Colombia: thousands of Haitian and Cuban migrants stranded in the city of Necoclí
A Haitian migrant with his child waiting in Necocli for a boat that will bring them near the Panama border, July 29, 2021. AP - Ivan Valencia
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
It is a humanitarian crisis that is currently playing out in Necoclí, Colombia.
About 10,000 migrants, mainly Haitians and Cubans, are currently stuck, according to the authorities, in this small town in the northwest of the country.
Their goal is to reach the United States via Panama and Central America.
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Necoclí is just a stopover for migrants who take
this well-known migratory route
.
It is in this small Colombian port town that they wait to take a boat to cross the Gulf of Uraba.
But in recent days, the local shipping company can no longer keep up.
Tickets are being sold in small quantities because the weather is bad.
The result is congestion in Necoclí.
According to the local press, more than 10,000 people are crowding together on beaches and in parks amid a pandemic.
Public services are saturated.
The mayor of Necoclí calls on Bogotá for help, especially since the problem is not new: already in January, hundreds of migrants found themselves stranded in the city due to the closed borders.
The start of a long journey through the jungle
After crossing the Gulf of Uraba, these migrants begin a multi-day trek through the jungle of Panama.
A road that
the Colombian magazine Semana
describes as "
hell
", but that 33,000 people have already taken this year according to the Colombian authorities.
These migrants from Haiti, Cuba, Senegal and even Ghana,
then cross Central America
and Mexico, in the hope of reaching the border with the United States.
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Colombia
International Migration
Immigration
Haiti
Cuba
United States