After the Darien: Aid and Pathways for Migrants in Panama and Costa Rica

By Rachel Schmidtke , Caitlyn Yates | October 11, 2024

Executive Summary

The Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama remains one of the most dangerous migration paths in the world and more people are risking their lives to cross it. Migration through the Darien Gap has increased tremendously over the past four years and crossings are likely to continue at a high level. Despite a brief reduction this summer, likely due to the anti-migrant posture of the new Panamanian government and the elections in Venezuela, numbers in the Darien are now increasing again. Repression in the wake of the July 28, 2024 election in Venezuela has already led to an increase in out-migration, which is notable as Venezuelans currently make up the majority of those transiting the Darien. Enforcement measures and rhetoric from the government of Panama may have temporarily deterred migration into Panama, but not for the long-term. Initial numbers published by Panamanian migration authorities for September 2024 indicate a 51 percent increase in migration compared to August.

Meanwhile the increased emphasis on migration deterrence in Panamanian government policy, reinforced by U.S. migration cooperation priorities, is worsening humanitarian conditions for people traversing the gap and exposing highly vulnerable migrants to avoidable exploitation and harm. Worryingly there has been a seven-fold increase in the number of migrants seeking treatment for incidents of sexual violence this year, according to MSF figures. The fact that people continue to move through the gap under these circumstances indicates that the Panamanian government’s growing opposition to humanitarian services along the Darien does little to deter migration, but does increase the harms that migrants face.

Upon exiting the Darien Gap, migrants now face a shrinking humanitarian landscape in Panama and, for non-Venezuelans, the threat of deportation. A relatively new collaboration between Panama and Costa Rica to bus migrants from the former to the latter has increased the speed at which people can move northward and avoids the risks of moving on foot. But it also leaves many without access to humanitarian services until reaching Costa Rica, where the humanitarian response has, in turn, not grown enough to meet the needs.

Further, safe pathways to the United States created for Venezuelans are inaccessible for most of those traversing the gap due to the requirements to access these pathways, such as eligibility dates and documentation. This raises doubts about whether the CHNV pathways program is effectively providing a viable alternative to migrants whose extreme vulnerability makes them likeliest to migrate.

Humanitarian needs along the Darien Gap will remain high for the foreseeable future as migration through the gap continues. This report–based on a research trip conducted by Refugees International–looks closely at the humanitarian conditions for those who successfully traverse the gap, and lays out a path to greater harmonization of migration management that respects governments’ desire for orderly movement while upholding the basic human rights of migrants. The report provides recommendations to improve reception in Panama and address the gaps in protection occurring due to increasing enforcement in the country. The report also argues that there is great potential for the international community and the government of Costa Rica to develop a more comprehensive humanitarian response given Costa Rica’s history as a country of asylum and its strong collaboration with the United States. Further, this report suggests ways that the United States could support improved humanitarian services, access to protection, and integration for people taking the route through the Darien Gap, Panama, and Costa Rica while also better targeting access to pathways to the United States so as to decrease the use of this route and continued migration northward through Central America and Mexico.

Recommendations

To Government of Panama:

Support safe reception and enable access to basic services for arriving migrants. This should include allowing Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and other NGOs to provide medical and other critical humanitarian services in Lajas Blancas and other Migrant Reception Stations.
Remove financial obstacles preventing the most vulnerable migrants from accessing the government-sponsored bus from Panama to Costa Rica, by prioritizing free seats for the most vulnerable cases, and enabling access to money transfers so that migrants do not turn to informal money transfers, which can be predatory.

To Government of Costa Rica:

Mobilize state of emergency funds for local and federal government services in the Emi Sur and northern zones.
Implement consolidated humanitarian care areas in Northern Costa Rica in line with UN recommendations, which call for inclusion of medical attention, WASH services, and shelter among others.
Strengthen humanitarian and protection services at the Emi Sur southern reception station by:
- Implementing a registration/reception service to screen for protection needs and provide information on shelter opportunities and on how to apply for asylum in Costa Rica and other protection pathways.
- Tailoring services to ensure comprehensive support to children, including: making health screenings mandatory for children (unless parents opt out); prioritizing children for food; and waiving the $30 bus fee for children under 10.
- Providing sensitivity training to the migration police to ensure that they are well versed in inclusive treatment of migrants from different backgrounds, including those of the LGBTQ+ community and migrants with disabilities.

To the United States Government:

Use the $686 million in new financial commitments to increase funding to meet the $9.7 million USD gap for UN organizations and NGOs to scale up humanitarian operations in Costa Rica.
Increase funding to support the Costa Rican asylum system in upping staffing capacity and implementing efficient processing strategies to reduce the backlog.
Enhance the use of the Safe Mobility Offices [SMOs] to provide Venezuelans access to pathways. This should be done by engaging the government of Colombia to change the cut off date for eligibility for accessing them to December 1, 2024.
Amend the eligibility criteria for the CHNV program to be more accessible to Venezuelans with acute humanitarian needs, who often have a high propensity to migrate but lack documents and US-based sponsors.

To Global Donor Community and UN Agencies:

Scale up registration and screening services in the southern reception station in Corredores to support the government of Costa Rica in identifying vulnerable individuals in need of specialized services and protection screenings.
Consolidate operations at Los Chiles border with Costa Rica and Nicaragua to one area so that migrants can easily locate humanitarian organizations and receive services.
Develop a voluntary return program for migrants from Panama with the Government of Panama. This will provide migrants a safe way to return back to host or home countries if they so choose.

Methodology

Refugees International conducted a research trip from late June to early July 2024, visiting the migrant reception station of Lajas Blancas, Panama, the Emi Sur migration station near Paso Canoas in Costa Rica, and the northern canton area of Los Chiles/Las Tablillas border in Costa Rica. The RI team conducted a total of 45 migrant interviews at these locations. In order to best understand the journey migrants undertake from Panama to Costa Rica, Refugees International interviewed some of the same migrants at multiple points along their journey: in Panama, then again in Paso Canoas, and finally followed up while they were in Mexico. The RI team also Interviewed several humanitarian organizations and government officials operating in Panama and Costa Rica.

Background

Prior to 2021, only a few thousand people annually made the trek through the Darien’s dense jungle. But in 2021 some 133,000 people traversed the gap, including many Haitians traveling north to Mexico and the United States from countries like Chile and Brazil. Since then, migration through the gap has grown each year, with a record 520,000 crossings in 2023. There are several factors driving this: rising displacement out of Venezuela as conditions there collapse; an increasingly well-established–though informal and dangerous–process for transiting through the gap; and increased migration by a wide range of other nationalities who see the gap as a means of reaching the United States.

Trips through the gap have quickened and routes have become more formalized, albeit unofficial, resulting in a well-established transit axis for migrants. When Refugees International visited the Darien Gap in 2022, the journey took on average five to seven days to complete. Interviews by Refugees International in June 2024 indicate the journey now averages around three days. This is due in part to criminal enterprises like the Clan del Golfo creating new and shorter routes through the jungle and offering VIP packages for migrants who are able to pay the additional fees.

More people are crossing the Darien because they cannot access regular migration pathways or survive in other countries in the region. Increased visa restrictions and other enforcement measures lead migrants to traverse more dangerous routes to avoid immigration controls. Economic downturns (continuing into 2024) and rising inflation in countries like Peru and Colombia have pushed local and migrant populations alike into precarious and exploitative work and homelessness and made them unable to afford basic goods and services like food or healthcare. The Regional Migrant Response Plan for Venezuela—created to support countries in Latin America to host Venezuelan migrants—has also been historically and massively underfunded, particularly in comparison to other refugee crises of similar scale. Currently, the response is only funded at fifteen percent, which also contributes to the constraints Venezuelans face when trying to integrate into countries of first refuge.

Refugees International interviewed two Venezuelan cousins in southern Costa Rica in June 2024. Vicente left Venezuela as a teenager and lived in Peru for several years but left because he could not access work after the pandemic caused an economic downturn, despite having regular status. Because of Victor’s experience, Ana, his cousin, who came to the Darien directly from Venezuela, decided she did not want to attempt to live in another country in Latin America and wanted to go directly to the United States.

These two experiences are a microcosm of the rising trend of Venezuelans leaving host countries, and also directly from Venezuela, to reach the United States as hosting capacity becomes saturated in Venezuela’s neighbors. While in 2021 it was mostly Haitians undertaking cross hemisphere movements northwards, the demographics have shifted over the last two years. Venezuelans made up about sixty-six percent of Darien Gap crossings in the first eight months of 2024. This number could increase in the coming months due to the July 2024 election outcome in Venezuela, where Nicolas Maduro retains power despite credible and widespread indications of election fraud. Indeed, a nationwide poll prior to the elections found that roughly twenty-five percent of Venezuelans would migrate if Maduro remained president. Already in the weeks following the election there has been an uptick in Venezuelans crossing the border to Brazil. In Colombia there has been a notable change in the profile of Venezuelans arriving since the end of July 2024. Many are human rights defenders, protestors, and others fleeing the political repression underway in the country.¹

While this report recommends reforms that can benefit migrants of all nationalities, it focuses on Venezuelans because of the high proportion of Venezuelans crossing the gap, the potential for increased displacement due to the human rights crisis in Venezuela, and this displacement’s salience to policymakers in Latin America and the United States.

Apart from Venezuelans, there has been an increase in Ecuadorians and Colombians making their way north to the United States, largely fleeing increased insecurity and economic strain. These two populations make up another 14 percent of Darien crossings. Extra-continental crossings, including Chinese migrants, are also on the rise. There has also been a notable rise in the number of children traversing the Darien, accompanied by parents, traveling with other family members, and in some cases, alone.

Several human rights organizations, including Refugees International, have documented the conditions migrants face while crossing the Darien Gap. These risks include illnesses due to exposure to rain, mold, and mosquitos and injuries or death from falling or drowning along the way. Robbery and physical assault are also prevalent, particularly on the Panamanian side of the Darien, where there are less formalized routes and smaller armed groups have significantly more freedom to target migrants. There has also been a seven-fold rise in people seeking treatment for sexual violence from MSF in 2024. UN organizations interviewed by Refugees International stated that while sexual violence is not new in the Darien, the brutality and depravity of the crimes has changed, including the targeting of children.

A Shrinking Approach to Panama’s Humanitarian Response in Darien

While Panama’s response to migration through the Darien has grown in recent years, under the current Mulino administration, these gains are under threat.

History of Panama’s Reception

The presence and capacity of the Panamanian government to attend to the humanitarian needs of recent arrivals from the Darien Gap continues to be wholly insufficient. Prior to 2021, the Panamanian government did not have permanent infrastructure in place to receive migrants, so they temporarily housed those arriving in local churches, rented motel rooms, and public spaces in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in the Darien province. Since late 2015 and early 2016, the Panamanian government has developed often spontaneous reception facilities to temporarily house migrants crossing through Darien in communities along the primary routes used by migrants in the jungle. These facilities were designed to offer basic services including potable drinking water and portable toilets while also allowing the Panamanian government to register those entering Panamanian territory and to organize their exit by bus via the controlled flow policy.

In late 2020, San Vicente and Lajas Blancas became the two primary migrant reception stations (ETRM for its acronym in Spanish) receiving migrants who had successfully crossed the Darien Gap and run by Panama’s National Border Service (SNF) and National Migration Service (SNM). By 2021, several humanitarian organizations had a semi-permanent or even permanent presence in both the Lajas Blancas and San Vicente reception stations.

Red Cross and UNICEF filtration system. Photos by Refugees International.

The Panamanian Red Cross has by far the largest presence in the reception stations. The Red Cross was key to the development of a water filtration system in Lajas Blancas, offers basic first aid, provides free Wi-Fi, and also offers hygiene kits, including items like soap and toothbrushes. Doctors without Borders (MSF for its acronym in French) also began offering basic medical attention, including serving as the only organization offering medical attention to victims of sexual violence. HIAS offers psychological services, including with psychologists who specialize in gendered violence. Global Brigades is responsible for sanitation services in the reception stations including trash pick-up and cleaning the toilets and showers. They, alongside UNICEF, also maintain the water filtration system. UNICEF also supports children and adolescents with donated goods like clothes and diapers as well as holding workshops and classroom style activities for children staying in the reception centers. Both RET and UNICEF, together with Panama’s National Secretariat of Children, Adolescence, and Family (SENNIAF for its Spanish acronym) offer shelter to unaccompanied children while working to reunite separated children with their families. IOM staff primarily offer orientation services to migrants arriving, conduct monthly monitoring of the reception stations, and offer training and collaboration services to both officials and other humanitarian actors on the ground. Finally, UNHCR, in collaboration with the Norwegian Refugee Council, is responsible for supporting migrants seeking to request asylum in Panama.

In January 2024, Panama’s National Office for Refugee Attention (ONPAR for its acronym in Spanish), opened its first office in Darien to work more closely with UNHCR on the ground, though to date only have one staff member based in the province. ONPAR, in collaboration with the humanitarian organizations, conducts the initial screening interview in either the reception stations or in their local offices. The humanitarian organizations then manage the cases of asylum seekers awaiting a determination in Panama, though it is ONPAR who ultimately adjudicates the asylum requests. Refugees International learned that the humanitarian organizations provide services and orientation to about 800 people per month of whom 15-20 have a screening interview and apply for asylum. But most of this small number of people tend to abandon their applications since they have to wait in the poor conditions of the camps for six months to get a resolution.

In the span of just a couple of years, the physical infrastructure to attend to migrants grew significantly. Interviews with officials in Darien in June 2024 particularly emphasized the importance of the water filtration system in Lajas Blancas, which finally allows migrants–who frequently arrive very dehydrated–to have access to free and clean drinking water. Moreover, in the first half of 2024, Global Brigades, in collaboration with Panama’s Civil Protection system (SINAPROC for its acronym in Spanish), built new toilets, sinks, and showers in the Lajas Blancas reception station. This has resulted in a formal waste management system and running water in the showers, rather than migrants having to use buckets for bathing. Finally, Global Brigades’ staff cleans the washroom facilities multiple times per day. The culmination of these changes has greatly improved the sanitation capacity in the reception station, though the humanitarian services offered continue to be insufficient to meet the needs of all arriving.

Recent Humanitarian Challenges

Despite the notable uptick in humanitarian organizations presence over the prior three years, the humanitarian services and housing infrastructure available to migrants crossing has actually begun to decrease over the course of this year.

There is a bus system privately operated by three companies and conducted in cooperation with Panamanian authorities, including Panama’s Transportation Police, to ensure that buses comply with the required safety and insurance measures to make the journey from Darien to Costa Rica. Buses are accompanied by a Migration (SNM) officer who serves as a government custodian to ensure that all migrants who leave from Darien arrive in Costa Rica. The number of buses corresponds to the number of migrants arriving who have the money to pay the $60 bus fare.

Until August 2024, Panama’s Human Rights Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo in Spanish) negotiated up to 4 free seats per bus for individuals without money that the Ombudsman deemed particularly vulnerable. This system was untransparent and many migrants complained that cases were not selected based on clear vulnerability criteria. During Refugees International’s visit in June 2024, there were 44 families on the Ombudsman’s list for the free seats. Individuals without money–especially young men traveling alone–were also chosen by SNF officers to work in the reception station for a period of a couple of days in exchange for one of the four free spots on each bus. However, in August 2024, Refugees International learned that the bus companies had rejected the four free spots agreement, resulting in humanitarian spots no longer being accessible.

Many migrants do not have access to cash or someone to send them money for the bus, so many remain stranded within Panama. This strains humanitarian services and runs contrary to the Panamanian government’s stated goals for migration management. This lack of access in large part is due to the closure of formal financial services in Darien. In January 2024, Panamanian authorities arrested a dozen individuals in both the Lajas Blancas and San Vicente reception stations on alleged finance and illegal association charges for offering money transfer services without authorization or licenses. In the immediate months following the arrests, there were no money transfer services available to migrants in the entire Darien province. According to interviews in Lajas Blancas, this caused some migrants to wait for up to 2-3 months to come up with the money to move northward while other migrants would lend money to those without cash for the bus ticket in exchange for promises to pay back the money upon reaching Costa Rica. During Refugees International’s visit to Lajas Blancas in June 2024, the semi-formal money transfer stations were still not operational, though some locals were unofficially offering money transfer services for exorbitant rates of anywhere between 20 and 40 percent. The return of informal money transfer services, however expensive, has allowed some migrants to receive enough cash to pay the $60 per person bus fee to leave the Darien.

In addition to challenges with money transfers and access to buses, shelter and services in the Darien have also decreased this year. On March 4, 2024, the Panamanian government ordered MSF to indefinitely suspend their medical services in Panama including in the temporary reception stations. The Panamanian government alleged that the suspension was due to an expired MOU with Panama’s Ministry of Health. MSF has suggested that the suspension was retribution for multiple accusations made by MSF against Panamanian authorities for not doing enough to address the unprecedented rates of sexual violence in Darien during the early months of 2024. However, in early October 2024, MSF announced they have authorization to return to the Lajas Blancas reception station for three months. Additionally, the San Vicente reception station was burned down in early March after a fight broke out among migrants and Panamanian officials. San Vicente’s destruction resulted in only one remaining reception station being operational in Darien to receive all migrants.

Neither MSF nor any other medical aid organization has been granted permission to operate in Lajas Blancas since MSF’s suspension. As a result, the Panamanian Red Cross has expanded its services, including by hiring a doctor to prescribe medicine and setting up a permanent tent given the rain. Additionally, the Ministry of Health (MINSA for its acronym in Spanish) now has daily services in Lajas Blancas as well. While the Red Cross’s expansion and MINSA’s presence has filled a partial gap in services, according to interviews with humanitarian actors in June 2024, the medical providers consistently run out of basic medicines, have an exceedingly small staff, do not offer psychological services, and are not sharing data on sexual violence rates with other humanitarian organizations.

A Venezuelan woman receives intravenous hydration in the Lajas Blancas reception station. Photo by Refugees International.

Multiple families interviewed by Refugees International confirmed that they were denied medical attention from the Red Cross in Lajas Blancas for fevers or severe dehydration of their children because priority was given to more severe cases. Soledad from Venezuela explained that while the Red Cross did clean the cuts on her feet and those of others in her family, the Red Cross did not give any medicine to her son, who had been running a fever for days.The woman pictured above arrived severely dehydrated, and while MINSA was able to provide intravenous hydration, she required further medical attention that was not offered in Lajas Blancas. Several hours later, a vehicle arrived to take her to a clinic in the nearby town of Meteti. Overall, there continues to be no access to trauma or emergency-level care in the Darien province, so migrants with more severe illnesses like malaria or injuries like broken bones either have to be transferred to a hospital in Panama City or wait until they reach Costa Rica for treatment.

Changes Post Election

On July 1, 2024, the newly elected Panamanian president Jose Raul Mulino set out a series of new policies and responses to migrant and refugee flows through the Darien aimed at deterring migration. During his campaign, then-candidate Mulino vowed to close the Darien Gap, including making promises to repatriate migrants who successfully crossed. In late June, even before president Mulino’s inauguration, SNF officials confirmed that Panama had begun to put-up approximately 3 kilometers of barbed wire fencing along the border with Colombia in an attempt to block some of the walking pathways available to migrants crossing. Despite this move at some entry points along the border, the main pathway through Darien–which leads first to Bajo Chiquito and later to Lajas Blancas–was never closed. The fencing barriers at certain crossing points seemed to have very little effect overall, as migrants and smugglers almost immediately either cut through the fencing or crawled under or around them. Interviews with migrants crossing in the days leading up to president Mulino’s inauguration also reported SNF officers conducting patrols along the main pathway through Darien, though there were no reports of migrants being stopped or sent back by officials.

In addition to physical barriers, on July 1, following Mulino’s inauguration, the United States signed an MOU with Panama promising both financial and training assistance to begin repatriation flights from Panama. The first repatriation flight left from Panama City on August 20, 2024. As it stands, the United States has pledged six million dollars to support repatriation flights. As of August 2024, Panama and the United States plan to conduct deportation flights for some migrants from Colombia, Ecuador, India and China in an effort to stop migrants using the Darien route to transit to the United States. As of now, these flights will not include Venezuelans–who make up 65 percent of those crossing the Darien–as Panama (and Costa Rica) broke diplomatic relations with Venezuela following the July 28th election, which suspended all flights from the Central American countries. As a condition of the United States’ financial support for repatriation flights in the Congressional appropriation of the funds, repatriated migrants must be screened in Panama to ensure against refoulement (or return to persecution).

As of August 2024, migrants continue to cross unabated through both the primary and subsidiary routes of the Darien Gap to primarily reach the Lajas Blancas reception station. Although migrants can continue to cross without much pushback, the threats to shut down the pathways through the Darien and fear of deportation may have influenced some migrants’ decisions to cross the gap in the short-term. Indeed, migration through the Darien Gap went down significantly in August of 2024. But by September 9, 2024, Panama’s National Migration Service stated that 244,243 people had migrated through the Darién Gap, 41 percent more than August’s average.

From Lajas Blancas, migrants also continue to take buses northward into Costa Rica, as a part of Panama’s long standing-controlled flow policy.

After the Gap: From Panama to Costa Rica

Costa Rica is home to a large number of refugees and asylum seekers in proportion to its local population, and that number is growing. In 2020, Costa Rica hosted 121,980 forcibly displaced people. In 2022, that number jumped to 270,986 , the majority who had come southward to the country from Nicaragua (and to a lesser extent El Salvador and Honduras). In late 2022, the Chaves administration implemented restrictionist policies aimed at deterring people from accessing the asylum system if they did not have what was perceived to be a meritorious claim. Executive Decree 43.810 introduced multiple changes including a 30-day deadline to submit an asylum claim, a safe third country bar to asylum, and changes to the delivery of work permits, among others.

Despite these changes to the asylum system, applications continued to rise in 2023 to 497,350, further straining the system, which is understaffed and resource constrained, resulting in a large backlog of cases. The decree was repealed in June 2024, reestablishing a more favorable system for those seeking protection. Those with refugee status in Costa Rica can access formal employment, healthcare, and social security in the country. However, refugees still face barriers to access formal work and integration in the country. Venezuelans, Cubans, and Nicaraguans who are denied asylum are eligible for a two-year temporary permit to stay and work in the country legally, which can be renewed for up to two years.

By the time the decree was instated, Costa Rica was facing another challenge: increasing numbers of people transiting through the country (after transiting the Darien gap) rather than applying for asylum. More than 226,000 people transited through the country in 2022, 80% more than in 2021, and in 2023, 456,800 people transited through, 130 percent more than 2022. In response, the government enacted a state of emergency in September of 2023 and created a Contingency Strategy for Providing Coordinated Humanitarian Attention to Mixed Migration Trends in Transit through Costa Rica with the help of the UN system slated to be implemented in October of 2024. This state of emergency allows the National Commission for Risk Prevention and Emergency Response (CNE) to take a series of administrative, operational and economic actions to support the protection of families already at the borders and guarantee them safe transit to their next destination.

A Safe Mobility Office also began in Costa Rica in mid 2023. Through the initiative, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and Ecuadorians in Costa Rica arriving on or before June 12, 2023 are eligible to apply through an online platform to be considered for humanitarian and other regular pathways to the United States, including through the parole processes for Venezuelans and Nicaraguans, and to other countries. In September 2024, Costa Rica and the United States announced that the Safe Mobility Offices in Costa Rica will be extended until December 2025. Costa Rica will also expand eligibility criteria to include nationals from eligible countries who were present in Costa Rica on or before September 15, 2024. Although it does not divert migrants away from the Darien, this extension and expansion is an important step for migrants who have crossed the Darien in 2024 as the SMO initiative can be a lifeline for many to access pathways to the United States without continuing the journey to Mexico.

Panama-Costa Rica Coordination

Panama and Costa Rica have a history of cross border coordination and collaboration on the issue of migration, such as agreements to share biometric data and to streamline customs and immigration processes at their shared border. In October of 2023, the coordination began to include a new bussing program as part of the “controlled flow” approach, which aims to improve migration management for Darien migrants through Panama. The buses run from Lajas Blancas and San Vicente in Panama over the Panama/Costa Rican border at Paso Canoas to a reception center in Corredores a few kilometers from the border. Roughly thirty buses a day enter Costa Rica from Panama, typically with around 50 migrants and no attendants on board. The journey lasts around 12 hours. The buses then leave again north to the town of Los Chiles at the Costa Rican border with Nicaragua.

The bussing program has several benefits for the Panamanian and Costa Rican migration management goals and for migrants alike, but should be adapted to reduce undue burden on the most vulnerable of migrant families. The Panamanian government’s stated aim with this bussing program is to reduce the power of smugglers who charge migrants exorbitant rates to traverse northward. The buses also move migrants through Panama and Costa Rica as fast as possible. This is a political strategy to reduce migrant visibility in these countries given presidential promises to keep migrants out of public spaces. Catholic organizations in Costa Rica that provide support to migrants have denounced aspects of the bussing program, including the fees, the number of accidents that occur, and drop offs in northern Costa Rica where migrants are preyed upon by criminal groups. However, migrants interviewed by Refugees International generally view the bussing option favorably because it reduces the risks of travel by foot such as lack of shelter, vulnerability to robberies and assaults, and health problems from exposure to the elements. However, both in Panama and Costa Rica, there are financial requirements that can place undue burden on the most vulnerable of migrant families as many are not able to cover the costs of the bus fare for their children. This burden can cause migrants to be stranded in Panama and Costa Rica, which runs contrary to the governments’ aims of moving them out of the country.

According to the IOM, the Government of Costa Rica has an official registry for those persons using the direct route between Corredores and the northern border of Los Chiles. From September, 2022 to September 2024 more than 743,000 people transited through Costa Rica, with over 200,000 migrants using this bussing system. The number of people traversing Costa Rica and accessing the bus program decreased substantially in June and July of 2024, however, migrant presence in areas far from these checkpoints, such as the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM), Liberia, San Carlos and Upala, suggests that there is still a considerable flow through unofficial routes. Additionally, the total figures of people entering and transiting through Costa Rica from January to August in 2024 remain just slightly under figures from 2023 and preliminary numbers from September show higher rates of migration, meaning the need to respond to the humanitarian situation in Costa Rica remains salient, even if crossings are slightly down.

Migrants boarding the bus at the Emi Sur in Costa Rica heading north to Los Chiles. Photo by Refugees International.

Costa Rica Reception

Paso Canoas/Corredores General Observations

Prior to October 2023, migrants entering Costa Rica from Panama were sent to a makeshift camp in an abandoned airfield in Paso Canoas. News outlets and humanitarian workers interviewed by Refugees International described this situation as a “disaster” and “nightmare” for the migrants and those providing services to them, as the airfield was chaotic and migrants were highly visible in the town, stoking some tension between migrants and the local community. In October of 2023, the Government of Costa Rica enacted a new strategy to move migrants to a South Migration Station at Corredores known as the Emi Sur and administered by the Costa Rican Migration Authority (DGME) through the Professional Migration Police (PPM). This station was designed to house humanitarian responders, bus services, and representatives of Costa Rican government agencies all in one place. According to the IOM, after the creation of the Emi Sur station, there was an increase in the reception of migrants at this location and a decrease in migrants stranded in public places. Notably, migrants are not allowed to leave the Emi Sur without special permission, such as accessing specialized healthcare or applying for refugee status. Access to the Emi Sur station is tightly controlled.

There are several organizations that are part of the migrant response in the Emi Sur. Costa Rican government agencies are present, including the National Women’s Institute (INAMU for its Spanish acronym), Ministry of Health, and The National Children’s Trust (PANI for its Spanish acronym). UNHCR opened a Field Unit in Ciudad Neily roughly fifteen kilometers from Corredores, and established a permanent team of five people that conduct operations in the Emi Sur. UNHCR leads the Emi Sur Protection Worktable, which is made up of humanitarian partners who identify protection needs and align inter-agency response. They also conduct protection screenings and assist in handing out essential items. HIAS is also present providing similar assistance such as protection screenings along with humanitarian essentials. IOM conducts their Displacement Tracking Matrix surveys on site; Refugees International observed IOM interviewing migrants in the Emi Sur. There are also several local organizations operating in partnership with the government, International Organizations, and International NGOs.

When Refugees International visited the Emi Sur in June, it was extremely crowded and lacked distinct locations where services were provided or where migrants could rest before boarding buses to Los Chiles. There were bathrooms and showers where people could clean themselves and their clothes and tents to provide shade, although sanitary conditions could be improved through better trash collection. Several services are available in the Emi Sur, including clothing distribution, a lactation room for nursing mothers, information sessions for those who experienced sexual and gender based violence, and educational workshops for children. The RI team interviewed workers running these programs who attested to their importance but inability to reach everyone in need given limited staff capacity as well as the short amount of time migrants stayed in the Emi Sur. The lactation room was underutilized, as most mothers were observed breastfeeding in the open, as is culturally accepted in the region.

Private Companies in the Emi Sur

Refugees International also observed several private companies operating in the station. Within the large warehouse-like building in the Emi Sur is Western Union, where migrants can pick up money wired to them from family members abroad. Claro Mobile, a popular phone company within Latin America, is also present and sells SIM cards, cell phones, and phone service packages. Within the warehouse is the bus company Tracopa, which has a contract with the Costa Rican government, selling tickets for $30 dollars per person to continue their journey north. In May of 2024, 32,364 migrants moved using this route. In June it was 32,541 and in July it was 22,624. Though numbers have dropped partly because of rain, they are expected to rise in September and October.

Tracopa Bus Company and Western Union inside the terminal in the Emi Sur. Photo by Refugees International.

Most migrants interviewed were aware of the $30 cost of the bus ticket and were willing to pay for adults. However, the majority of migrants interviewed by Refugees International were unaware this fee applied to children, particularly children young enough to sit on a parent’s lap. Due to this unforeseen fee, many migrants were stranded inside of the Emi Sur awaiting money from family members back in Venezuela or until they could borrow enough money from other migrants to pay the bus fares. Many people complained that, because they could not leave the Emi Sur station, they could not work to raise the remainder of the money needed to pay for their children’s tickets. Most migrants stated that, if they were not contained in the Emi Sur, they would leave for a few days to go do informal work, but as they had no option to do so, they were stranded awaiting remittances or support from other migrants.

There is a humanitarian bus option for migrants who cannot afford to pay the cost of the bus tickets, but migration authorities in the Emi Sur do not widely publicize it and there is a fair amount of disinformation about it circulating within the station. Migrants told Refugees International they had to wait anywhere from five to fifteen days in the Emi Sur to be eligible for the humanitarian bus. Others were under the impression they had to stay in the Temporary Attention Center for Migrants (CATEM for its Spanish acronym) shelter, discussed below, but were unaware of the requirements to access the shelter.

Gisele’s Journey

One migrant named Gisele slept for several days in the bus terminal area with her husband and three children, all under the age of ten, because they couldn’t afford the bus tickets for three children. After gang members killed her father, Gisele left Venezuela at the age of eighteen and moved to Necocli, Colombia. There she met her husband, another Venezuelan who fled to Colombia at a young age, and had her children, who have Colombian citizenship. Although Gisele and her husband both had a regular temporary status in Colombia (the PPT for its Spanish acronym), they were barely surviving working as window washers. They began to receive threats from the Gulf Clan when unable to pay to work on a street controlled by the clan. Having no other choice, they fled Colombia. Because of the nature of the threats, they could not employ Gulf Clan smugglers to take them through the Darien, which increased their vulnerability. Gisele said she suffered nightmares and flashbacks from witnessing the rape of a mother and her five-year-old daughter in the Darien. Giselle had not received mental healthcare in Panama or Costa Rica. Her husband also has a heart condition that was exacerbated in the jungle, but had not sought out medical care. Gisele and her family wanted to take the humanitarian bus option, but were unaware of the criteria and were under the impression that they had to stay a minimum of fifteen days in the CATEM shelter to receive it. It was unclear where she had received such information.

Humanitarian needs

With the shrinking of humanitarian space in Panama, there is greater pressure on Costa Rican entities and international organizations to provide humanitarian support to migrants who have come from the Darien. While Costa Rica has proven willing to scale up humanitarian support, several gaps persist that will require continued coordination between the government and NGOs with additional international support to be adequately addressed. This is particularly important as, for many migrants, Costa Rica is the last country where they can receive humanitarian support until reaching Mexico.

Access to food

Next to the phone service providers in the Emi Sur is a small food stall, the only place where migrants can purchase food. In some cases, this is the only food migrants can access, as the Costa Rican government operates a cafeteria in the Emi Sur that provides free food to migrants, but often it runs out after serving those with identified vulnerabilities. Refugees International observed many toddlers who had only eaten crackers and infant formula for over 24 hours while waiting in the Emi Sur, a diet inappropriate for their age and nutritional requirements. Their parents stated there was not enough food from the cafeteria and they went hungry. Based on interviews with migrants and humanitarian workers, access to food was one of the principal needs of migrants during their stay in the Emi Sur.

Healthcare

Another huge need is health services because many arriving migrants have not had access to healthcare since leaving the Darien Gap. Rashes and gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses, which used to be treated by MSF in Panama, are common. MSF has relocated to the Emi Sur in Costa Rica, where they are providing accessory support to their local partner Cadena, but not the full scale operations they had in Panama (although they are working to scale up support for survivors of sexual violence). Migrants who have acute or emergency health needs can access a private health operator within the Emi Sur compound, or they are taken to the local hospital to receive treatment.

Child with rash acquired in the Darien jungle. Photo by Refugees International.

However, the key shortcoming at the Emi Sur is the lack of mandatory screenings for migrants. Migrants with health or protection needs generally must self-report to humanitarian workers or the migration authorities in the station to receive care. This is particularly problematic for migrants who do not speak Spanish, including Chinese migrants and those from several African nations. Refugees International spoke with a man from Angola who needed care for his disabled, non-verbal adult son. He spoke Portuguese and did not have the ability to communicate with the PPM or humanitarian workers without the use of translation. The RI team encountered him again in the northern border of Los Chiles, still searching for medical care. Additionally, access to certain medications and mental health services are limited. Refugees International interviewed several migrants with health concerns who did not wish to seek out care as they wanted to leave the station as quickly as possible or who were not aware of the health services provided. Refugees International also encountered two pregnant women seeking care, but as it was the weekend, there was no doctor available to attend them.

Limited healthcare, food, information, and other services at the Emi Sur are likely due to staff and resource constraints. Indeed, the UN Preparedness and Response Plan for people in transit estimates a $9.7 million USD shortfall in financing to adequately address the response for migrants in transit. The Costa Rican state of emergency in theory should create a Special Emergency Fund and facilitate the use of left-over funds from other “resolved” emergencies for the support and safe transit of migrants. However, according to several humanitarian organizations, these funds have not been released quickly nor sufficiently to address the need. In September 2024, the U.S. government announced that a “significant portion” of the $686 million in new funding will support regional efforts to respond to urgent humanitarian needs, like basic food, shelter, and health care for migrants and displaced persons. These funds should also go to support Costa Rica in scaling up the humanitarian support at the Emi Sur and northern borders.

Safe Spaces

Another critical need is for shelter and safe spaces. Migrants who are unable to purchase a bus ticket are typically stranded and must sleep in the Emi Sur. Most stranded migrants sleep under tented areas or within the bus terminal area, including children. Because the Emi Sur is not a shelter, migrants are not segregated by gender or age, meaning children, LGBTQ+ people, and women can be susceptible to risks while sleeping unprotected. Humanitarian workers stated they are planning to provide more safe spaces but have limited resources. There is one space called the Listening Room, which is available for any humanitarian actor to use when speaking with migrants and it should be replicated.

Refugees International was approached by Katy, a Venezuelan lesbian woman traveling with her wife, two young children, and mother-in-law. Visibly upset and running a high fever and chills, Katy explained that upon arrival to the Emi Sur, the PPM, noticing that she was a lesbian and masculine presenting, were verbally abusive to her and took away some of her personal items without explanation. She explained that her mother-in-law had been raped in the Darien and was in need of help, but migration police did not respond appropriately. Despite encouragement to report the incident or to seek healthcare for her high fever and for the traumatic incident with her mother-in-law, Katy stated she was desperate to leave the station as soon as possible due to this treatment. She was asking other migrants for monetary support to buy her children’s bus tickets, and left shortly after arrival.

For those with the highest vulnerabilities and protection concerns, the CATEM in the Emi Sur has dormitories that can temporarily shelter 280 people. People staying at the CATEM can remain there and access additional health and protection services until they finance their journey or until they are selected for humanitarian transport service to the northern border. The humanitarian bus option is also offered to those who complete volunteer service in the Emi Sur. Within the CATEM, there are two child-friendly spaces sponsored by UNICEF. The CATEM services are critical for migrants with high vulnerabilities, but shelter space is limited.

Information and Protection

A final important need is access to information about the protection system in Costa Rica. Migrants who express a desire to apply for asylum in Costa Rica can apply at the Paso Canoas border, where there is a DGME office. The number of refugee status applications in southern Costa Rica is small but growing. Organizations like UNHCR and HIAS provide critical protection screenings, but, as mentioned previously, the short time frame migrants stay in the Emi Sur, and the lack of mandatory information sessions or screenings raises the risk of some migrants falling through the cracks. There is a need for a more formalized and systematic approach to ensure migrants receive information regarding the refugee system in Costa Rica and can apply for international protection in Costa Rica. Those that do apply for refugee status in Costa Rica can access a myriad of services, including cash based assistance, from UNHCR and HIAS while they await their applications to be reviewed. Additionally, migrants could also be screened for, and provided information about, other options such as pathways to the United States or asylum in Mexico.

Los Chiles

From the Emi Sur, migrants take a roughly nine hour bus ride to the northern border of Costa Rica at Los Chiles. The reception of migrants in Los Chiles runs in stark contrast to operations in Corredores. In the Emi Sur, migrants movements are tightly controlled and humanitarian services are consolidated into one place, while in Los Chiles, migrants move freely, but with minimal access to humanitarian care.

Buses typically arrive at night to the Los Chiles bus terminal, where migrants can fall prey to robbery or other crimes. There is no migration reception station present in Los Chiles. Instead, humanitarian organizations have offices throughout the area. The bus station is several kilometers away from the Costa Rica/Nicaragua border, so some migrants take taxis to reach the border. According to locals interviewed by Refugees International, taxis charge migrants five times the going rate. Many migrants opt to walk from Los Chiles to the unofficial border crossings.

Migrants walking to Las Tablillas border crossing in northern Costa Rica. Photo by Refugees International.

Additionally, IOM reports a steady number of migrants stranded in the northern cantons of Costa Rica, predominantly in Los Chiles and other towns like Ciudad Quesada due to lack of economic resources to continue their journey (crossing the Nicaraguan border). Here, migrants are much more visible as they sleep and work in public spaces. Organizations like HIAS and UNHCR operate in these northern zones to provide legal services, protection screenings, and economic assistance. But, because these services are decentralized, organizations spend more time identifying migrants in need. There are a few local organizations, such as Casa Esperanza and the Nazareth Church, that provide food and shelter to some migrants, but their capacity is limited.

Humanitarian workers stated that a more centralized approach, like in the south, would allow them to reach more migrants and would reduce migrant vulnerability to criminal activity or mistreatment. A centralized site could be used to identify people with protection concerns, particularly for those who wish to seek asylum in Costa Rica.

What’s next?

When asked what their plans were after leaving Costa Rica, most people told Refugees International that they planned to walk and take buses through Central America. All stated they would sleep outdoors and were unaware of shelter networks or humanitarian services they could access en route. Two Venezuelan migrants stated they would be willing to stay in Nicaragua for a short period of time to work in order to raise the money to continue their journey more comfortably by bus. All migrants, with the exception of Venezuelans, must pay a fee of over $100 to enter Nicaragua.

All the migrants interviewed had a goal of reaching the United States, and some were willing to stay in Mexico if they could not enter the United States. Nearly all were aware of the CBP One application, that most who enter through U.S. land border ports of entry with a CBP One appointment are paroled into the United States, and that they could wait in Mexico until assigned an appointment. By August 2024, several of the people Refugees International interviewed in Los Chiles in June were sleeping in public places in Mexico while waiting. One family the RI team interviewed had been detained by National Migration Institute agents (INM for its Spanish acronym) and bused south to Villahermosa. Other families Refugees International followed up with while they waited in Mexico said that they had not received any kind of humanitarian attention since leaving Costa Rica. As of September 2024, several people interviewed had received appointments through CBP One and a few had been paroled into the United States.

Migrant child waiting to cross the Costa Rica/Nicaragua border. Photo by Refugees International.

Authorized Pathways to the U.S.

Most migrants crossing the Gap, especially Venezuelans, are set on reaching the United States. In June of 2024, 96 percent of migrants surveyed by the IOM indicated that the United States was their destination.

A true solution to resolving the humanitarian challenges confronted in Costa Rica and Panama is implementing measures to reduce the need to travel through the gap, including expanding access to legal status and economic inclusion in South American countries and by providing direct pathways to the United States. The Biden administration has created new pathways for Venezuelans and others to legally enter the United states, but they are not designed for those currently leaving Venezuela (or others on the move through the gap).

Direct pathways are available through the Safe Mobility Office (SMO) in Colombia. This initiative allows Cubans, Haitians, and Venezuelans who were in Colombia on or before June 11, 2023 to access pathways to the United States, principally through refugee resettlement and parole programs. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in Colombia have used a web portal to apply for a screening through the SMO. Of these, tens of thousands have been screened by UNHCR and referred to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) for screening for refugee resettlement. More than ten thousand of these cases have been approved for resettlement and a few thousand of these approved refugees have arrived in the United States. Several thousand more are awaiting assurances from resettlement agencies to do so and will likely travel directly to the United States from Colombia within the next four months.

This is an important development that demonstrates the potential of the SMO program. However, most of the Venezuelans Refugees International interviewed coming from Colombia were unaware of the SMO program. In addition, those Venezuelans who had recently left Venezuela could not apply at the SMO. The current June 11, 2023 cutoff date for eligibility means that Venezuelans who are fleeing Venezuela following the 2024 elections cannot access the SMO. Colombia and the United States would need to bilaterally agree to changing the cut off date to December 1, 2024 to make newly arriving Venezuelans eligible and have their applications processed before the end of the calendar year (when the existence of the SMOs will need to be renegotiated).

The parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicarguans and Venezuelans (CHNV program) provides another pathway for Venezuelans to access protection in the United States instead of making the journey through the Darien Gap. The program requires a U.S. based supporter to apply for a Venezuelan (and immediate family members) to be considered for travel authorization to fly to the United States and for parole for two years upon arrival at a U.S. airport. Importantly, migrants are ineligible for the parole program if they crossed without authorization into Panama. Each month,30,000 people of all four nationalities are eligible for parole through the program and there is a large backlog of applications to be processed.

From its inception for Venezuelans in late 2022 through August 2024, 117, 000 Venezuelans arrived in the United States through the program. But most people the RI team interviewed did not have access to the program’s requirements of a valid passport and an economic supporter in the United States. This suggests that the current design of the CHNV program is excluding a substantial number of vulnerable people with a high motivation to migrate, and is underperforming in its goal of providing an orderly alternative to irregular migration. If sponsorship were better facilitated in the United States, the documentary requirements for the program were modified such that other forms of ID besides passports were accepted, and the cap on monthly CHNV paroles raised (from 7,500 Venezuelans a month to 15,000 Venezuelans a month), more Venezuelans could utilize this pathway.

Conclusion

As the number of migrants traversing the Darien Gap and heading north continues, improved screening and increased humanitarian support must be available in Panama and Costa Rica. The bussing program from Panama to Costa Rica is a productive start that should be supplemented and organized to better manage migration and meet the needs of refugees without placing undue burden on migrants who cannot access the means to pay for the program. Until increased pathways to the United States and more robust support for economic inclusion are available to ensure migrants no longer need to cross the Darien Gap, governments must ensure that migrants’ rights are upheld and that they have access to essential humanitarian services while on the move after the Darien.

Endnotes

[1] Non-governmental update on post Venezuelan elections (2024). [Confidential document].

Rachel Schmidtke is the senior advocate for Latin America at Refugees International. Follow her on X at @r_schmidtke.

Caitlyn Yates is a PhD student in sociocultural anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Follow her on X at @yatescait.

Featured Image: Migrants cross the Tuquesa river near Bajo Chiquito village, the first border control of the Darien Province in Panama, on September 22, 2023. Photo by Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images.