Between Colombia and Panama is a remote, roadless crossing that consists of more than sixty miles of dense rain forest, steep mountains, and vast swamps, called the Darien Gap. Last year about 500,000 migrants escaping collapsing economies made it through.
There are a few camps along the way to rest up before moving on, and one of them is a Chinese-Only camp with only young, strong, military age Chinese men in them and barricaded from entry by anyone not Chinese. No one there will talk to you and you are not allowed to take photographs or videos of the camp. This is obviously a camp run by the Chinese Government for smuggling them into the USA.
The Darien Gap is the only break in the Pan American Highway, which runs from Alaska to the tip of South America, which is why it’s called the Gap. It was too costly and difficult to build the road through those 60 miles of mountains, jungle and swamps. But now someone is.
At the southern end of the Darien Gap a large bridge is being constructed across the Rio Chucanago, which is the separation point between Central and South America. Completing an actual paved road through the Darien Gap will open up the migration path across both Americas and allow people of all nations to swarm in from the South American end where passports are not required, and travel to the North American end. Including thousands of military age Chinese men.
The question is, who is paying for the construction of this expensive bridge? Is it Panama? The local story is that the bridge will improve trade between local villages, but it’s a pretty big bridge for that and could be used for the heavy traffic of a completed Pan American Highway. It looks like a project the Chinese might take on to increase their presence and influence while making it much easier to send more men faster into the USA.
Maybe not, but then, why that fenced-off Chinese-only camp? Why are thousands of Chinese young men coming in over the Mexican border? There’s always a larger picture than the one they show us and this is a pretty dark one as well.