Capurgana, Colombia (October 2, 2024) – A new Center for Immigration Studies video report (transcript and timestamps available here) uncovers one of the world’s most organized human smuggling operations. It operates out of a northwest Colombia village named Capurgana and is controlled by a paramilitary organization called the Gaitanist Self Defense Force of Colombia (a/k/a the Clan del Golfo), which controls the area with an iron fist.
Todd Bensman, the Center’s national security fellow, spent nearly two weeks investigating the human smuggling routes from Colombia to Panama’s Darien Gap. His trip included hours of travel by boat across the Uraba Gulf to a cartel-controlled landing site in Colombia. He also visited a UN run/cartel-controlled staging area, speaking with migrants and NGO staff and even members of the cartel.
The video highlights:
- Drone footage capturing migrants and smugglers in action.
- Details about the Gaitanista Gulf Clan's control of the smuggling routes.
- Information on the migrant population passing through the Darien Gap with the aid of the cartel and the NGOs – over two million migrants from over 150 nations, including hundreds on the terrorist watch list, in recent years.
- Who makes it all possible? Government officials, banks, NGOs, and the United Nations.
- Footage of migrants traveling through Colombia's Capurgana village to the Darien Gap en route to the U.S.
- As assessment of President Mulino’s Darien Gap closure initiative.
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