Migrants pass quickly through once impenetrable Darien jungle as governments scramble for answers

By JUAN ZAMORANO
Associated Press

BAJO CHIQUITO, Panama (AP) — Rain-swollen rivers only briefly slowed the otherwise uninterrupted flow of migrants through this jungle-covered border of Colombia and Panama and by midweek another 2,000 bedraggled migrants stumbled out of the Darien jungle. Pregnant women and men carrying children atop their shoulders waded across the Tuquesa river and into the Indigenous outpost of Bajo Chiquito where some fell to the ground in exhaustion as Panamanian officials waited to register their arrival. Crossing through the dense, lawless jungle not long ago was unthinkable for most. Some migrants arriving this week described an organized trek completed in as little as 2 ½ days on trails marked by colored ribbons and assisted by guides and porters.