Defending the Rights of Migrants in Panama

During the week of March 11, Quixote Center and its partner, the Red Franciscana para Migrantes, organized and accompanied a delegation to Panama made up of experts and activists from Witness at the Border, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Las Americas, American Immigration Council, and Human Security Initiative. The group traversed the entire country to understand and encounter the migrant experience, beginning with the Darien Gap jungle.

The Darien is a treacherous, mountainous, dense jungle without roads that connects Colombia and Panama. The migrants, asylum seekers, and local Panamanians we spoke with described rampant sexual violence, extortion, robbery, and murder in the Darien jungle. Many migrants, including a child, reported seeing dead bodies. One family watched a man collapse to his death in front of his wife after armed bandits shot him. Migrants told us they needed to depart their home countries due to violence, political persecution, threats to their life or the lives of their family, or lack of economic opportunity. Some are traveling to reunite with family members.

Take Action for Haiti

Haiti is desperate. According to the UN special envoy to Haiti, criminal gangs control 80% of the capital and are moving further and further into other parts of the country, leaving many people trapped in their homes with little means to feed their families, or forced to flee their homes with nothing. Scarcity of gasoline and water, and high prices of essential products are transforming an already distressed State into ashes.

In the absence of a functioning state, gangs terrorize the population with rape, kidnapping, and murder, all with impunity. Gangs are blocking commerce distribution routes and paralyzing the main port, leaving 1.4 million Haitians on the verge of famine, and more than 4 million in need of food aid, according to the UN's World Food Program. Haiti needs humanitarian aid, and also intellectual contribution toward the establishment of working policies designed to strengthen its political weakness. It is urgent that the United States government take action to save lives in Haiti.

In response to the growing violence, we ask lawmakers to:

• Support S396, the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act, to identify and hold accountable those who are financing the gangs, especially those with assets in the US. A companion House bill has already passed.
• Stop the illegal flow of weapons from the U.S. to Haiti.
• Support HR 6618, the ARMAS Act, in the House, and introduce a companion bill in the Senate. HR 6618 would mandate a comprehensive federal strategy to disrupt arms trafficking, restore Congressional oversight over small arms exports, and prevent legitimate security assistance from being diverted to criminal groups. 
• Provide sufficient resources and hold accountable U.S. agencies charged with enforcement, to prevent illegal arms trafficking out of Miami and New York.
• Do not waiver in ending U.S. support for de facto prime minister Ariel Henry. Henry remained in power due to U.S. government support, and widespread opposition to his government has contributed to the current crisis.
• Redesignate and extend TPS for Haitians. The existing TPS designation for Haiti is set to expire on August 4, 2024. Redesignation will allow protection against removal and eligibility for work authorization to all eligible Haitians currently in the United States.
• Stop all deportation flights and interceptions at sea. Despite extreme violence in Haiti, removals continue.
• Immediately increase humanitarian aid, and ensure consultation with impacted populations so that aid is directed toward the long-term sustainable development of the country. Include language that prioritizes Haitian diaspora organizations uniquely equipped to consult with local populations. The mission must prioritize a community development approach.
• Open a channel of communication and consultation on the future of Haiti where all affected groups, including gangs, elite, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and generation Z influencers can share their views on a sustainable socio-political framework.
• Any international police or military intervention should:
  • Consult with Haitian civil society before deployment;
  • Take measures to ensure human rights protections;
  • Provide support and capacity-strengthening to the Haitian National Police;
  • Articulate a clear mission to support a Haitian-led solution to restore democracy and ensure elections.

Artist Corner

Ricardo Maya

Ricardo Maya is a contemporary Cuban artist residing in Granada, Nicaragua. He works with acrylic and watercolor and is known for his distinctive style characterized by bold, contrasting lines and a vibrant intense palette. According to Maya, his work "shows an invitation to introspection in human psychology. Using the face as a focus of emotion and the body as a map of life."