Migrants stuck at Albrook bus terminal

Currently there are about 100 to 200 African migrants occupying the Albrook bus terminal. Benjamín Solís, the terminal's head of operations, explains that most migrants will spend few days in the terminal while securing money to continue their journey. Solís estimates that on average, 3,000 immigrants travel through the bus terminal each month.

A crossing he says he’s seen made before, by Cubans, Haitians and Somalians.  

However the situation for immigrants in the Albrook terminal not ideal, there are various concerns about health and safety. The International Commission on Human Rights has issued a warning about the situation, saying the migrants are "extremely vulnerable." In response, Panama’s Vice President Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado said that the government is working to address the situation. The migrants are given a designated area to remain while waiting in the terminal with access to a bathroom where they can clean up daily. While migrant are waiting to continue on their long journey, typically with a hope of arriving in the United States, they receive aid from the Red Cross at the terminal.

Chester Awares Derelus, 23, from the Congo is one of the migrants currently at the Albrook airport. He has been traveling for 95 days, spanning three continents and five countries. His goal is to reach the United States.

Chester arrived in Puerto Piña, in the Darién last month. It took him almost a month to get to Panama City. His goal is to travel by bus to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and finally to arrive in the United States.

While the entire journey is surely grueling, crossing the Darién Gap is terrifying. The trip through the “lawless wilderness” has been documented in a long read article by Jason Mothlagh for the publication Outside.  "A Terrifying Journey Through the World's Most Dangerous Jungle" takes the reader through the Darién Gap with a group of migrants from Cuba, Africa, and Asia, all driven by desperation, on what Mothlagh calls “one of the world’s most harrowing treks.”

Risking robbery, kidnapping, and death U.S Jason Mothlagh writes one of the most telling stories on just one piece of what many migrants have faced before arriving in Panama City.