More migrants report sex abuse crossing Panama’s Darien Gap

By KATHIA MARTÍNEZ
Associated Press

LAJAS BLANCAS, Panama (AP) — A growing number of women crossing the forbidding jungle of the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama on their route north are reporting sexual assaults, grabbing the attention of Panamanian lawmakers. On Saturday, a 25-year-old Haitian woman told members of a Panamanian congressional committee visiting Darien province that she had been assaulted just days before as she navigated the lawless area with her husband and 8-month-old son. The family stepped from a boat that had carried them along a roiling river to Lajas Blancas. They came from Bajo Chiquito, which is the first small population center many migrants encounter after crossing the mountainous border. Hundreds of other migrants arrived Saturday alongside them.