Darien Gap is a geographic region in the Isthmus of Darién or Isthmus of Panama connecting the American continents within Central America.
Key points
- The Darien Gap is a stretch of densely forested jungle across northern Colombia and southern Panama.
- Roughly 60 miles (97 kilometres) across, the terrain is muddy, wet and unstable. Despite these challenges, it remains the only land-based pathway connecting South America to Central America.
- For asylum seekers and other migrants heading to the United States and other northern destinations, as dangerous as it is, the Darien Gap has lately become the primary passageway.
- It has become a major route for global human migration. The route is being used migrants from South America to North America.
- The route is controlled by criminal organisations that make millions, if not billions of dollars, annually in the human migration economy.
