Movements and routes through the Darién Gap
The journey through the Darién Gap usually starts in the Colombian ports of Necoclí or Turbo, where local communities offer maritime transportation to the towns of Acandí or Capurganá. Migrants are charged high amounts of money for every section of the trip. After crossing by boat, they must pay again to be allowed to continue through the jungle to the Panamanian side. There are three main paths leading to the government-run reception centres of Lajas Blancas and San Vicente, through the communities of Bajo Chiquito or Canaán Membrillo. The crossing lasts from 5 to 15 days and total costs range from $435 to more than 200,000 per person. There is also a more expensive VIP route, mostly used by Chinese. Migrants and asylum seekers then continue their trip to the Temporary Attention Center for Migrants (CATEM) in Costa Rica, from where, since October, they are directly transferred by bus to the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border. Many, however, run out of money before starting the trek and remain stranded in Turbo and Necoclí, where they are vulnerable to extortion, violence, and human trafficking.
El broche de oro en el peinado
Las flores son las grandes protagonistas en los peinados de las sevillanas que se visten de flamencas. Sin embargo, los expertos apuntan que las flores no deben estar presentes cuando no vamos vestidas así. En cambio, podemos seguir una de las grandes tendencias del momento, que propone Carmen Marcos de CCM: "Hemos hecho una clara apuesta por los prendidos, que son piezas que permiten dar un toque especial al peinado. Desde nuestras horquillas joya, en forma de flores, estrellas, moscas; hasta nuestras crestas y cubremoños, pasando por una renovación de los clásicos peinecillos flamencos".
Quedan horas para que de comienzo la Feria de Abril de 2024 en Sevilla. A las 00.00 del día 14 de abril y tras la celebración de la cena del 'pescaíto', se llevará a cabo el alumbrado en el Real de la Feria. Por delante nos esperan siete días de fiesta y un desfile de looks sobre el albero. ¿Tienes ya outfit? Si la respuesta es no, nuestra guía te ayudará a resolver con éxito este problema de estilo.
Los JJ.OO de Tokio podrían cancelarse en las próximas horas
The number of children crossing has also soared
According to Diana Romero, emergency specialist at UNICEF Panamá, one in five migrants crossing the Darién is a child – half of them under the age of five. Although there are no accurate figures, there are many reports of children dying during the trek. The number of unaccompanied children is of particular concern. In 2022, UNICEF assisted about 1,000 unaccompanied minors, but in 2023 that figure reached 3,300. Of those, 67% were teenagers, 21% children aged between 6 and 12, and of the rest, 10% are babies, Romero said. Often, younger children get separated from their relatives during the trek only managing to reunite later on. According to Francisco Pulido, Plan International´s director of humanitarian action and stabilisation in Colombia, teenagers tend to travel in friend groups – often motivated by misinformation shared on social media. In other cases, the entire family cannot afford to continue the trek so parents leave their children in camps, hoping to send them money to follow on later.
Most of the medical cases that aid organisations come across and treat are related to the dangers of the jungle itself, or due to the lack of access to clean water and food en route. There’s no data available, but humanitarian groups say there has also been a rising number of migrants travelling with pre-existing chronic conditions – psychiatric disorders, diabetes, hypertension, or asthma. These people often require emergency assistance because their medications get lost or stolen.