LAJAS BLANCAS, Panama (AP) — Venezuelans trekking across the Darien Gap – a rugged jungle passage between Colombia and Panama – say they’re making the perilous journey because they lost hope for change after a contentious presidential election handed victory to President Nicolás Maduro despite vote tallies released by the opposition showing that his competitor won by a landslide.
“We stayed waiting for the election (results) because if Maduro left (power) then we would stay. But nothing happened,” said Enrique Dordis, 46, a former cab driver from the central state of Carabobo, who left Venezuela last week with his wife, an 8-year-old son, Emanuel, and four other family members.
If you walk that, you’re really desperate. That’s not at all what you would consider a viable route if you have any alternatives.
Which makes me wonder, are there literally no alternatives in South America itself? I know Argentina has gone to shit, but what of the other countries?
There’s millions of Venezuelans in Colombia, Ecuador and further South. But their options there are for more limited than in the US.