Panama: Migrants rest after risking their lives in the Darien Gap

Migrants took shelter in a refugee camp in the Darien province, on Wednesday, after many of them crossed the dangerous Columbian–Panama border in an effort to get to the United States. Somalian migrant, Sahnun Gahnug Muhumed, said he came to Central America because he wanted "not a better life, but just to live." The Darien gap, the jungle which stretches across the border, has become an increasingly common route for migrants who can come from as close as Cuba and as far as Nepal. Crossing the jungle can be extremely dangerous, due to adverse terrain, dangerous animals, a lack of food and water and the threat of human traffickers who operate in the area. The Darien is the only place in which the Pan American Highway, which stretches from Patagonia in the south to Alaska in the north, is not completed. The route has become more attractive due to the easing of visa and asylum requirements in some Central and South America countries. The number of people that make the journey is unclear, although Panama processed some 8,345 migrants in 2014. In the first three months of 2015, Panama has already processed about 3,800 migrants.