The Darien Gap’s Fearsome Reputation Has Been Centuries in the Making
Before it became a migration hotspot, the area attracted visions for colonization and connection. So far, all have failed.
This article is adapted from AQ's special report on A (Relatively) Bullish Case for Latin America In the cemetery of El Real de Santa María, a village accessible only by river in eastern Panama, stands a new mausoleum. Donated by the Red Cross in March 2023, the modest concrete structure contains a grid of 100 niches for human remains. Since 2021, over 130 migrants have died crossing the Darién Gap, 575,000 hectares of jungle where the Central American isthmus connects with Colombia—mainly from drowning, falls and acts of violence. For the dozens of bodies that cannot be identified,...
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