The Darién Gap
A Reporter's Journey through the Deadly Crossroads of the Americas
A riveting story set in the hemispheric crossroads between Panama and Colombia, journalist Belén Fernández’s The Darién Gap reports on the inhospitable journey migrants and refuge seekers endure for a chance at a better life in the United States.
A veritable hotbed of illegal activity, the Darién Gap is hostile terrain—and the sole land bridge connecting South and Central America. While the lengthy stretch is only accessible on foot and replete with danger, hundreds of thousands of displaced people have no choice but to contend with its natural and social perils, from raging rivers and decomposing cadavers to covert looters and corrupt officials.
Fernández details her Venezuelan boyfriend Johan’s previous attempts at entering the Gap while performing reconnaissance in preparation for her own self-elected crossing. The story is told through a mix of indirect reportage detailing Johan’s experiences and testimonies from refuge seekers, law enforcement officials at migrant camps and checkpoints, and guides operating as de facto people smugglers. Together, they expose the dangers in and around the dense rainforest that serves as a perilous alternative to the United States’ “insufficient ‘pathways to lawful migration.’”
A wealth of geopolitical history bolsters the book, contextualizing the “fittingly capitalist backdrop” that surrounds the Darién Gap. With a pronounced anti-imperialist stance, it illuminates a clandestine matrix rooted in corruption, extortion, and dehumanization operating on a local and global scale. Pointing to an insidious underworld economy born in the shadow of mass migration, Fernández writes about the role of the United States in the criminalization of migrants and the various entities profiting from the interminable suffering of the world’s most vulnerable demographics.
A travelogue punctuated by bouts of critical analysis, The Darién Gap offers a harrowing glimpse into the reality of a natural phenomenon made criminal.
Reviewed by
Xenia Dunford
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