More migrants report sex abuse crossing Panama's Darien Gap

25/10/2021 7:03

        A growing number of women migrants crossing the forbidding jungle of the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama on their route north are reporting sexual assaults, grabbing the attention of Panamanian lawmakers.
        
        On Saturday, a 25-year-old Haitian woman told members of a Panamanian congressional committee visiting Darien province that she had been assaulted just days before she navigated the lawless area with her husband and 8-month-old son.
        
        The family stepped from a boat that had carried them along a roiling river to Lajas Blancas from Bajo Chiquito, the first small population center many migrants encounter after crossing the mountainous border.
        
        Hundreds of other migrants arrived Saturday alongside them.
        
        Panamanian lawmaker Zulay Rodriguez said her committee had collected around 1,000 allegations of sexual abuse since they began investigating the issue two months ago.