At least 15 smugglers – sometimes referred to as “coyotes” – compete for the migrant trade in Paso Canoas, a Costa Rican border hamlet that faces Panama. In the past nearly three years, approximately 500 to 600 individuals have been smuggled through the core of Central America by just one smuggler, revealed a Time report.
Typically, migrants utilize money transfer services such as Western Union to obtain funds from a relative to cover the next leg. For example, the cost of the journey from South Asia ranges from $10,000 to three times as much. Nicaragua, Costa Rica’s neighbor, became a popular destination for international migrants due to its lack of visa requirements, as previously discussed. It is also functioning as a critical entry point for individuals from Africa (including Mauritania, Cameroon, and Senegal) and Asia (including Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam) to access the Americas.
The overwhelming majority of individuals in migration are not trafficked. (800,000 individuals are estimated to be being relocated against their will by the U.S. State Department.) The majority are not evacuating conflict zones. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 93% of individuals who pilfer across international borders scrimped and borrowed to relocate.
Smuggling: A Successful Enterprise
Smugglers are reported to collect $35 billion annually to facilitate an extraordinary journey, a crime, and a service, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The Indians, Eritreans, Bangladeshis, and Haitians that the smugglers collect on the border between Panama and Costa Rica travel across in cars, then board a boat to Nicaragua and a bus to Honduras, hurdling the succession of borders toward the United States. Traveling through the Americas is a challenging endeavor, particularly when one must traverse the perilous Darien Gap.
The Darien Gap is a dense, roadless forest that serves as the sole land bridge between North and South America, connecting Colombia and Panama. In general, migrants have three primary options for navigating it. The initial option entails flying from Brazil to Nicaragua, assuming that the individual possesses legitimate visas for both countries, thereby avoiding the jungle entirely. Visas are seldom issued by Nicaraguan authorities to nationals of specific Middle Eastern countries in actuality. As a result, this alternative is exclusively accessible to individuals who have access to well-connected intermediaries who can expedite the approval process. However, the exorbitant cost of air travel remains a significant obstacle.
Expensive and Dangerous Road to Reach Central America
“The uncertainty on both sides of the Darien Gap has resulted in an increase in prices.” Katia, a Costa Rican woman smuggler, reports that the cost of traveling from Colombia to Costa Rica has increased to $1,900. An additional $2,300 separates Costa Rica from Mexico. She claims that the profit she earns from each migrant is a mere $120, with the entire amount being deducted from the $400 she charges for the Costa Rica leg.
The cost of transportation, food, shelter, and bribes consumes the price of the next rungs on the ladder—$800 for Nicaragua and $700 for Honduras.
Migrants who couldn’t afford to pay this amount of money had another option to cross the Gap: on foot. That is the most physically and emotionally challenging option, despite being the most cost-effective. As a publication of the Forced Migration Review details, migrants are provided with the necessary instruments to traverse dense vegetation, cross perilous rivers, and escape from organized criminal organizations in what facilitators refer to as “self-directed games.”
A third alternative is the “controlled flow” policy that Panama implemented to regulate the movement of migrants from South America to the north. After crossing the Darien Gap on foot, migrants are required to register with the Panamanian authorities and submit biometric data under this program. Subsequently, they are temporarily accommodated in a Migrant Reception Station (Estación Temporal de Recepción Migratoria).
During peak periods, 40-60 buses depart daily, each transporting approximately 50 migrants. Nevertheless, the current capacity of approximately 2,000-3,000 individuals per day is still insufficient, as the number of crossings has increased and surpassed 81,000 individuals in August 2023 alone.