Migrants pursue 'Paths of Desperate Hope' for better life across Americas' Darién Gap

Perpignan – Colombian photographer Federico Rios Escobar won the ICRC Humanitarian Visa d’or Award for his photo report on migrants trying to cross the Darién gap between Colombia and Panama in Latin America.

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Venezuelan migrant Luis Miguel Arias (28) with his daughter Melissa (4) taking a break while climbing a hill at the Darien Gap, between Colombia and Panama. He crossed the Gap with his wife, their two children, and a friend. © Federico Rios Escobar

"The award for me is another way to amplify the message in our report. We worked really hard with my partner, Julie Turkewitz, to document this situation," Federico Rios Escobar told RFI.

His photo series "Paths of Desperate Hope", shot between September 2022 and March 2023, follows migrants crossing the Darién Gap - a 100-kilometres jungle connecting South America and Central America.

There are no roads and migrants have to cross it on foot. The crossing takes between five and ten days.

A number of migrants have drowned in the rivers. Here, after several days walking in the jungle between South and Central America, they have reached the Darien Gap and formed a human chain across the fast-flowing waters of the Tacartí River. © Federico Rios Escobar / Winner of the 2023 Humanitarian Visa d’or Award - International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

"There are several dangers in that jungle, starting with the dangers of the jungle itself. But also many of the migrants are robbed, killed, raped or even murdered," Escobar explains.

In 2021, about 150,000 migrants crossed the jungle, most of them from Haiti.

In 2022, there were more than 250,000 and most of them came from Venezuela.

At the end of 2022, journalists reporting on the situation discovered that there were many Afghans crossing the Darién.

"We have now the information that 97 nationalities tried to cross the jungle: Africans, people from the Middle East and Asians, and a lot of people from Latin America," says Escobar.

By the end of 2023, it is estimated that 400,000 will have made the journey through the Darién Gap, most of whom are heading for the United States.

"Every moment is striking. Every migrant is fighting for their life. Every migrant is desperate at the limit of the energy in their body and in their mind.

"The decision to migrate is complex, leaving everything behind... family, friends, places, and thinking that you're never going to go back."

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► Visa pour l'Image runs in Perpignan from 2 to 17 September 2023. It will also be on display at La Villette in Paris from 16 to 30 September.