Politicians charge millions to send migrants to US
Source: NYT
Colombian officials are profiting from well organized efforts to assist migrants on their journey through the Darién Gap.
Every step through the jungle, there is money to be made.
The boat ride to reach the rainforest: $40. A guide on the treacherous route once you start walking: $170. A porter to carry your backpack over the muddy mountains: $100. A plate of chicken and rice after arduous climbing: $10. Special, all-inclusive packages to make the perilous slog faster and more bearable, with tents, boots and other necessities: $500, or more.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants are now pouring through a sliver of jungle known as the Darién Gap, the only land route to the United States from South America, in a record tide that the Biden administration and the Colombian government have vowed to stop.
But the windfall here at the edge of the continent is simply too big to pass up, and the entrepreneurs behind the migrant gold rush are not underground smugglers hiding from the authorities.
They are politicians, prominent businessmen and elected leaders, now sending thousands of migrants toward the United States in plain sight each day — and charging millions of dollars a month for the privilege.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/14/world/americas/migrant-business-darien-gap.html
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Panama and Costa Rica are being overwhelmed.
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really understand it.
The corruption is so ingrained!
I married into a large Colombian family &
and, even when there is no corruption there is always an overtone of “trickery”.
I always tell my husband that his sisters are
“practiced in the art of deception”.
What’s so hard about a straight answer?!
And, they all grew up in the US! 
