Blake Scott at H-Environment:
Why is it that a tourist can visit Panama—or any “supposedly fun” vacation destination from Baja to Colombia—and be welcomed like the second coming of divine capitalism? Yet at the same time, a weary migrant traveling through the same country is robbed and abused by state officials and officers they encounter along the way? The migrant journey, marked by mistreatment, also costs far more financially than the average tourist’s week-long vacation package. This problem of mobility/immobility is at the core of our modern predicament. And in recent years, like many contemporary crises, it appears to be worsening—especially in the Americas, from Minneapolis to Texas and southward along the maritime and land routes linking the United States with South America.
It is a moral contradiction with life-and-death consequences: Some people are permitted to travel in comfort and luxury, while others are forced to move in the shadows of legality, facing violence and uncertainty.
For anyone seeking to better understand this situation, journalist Belén Fernández’s newest book, The Darién Gap: A Reporter’s Journey Through the Deadly Crossroads of the Americas, is essential reading. The Darién—a stretch of undeveloped rainforest and mountainous terrain separating Colombia and Panama—is the only “gap” in the Pan-American Highway, which otherwise runs from Alaska to Patagonia.
More here.
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