Between Inaction and Limited Cooperation: Analysis of the Consolidation of the Darién Gap as the Main Irregular Migration Route to North America in 2015 and 2023

Abstract

The Darién Gap, a land border between Colombia and Panama, has become in recent decades an irregular transit route to North America for thousands of people, whose final destination is usually the United States. Based on this phenomenon, this article explores the factors that explain why the Darién Gap has become the main irregular migration route to North America in 2015 and 2023. The hypothesis holds that, even in different contexts, marked by changes in the administrations, as well as the orientation of their migration policies, the ongoing fragility of the cooperation mechanisms between Colombia and Panama in both years weakened border governance, which facilitated the consolidation of this migration route. Following this line of argument, using the similarity method and a review of secondary sources, two central logics are identified for understanding the process of consolidation of an irregular migration route: the indirect influence of the rigorous control of migration policies exercised by the United States and the dynamics of cooperation between transit states in terms of border control. The findings show that, in both 2015 and 2023, the lack of cooperation mechanisms between Colombia and Panama was the factor that, to a greater extent, allowed the consolidation of the Darien Gap as the main irregular transit route to North America in both scenarios. In conclusion, this article argues that the consolidation of irregular migration routes in Latin America cannot be explained exclusively because of the decisions of the destination state, but also by the absence of cooperation between border states.