severe increase in the flow of travelers seeking to reach the United States by land. According to Migración Colombia, the increase is due to a dam produced by the confinements and border closures of the pandemic.
Authorities denounce international networks that transfer migrants from Chile – or other countries on the continent – to southern Colombia, where “mafias” charge them up to $ 300 to cross the country.
