Migrants stranded in northern Colombia struggling to survive

Colombia and Panama to hold a meeting on Monday to discuss the passage of thousands of migrants stranded in the border region.

Migrants and asylum seekers are struggling to survive in a port town in northern Colombia from where they are hoping to continue on their journeys towards the United States and Canada. For years, the coastal town of Necocli, in Colombia’s Antioquia province, has been a key transit point for migrants seeking to cross Panama’s dangerous Darien Gap region northwards in search of protection and better opportunities. That influx dried up in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions and border closures, but Necocli was overwhelmed soon after Colombia opened its frontiers in May. About 10,000 migrants have since flooded into the town, with many forced to wait for weeks for scarce boat transport to Panama.