In front of one of the tents at the Lajas Blancas migrant reception center, in Panama, Oswards Ruiz, 39, recounts the beatings and death threats that forced him to flee his country, Venezuela, after the contested re-election of the president Nicolas Maduro.
“The people got what we wanted: to win the elections, but they were stolen from us,” the man lamented to AFP after crossing the inhospitable jungle of Darien, on the border between Colombia and Panama. .
“We were beaten by the ‘colectivos’ (pro-government armed groups) and had to leave (…) I didn’t want to leave Venezuela, but I had to flee because they were going to kill me,” said -he.
The one who ran a small fast food business until recently says he started receiving death threats after the announcement of Mr. Maduro’s re-election in the July 28 vote, due to his support for the ‘opposition.
This calls fraud and claims the victory of its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. Threatened with prison, he went into exile in Spain at the beginning of September.
In the migrant camp located 250 km from the capital Panama City, on the edge of the hostile jungle where criminal gangs racketeer and rob migrants, a Venezuelan soldier gives a similar testimony.
“I had to flee with my family and my pet,” a dog, testifies the soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
“We had the hope that this government would end and that we could return to our country,” he explains. But with the announcement of the re-election of Nicolas Maduro, also contested by a large part of the international community, “all these illusions have collapsed”.
With the support of international organizations, Panama provides basic services to Lajas Blancas for migrants who have just crossed the terrible jungle before they continue their journey to the United States in the hope of a better life.
“This jungle is very harsh. It is the worst thing that can happen to a human being,” assures Oswards Ruiz.
– “Political instability”-
A few meters away, Rosa Pérez, a 40-year-old Venezuelan, mourns a member of her family who was traveling with her and her 11-year-old son. He was swept away by the current of a river, while his son miraculously survived.
In 2023, more than 520,000 people have crossed the dangerous jungle. This year however, with the closure of illegal routes, the flow has declined, with 260,000 migrants crossing so far, two-thirds of whom are Venezuelan migrants.
The contested re-election of Nicolas Maduro, however, raises fears of a new increase.
“Some people cannot wait (for a change, editor’s note) (…). When you are hungry, when you cannot enroll your child in school, when you cannot pay for your medicine, you cannot wait,” noted Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in an interview with AFP on Friday.
“Political instability is one of the causes generating massive migrations (…) Venezuela is a concrete example,” declared Wednesday before the UN General Assembly the President of Panama José Raul Mulino.
Since coming to power on July 1, Mr. Mulino has expelled Colombian, Ecuadorian and Indian migrants aboard flights financed by the United States, as part of a bilateral agreement.
However, local authorities are allowing Venezuelan migrants to continue their journey due to the crisis in their country.
According to the UN, some seven of the 30 million Venezuelans have left the country in a decade due to the economic and political crisis it is going through.
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