{"id":18407,"date":"2024-04-04T17:44:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/04\/sexual-assault-of-migrants-in-panama-rises-to-level-rarely-seen-outside-war\/"},"modified":"2024-04-04T17:44:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:44:07","slug":"sexual-assault-of-migrants-in-panama-rises-to-level-rarely-seen-outside-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/04\/sexual-assault-of-migrants-in-panama-rises-to-level-rarely-seen-outside-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexual Assault of Migrants in Panama Rises to Level Rarely Seen Outside War"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/25\/multimedia\/00darien-sexual-violence-promo\/00darien-sexual-violence-01-zvcl-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Sexual Assault of Migrants in Panama Rises to Level Rarely Seen Outside War\" title=\"Sexual Assault of Migrants in Panama Rises to Level Rarely Seen Outside War\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The girl, 8, from Venezuela, had slept fitfully the night before, wailing in her dreams, her mother said, about the men trying to kill her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Days earlier, the family had entered the Dari\u00e9n Gap, the jungle straddling Colombia and Panama that in the last three years has become one of the world\u2019s busiest migrant highways. After climbing mountains and crisscrossing rivers in their quest to reach the United States, their group was accosted by a half-dozen men in ski masks, holding long guns and issuing threats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWomen, take off your clothes!\u201d the assailants shouted, the mother recounted, before they probed each woman\u2019s intimate parts looking for cash.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sons, brothers and husbands were forced to watch. Then the men turned to the girl, her mother said, ordering her to undress for a search, too. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Assault, robbery and rape have long been a grim risk of migrant journeys around the globe. But aid groups working in the Dari\u00e9n Gap say that in the past six months they have documented an extraordinary spike in attacks, with patterns and frequencies rarely seen outside of war zones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nearly all the attacks, they say, are happening on the Panamanian side of the jungle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Long-established aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF, with experience working in conflicts, say the attacks are organized and exceptionally cruel. Perpetrators beat victims and take food, even baby formula, leaving people battered and starving in the forest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And the assaults often involve cases in which dozens of women are violated in a single event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In January and February, Doctors Without Borders recorded 328 reports of sexual violence, compared with 676 in all of 2023. This year, 113 came in a single week in February.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe level of brutality is extreme,\u201d said Luis Eguiluz, the organization\u2019s director in Colombia and Panama.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Several humanitarian organizations, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/report\/2024\/04\/03\/neglected-jungle\/inadequate-protection-and-assistance-migrants-and-asylum-seekers\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">including Human Rights Watch<\/a>, accuse Panama\u2019s border police, which is charged with security in the jungle and has officers patrolling the forest, of failing to protect migrants and allowing perpetrators to commit crimes with impunity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">These accusations come as top Panamanian officials voice growing frustration with the financial and environmental cost that migration has inflicted on the small nation, and amid growing calls among political leaders \u2014 <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TReporta\/status\/1767527444964065284\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">including candidates<\/a> in an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.laestrella.com.pa\/panama\/politica\/zulay-rodriguez-la-candidata-a-la-presidencia-de-panama-que-propone-cerrar-el-darien-AY6427662#google_vignette\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">upcoming presidential election<\/a> \u2014 to halt the flow of people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Two reporters for The New York Times captured a snapshot of the violence in March, speaking with more than 70 people during a four-day period who said they had been robbed by clusters of armed men in the jungle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Of those interviewed, 14 were women who said they had been sexually violated, ranging from forcible touching to rape.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey do all kinds of evil to you,\u201d said one woman, 40, a mother of six who had been living in Chile. She was surrounded by a half-dozen masked men and raped, she said, after the group she was traveling with left her alone in the jungle. (The Times is withholding the names of people who say they had been victims of sexual violence to protect their privacy.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Panama\u2019s top security official, Juan Manuel Pino, whose ministry oversees the 5,000-person border police, known as Senafront, declined repeated requests for an interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Speaking at a public event, Edgar Pitti, the top Senafront official in the Dari\u00e9n, said officers were doing all they could to protect migrants, considering the jungle\u2019s challenging terrain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s important to understand the geographic context,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Several Panamanian officials said the problem was not as serious as described by aid groups and migrants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The prosecutor charged with leading investigations into organized crime, Emeldo M\u00e1rquez, insisted in an interview that sexual violence on the migrant route in his country \u201chas gone down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But data from his office shows investigators opened 17 cases into sexual assault on the Panamanian side of the jungle in 2023, and 14 so far this year. Mr. M\u00e1rquez explained that for some of this year\u2019s cases he was still verifying claims by victims.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The director of the country\u2019s National Migration Service, Samira Gozaine, expressed skepticism recently in a post on the platform X about the data provided by Doctors Without Borders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt is easy to say people here are raped every day,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/migracionpanama\/status\/1766837478185435481\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">she said<\/a>. \u201cWhere is the evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Gozaine declined a request for an interview.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Until recently, Doctors Without Borders was the primary nonprofit providing health care to migrants at the end of the Dari\u00e9n route, with 67 staff serving roughly 5,000 people a month, the organization said. It was also the main group collecting testimony of sexual assault claims.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But in early March, following the organization\u2019s repeated public statements about violence against migrants, Panama ordered Doctors Without Borders to suspend operations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The country\u2019s health minister, Luis Fernando Sucre, said in an interview with The Times that the medical group had not complied with local regulations, including reporting the names of sexual assault victims to the government to help with investigations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The suspension order, he said, was not in retaliation for the group\u2019s reports about attacks in the jungle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Ms. Gozaine also accused the organization and other \u201cinternational organisms\u201d of directing migrants into Panama by providing information about the route, contributing to the country\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Doctors Without Borders declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The 8-year-old girl from Venezuela had been in third grade when her parents decided to leave for the United States. With dark curly hair and a love for animals, she said she wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Her mother, age 35, said their family left Venezuela after they were threatened by supporters of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, whom they had refused to support. They moved to Colombia, where her husband delivered groceries, making less than the minimum monthly wage of about $300. With their two children they eventually decided to follow hundreds of thousands of other Venezuelans on a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/10\/07\/world\/americas\/venezuelan-migrants-us-border.html\" title=\"\">now well-trodden path<\/a> north.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During the attack in early March, the mother said, masked men patrolled a line of terrified people. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A woman who refused to take off her clothes was yanked violently by her hair, she added. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The mother said she was beaten, and then, naked, searched between her legs, a man probing with his fingers, demanding money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When they turned to her daughter, they threatened to kill the girl if she did not undress.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMami,\u201d she recalled her daughter shouting, \u201cI\u2019ll take off my clothes! I don\u2019t want to die.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The men did not touch the girl, her mother said, and after they were sure she had no money, left quickly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Other survivors recounted stories of nearly identical attacks, saying the assaults often happened a few hours\u2019 hike past a Senafront camp inside the forest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last year, Panama arrested four people accused of sexual assault in the jungle, according to Mr. M\u00e1rquez, who declined to say if there had been any arrests this year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">People crossing the Dari\u00e9n in Panama must pass a stretch of the jungle that is home to communities of Kuna and Ember\u00e1 Indigenous peoples. These communities have seen their livelihoods transformed by migration: Their water and land has been polluted by trash, but they also have new opportunities to make money selling food, boat transport and other services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dozens of victims, all of whom spoke Spanish, said the perpetrators spoke to each other in an Indigenous language. Some people said they were robbed multiple times, by men speaking an Indigenous language and, separately, by men speaking Spanish with a Colombian accent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A representative of the Colombian police declined to comment on violence in the jungle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In interviews, several Indigenous leaders said some perpetrators might come from their villages, and urged the Panamanian border police to investigate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Tulio Rosales, a leader in the Ember\u00e1 village of Villa Caleta, called on the border police to \u201cput more force\u201d into migrant protection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A 29-year-old woman from Venezuela left with her partner and four children, fleeing poverty. They had been walking roughly 12 hours a day when armed men stopped them, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The woman\u2019s partner was allowed to move on with the children, but the woman was forced to stay behind and undress. She wept as she described how one of the masked men placed his fingers inside each of the roughly 16 women who remained, searching for money, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Afterward, she fled in a panic, forgetting the family\u2019s food.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then her group was accosted a second time, this time while they slept. Again a group of masked men forced some people to strip naked and hand over cash. This time, the woman said, she had nothing left to give.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As crises around the world have pushed a record number of people from their homes, the Dari\u00e9n jungle \u2014 which must be traversed to reach the United States from South America by foot \u2014 has become an unforgiving rite of passage for those seeking new lives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">More than 520,000 people crossed this stretch last year, more than twice the year before, which has helped fuel the historic number of arrivals at the U.S. border.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This year, Dari\u00e9n crossings in January, February and March were up nearly 25 percent compared to the same period in 2023, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MinSegPma\/status\/1774443674799149097\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according to Panamanian authorities<\/a>, with most people coming from Venezuela, Ecuador, Haiti and Colombia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Panama, a nation of just over four million people, has seen a million migrants pass through in just three years. Ms. Gozaine, the director of the National Migration Service, says this tide of people has <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.migracion.gob.pa\/inicio\/noticias\/1114-directora-samira-gozaine-expone-consecuencias-del-flujo-irregular-de-migrantes-en-foro-internacional\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">cost the country<\/a> $70 million, including money spent on lodging and food at government-run camps at the end of the jungle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The government\u2019s goal, Ms. Gozaine has said, is to provide migrants a \u201cdignified\u201d experience in her country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But as frustration among Panamanian officials has grown, the country\u2019s security officials have deepened <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/20\/us\/politics\/migrants-darien-gap-biden-trump.html\" title=\"\">ties<\/a> to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LauraLoomer\/status\/1763608890602582476\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">several right-wing influencers<\/a> who have become popular in the United States by portraying migrants as potential criminals and aid groups as profiteers <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/article\/former-panama-border-chief-un-is-behind-the-chaos-at-u-s-mexico-border-5593034?welcomeuser=1\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">encouraging their journey<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some influencers have toured the Dari\u00e9n Gap with the border police. Oscar Ramirez, a correspondent for Real America\u2019s Voice, which also hosts Steve Bannon\u2019s show, was invited in February <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-Pjx9Fouv4U\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">to address hundreds of<\/a> Panamanian officials at a security conference in Panama City. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The accusations of sexual assault come as the Biden administration ramps up aid to Panama, which it has called a key partner in its efforts to control and halt the flow of people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the last three years, Washington has delivered nearly $40 million to help Panama deal with migration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked at a recent event if the United States would urge Panama to do more to protect migrants, the U.S. Embassy\u2019s second-in-command in Panama, John Barrett, declined to answer, saying simply that he understood that there was a \u201chumanitarian situation\u201d in the jungle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The mother of the 8-year-old said that on the day the family was attacked, perpetrators took the last of their savings: $280.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey stole my daughter\u2019s innocence,\u201d she said of the attack in the Dari\u00e9n. \u201cI can stand anything, but she cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Eventually, the family made it to southern Mexico. There, the mother said in audio message from a friend\u2019s cellphone, the family was kidnapped and held for two days in a cockfighting arena.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The mother was again forced to strip naked and searched for valuables, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Once released, the family sold candies in the street, planning to use their earnings to try and continue north.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Federico Rios, Sim\u00f3n Posada and Ken Bensinger contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The girl, 8, from Venezuela, had slept fitfully the night before, wailing in her dreams, her mother said, about the men trying to kill her. Days earlier, the family had entered the Dari\u00e9n Gap, the jungle straddling Colombia and Panama that in the last three years has become one of the world\u2019s busiest migrant highways. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/25\/multimedia\/00darien-sexual-violence-promo\/00darien-sexual-violence-01-zvcl-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4760,2941,53,11920,23882,8241,1752,3102],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18407"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18409,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18407\/revisions\/18409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}