Rapists and kidnappers increasingly targeting migrants crossing Darién Gap:
Armed bandits are exploiting the record number of people crossing the Darién Gap – a 100km stretch of jungle connecting Colombia and Panama – to kidnap and rape desperate migrants, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The organisation said it treated 397 survivors of sexual violence this year – many of them children – once they safely reached Panama. There have been reports of “group rapes in tents set up for that purpose in the mountainous rainforest and swampland”.
The number far exceeds the 172 recorded in 2022, and the charity says it is the latest example of how the suffering of migrants in the Darién is becoming normalised. MSF is urging the Panama and Colombian authorities to deploy an effective security presence in the jungle to protect migrants.
Among the harrowing testimonies given to MSF, migrants described being taken to tents and raped by groups of armed men in front of other migrants.
“I saw many people raped. I saw them left naked and beaten,” one Venezuelan woman told MSF. “One, two or three of them grab you and rape you, and then the next one comes and rapes you again, and if you scream, they beat you.”
In some cases, people who tried to defend the victims were beaten or killed, including a young boy who was shot in the head.
The number of similar accounts has spiked in recent months with MSF treating 107 sexual violence cases in October alone. Three of the recent rape survivors were aged 11, 12 and 16. --->READ MORE HERE
Migrant children sexually abused in ‘rape tents’ while crossing deadly Darien Gap: report
Hundreds of migrants have reportedly been sexually assaulted while trekking through the deadly Darien Gap jungle in Panama on their way to the United States’ southern border — including a number of children abused in so-called “rape tents.”
Doctors Without Borders — a nonprofit also known as Médecins Sans Frontières — said in a new report that its members had treated nearly 400 victims of sexual assault in the Darien Gap in 2023 alone, according to Border Report.
Much of the danger springs from groups of armed brigands who roam the wilderness, kidnapping, robbing and raping those who are attempting to pass through, the report said.
“They beat me on my legs with a bat, because those of us who had no money were beaten,” a Venezuelan victim said, according to the group.
“Those who said they didn’t have any money, but when searched were found to have some, were hurt even more,” the victim continued.
“They said, ‘Oh yes, she has some money,’ and they raped them. I saw many people raped. I saw them left naked and beaten. One, two, or three of them grab you and rape you, and then the next one comes and rapes you again, and if you scream, they beat you.”
The Darien Gap has long been considered the most treacherous part of the extremely dangerous journey from South America to the US border. --->READ MORE HERE
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