1 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:06,200 Speaker 1: The media. 2 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 2: The most difficult part of the journey is when you 3 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,480 Speaker 2: are treking and you meet dead bodies on the road. 4 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 2: It makes you weep, it makes you cry, but there's 5 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 2: only one focus in the forest ahead. You have to 6 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 2: keep going. You'll see mother's children. They are crying just 7 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:49,559 Speaker 2: to have a sip of water. It is not easy. 8 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 3: A few weeks ago, I found myself sitting beside the 9 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 3: Tuquesa River on a warm afternoon in late September, making 10 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 3: faces at a two months old baby as we both 11 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,639 Speaker 3: marveled at the cloud yellow butterflies. Anywhere else on earth, 12 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 3: it could be in a dyllic summer day, But in 13 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 3: these final steps, as a journey across a daddy and gap, 14 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 3: it's hard to open up your mind to experience joy. 15 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 3: I'd only been in the tiny Ember village of Bahujiguito 16 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 3: a couple of days, and I had already seen the 17 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 3: lifeless body of a little girl, as though the migrants 18 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 3: carried her into town the river I was sleeping around him, 19 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 3: with this group of migrants resting here in the shade, 20 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 3: had swept sleeping children to their deaths earlier this year, 21 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 3: and up to stream of me there were at least 22 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,319 Speaker 3: three people's remains here. It was shin deep, but crossing 23 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 3: up stream where it's above head height and rages down 24 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 3: out of the mountains in steep ravines. Was the migrants 25 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 3: I walked back to town with told me the stuff of nightmares. 26 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 3: The voice you just heard was a migrant from Cameroon 27 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 3: who called himself James. That's not his real name, and 28 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 3: astute listeners would have noticed that it is my real name, 29 00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 3: but for the protection of James and his family, it's 30 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 3: a name be using when I met James. We're in 31 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 3: a migrant reception center called Las Blancas, to the north 32 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,519 Speaker 3: of the Daliang Gap. To get there, one has to 33 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 3: take a dugout canoe called a piragua from Bajo Jaquito. 34 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:16,800 Speaker 3: The voyage takes five hours, and for that five hours, 35 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 3: migrants are packed fifteen to a boat wearing bright orange 36 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 3: life jackets. They share the boat with nembra piraguero, who 37 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 3: sits at the back driving the boat with a tooth 38 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 3: stroke motor, and a guide who sits on the front, 39 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,119 Speaker 3: using a pole when necessary to push the boat through 40 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,519 Speaker 3: shallow sections. The Umbrada people are indigenous to the area. 41 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 3: That's commonly known as the Daliang Gap, or at least 42 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 3: to this part of it, and a tiny Emberda village 43 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 3: of Bajo Jiquito. It's a first settlement migrants encounter as 44 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 3: they emerge from the perilous crossing of the jungle that 45 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 3: divides Central America from South America and thousands of people 46 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 3: from a better future. There's a morale patch that the 47 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 3: Panamanian Border Patrol and military wear on their uniforms. There 48 00:02:55,440 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 3: reflects a slogan in a government messaging campaign, Darien asuna Jungla. 49 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 3: It says. The campaign was launched in August, and it 50 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 3: translates to the Darien isn't a route or maybe a 51 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 3: roads A better translation, it's a jungle. Obviously it's actually both, 52 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 3: but this is like no route. Most of us will 53 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 3: be familiar with. The dark and foreboding jungle I saw 54 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 3: in Bahajiguito is one of the most impenetrable on Earth, 55 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 3: and the crossing of it is among the most dangerous 56 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 3: land migration routes. In the nineteen seventies, the British Army 57 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 3: sent its most experienced explorers to find a way through 58 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 3: the gap. Their commander called the gap a god forsaken place. Today, 59 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 3: migrants have their own names for it, lut del Mote 60 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 3: or sometimes the Green Hell. Here's a group from Cameroon 61 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 3: explaining why they didn't see a future there and they 62 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 3: decided to take this dangerous route. 63 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 4: We are coming from Cameroon. IM My name is Flowers. 64 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 4: There's a lot of crisis in our country. That's a 65 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 4: civil war going on in Cameroon right now because of 66 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 4: our president. President Pombia has been in power over forty 67 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 4: two years. So I was the anglophone. We started revolting 68 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 4: for him to step down because he doesn't develop the 69 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 4: Southern American sorry, the English section of Cameroon anglerphone. Yeah, 70 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 4: the anglophone sections a revolts that he was set in 71 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 4: the military and it's killing the citizens of our country. 72 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 4: There's a lot of harshship, a lot of that. Eye 73 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 4: for one, I've lost everybody. I lost for my family, 74 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 4: my mom, my dad, my two brothers, and I'm the 75 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 4: only one left. 76 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 3: So things. 77 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 4: No, there's no job of completed school, but there's nothing 78 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 4: for me to do. So that's why it decided to migrate. 79 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 3: To get to baho Jiqito from Columbia. It's James and 80 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,919 Speaker 3: other migrants did. There's no road you can take. You 81 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 3: can't even take a boat or a train. Instead, you 82 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 3: have to walk the Dairying Gap, an area of rainforested mountains, 83 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:50,720 Speaker 3: so it's one of the most dangerous migration routes in 84 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 3: the world. For anywhere between two and fifteen days, migrant 85 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,160 Speaker 3: trek through waste time, mud, and rivers deeper than they 86 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 3: are at all. They must climb giant boulders, cross perilous ravines, 87 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 3: and traverse sheer cliff faces, all of this with barely 88 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 3: any water than what they can carry, little to no food, 89 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 3: inadequate clothing, a terrible footwear, and no medical attention. They 90 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:18,440 Speaker 3: must walk past dead bodies and past people who might 91 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:21,720 Speaker 3: soon become dead bodies as they beg for help. They 92 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 3: carry their children, their dreams, and sometimes each other. Across 93 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 3: mountains and rivers and abou jiqito. They take what, for 94 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:31,599 Speaker 3: many of them will be the final steps of this 95 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,159 Speaker 3: part of their journey. It's a journey that few of 96 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:37,599 Speaker 3: us can imagine, and they were lucky to be able 97 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 3: to avoid. My own migration to the US sixteen years 98 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 3: ago was much simpler and safer, but for migrants like James, 99 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 3: the journey's worth it because what they're leaving behind is worse. 100 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,360 Speaker 3: Here's James describing the situation in the state of Cameroon. 101 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:58,280 Speaker 2: The situation in Cameroon is, how can I put it, 102 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:05,840 Speaker 2: very very, very very difficult, especially in the Anglophone part 103 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 2: of the country. Yeah, because for about five to six 104 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:17,920 Speaker 2: years there's a world the ongoing war in the Anglophone crisis. 105 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 2: We also have been there has been fighting, There has 106 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:29,160 Speaker 2: been shooting, killings. I myself speaking to you, Yeah, I've 107 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 2: been targeted. My cousin was shot and with his husband 108 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 2: were shot together. Both of them were nursis and they 109 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 2: were shot by the army that were there to protect 110 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:57,680 Speaker 2: the people. So the situation back at home, it's very 111 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 2: very tense. Yeah, the very times when you see most 112 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:08,800 Speaker 2: of Camaronians traveling taking the rigs part from Columbia brazy 113 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 2: right up to where I am. It is not because 114 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 2: they like it. It's because of the situation back at 115 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 2: home and most of it, and most of the time 116 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 2: it is the anglophone population that is suffering. 117 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 3: Most of them. 118 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 2: They choose this part because they will not have a 119 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,360 Speaker 2: direct visard to American Yeah, it's very hard to get 120 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 2: one yes, it's very, very difficult, so they have to 121 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 2: use the hard way. 122 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 3: Which is the only way. The truth is dead bodies, 123 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 3: terrible stories and families celebrating the end of their work. 124 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 3: It's nothing out of the ordinary. And bahu Jikito, the 125 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:45,440 Speaker 3: Enbarra town, with the population of just five hundred and ninety, 126 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 3: it's a place I've been trying to come to for 127 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 3: almost as long as I've been writing about migration. There 128 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 3: are a few stories in my time as a journalist 129 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 3: that I've been pitching for close to a decade. Most 130 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 3: of the time I give up if there are no 131 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 3: bites after a few months, And that's why you won't 132 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 3: see me right about the people who tried to hire 133 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:05,760 Speaker 3: mercenaries to intimidate voters in twenty twenty, or the Burmese 134 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 3: rebels whof I did their revolution with co op produced tea, 135 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 3: or a surfing team in the Gaza strip, And on reflection, 136 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 3: you probably won't hear about that last one anywhere. Now. 137 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 3: The media cycle has a way of coming around to 138 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 3: these stories eventually, sure, but I not really want to 139 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 3: go back to what it is who didn't give a 140 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,239 Speaker 3: shit about people before and only care about their stories 141 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 3: now because they get more traffic. But there's one story 142 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 3: I've never given up on. That's the story of the 143 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 3: Daddy and Gap and the people who risk their lives 144 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:35,679 Speaker 3: crossing it for a shot at the American dream. And 145 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 3: at this point I do want to tegnlolize. I'm incredibly 146 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 3: grateful to the people I work with for trusting me 147 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:41,959 Speaker 3: when I asked them to pay for me to disappear 148 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,559 Speaker 3: in a dugout canoe into the jungle and come back 149 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 3: two weeks later with a story. The Daddy and looms 150 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 3: in the stories of migrants I meet in the US 151 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 3: border as a sort of heart of darkness on what 152 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:56,600 Speaker 3: is a very difficult and dangerous journey. It's worse than 153 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 3: the freight trains they hop on in Mexico, worse in 154 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,920 Speaker 3: the crowded worse even than the months of waiting for 155 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 3: an asylum appointment. I've only believe that you can't really 156 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 3: understand and write about things you haven't seen, smelt, and heard. 157 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 3: So for years I've been asking get it Is to 158 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 3: send me to the tiny ember Our community on the 159 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 3: banks of the river, so that I could share the 160 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 3: final steps of this horrific journey with the people who 161 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 3: see little option but to risk their lives for a 162 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 3: better future for their children. Because the US refuses to 163 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 3: create more legal pathways, people instead take a sudden pathway 164 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 3: straight up and down the mountains to the Darian rainforest. 165 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 3: The journey will take them past the corpse of the 166 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 3: people who never left. The terrain is too fierce for 167 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 3: anyone to carry their remains out, so they must simply 168 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:45,439 Speaker 3: rut there as a reminder to migrants, so they must 169 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,440 Speaker 3: keep going. It's a sort of deterrent through death that 170 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 3: has been the unofficial and official US border policy for decades. 171 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 3: To turn or not. Once you're in the Darien, there's 172 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:57,559 Speaker 3: no turning back, and the lack of escape routes has 173 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 3: made the gap popular among criminals to commit untold numbers 174 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:04,440 Speaker 3: of sexual assaults, murders, and armed robberies every year in 175 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 3: the jungle. Despite this, more than half a million migrants 176 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 3: made the perilous journey last year, and if many, if 177 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,600 Speaker 3: not more, will do so this year. Do you understand that, Daddy? 178 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 3: And you have to first understand US immigration policy, which 179 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 3: is something I talk about a lot on this podcast. 180 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 3: I want to include here a clip from Amos, a 181 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 3: migrant from North Africa who met my friends and helped 182 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 3: them build shelters in a cumber last year, explaining his 183 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:30,000 Speaker 3: journey to the United States. 184 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 5: So another route right now, which is a difficult route, 185 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:38,679 Speaker 5: is through Brazil because Brazil has a I don't know 186 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 5: if you guys know, and I think they do that 187 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:47,199 Speaker 5: for Americans too. Yeah, so Brazil has sort of I 188 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:49,319 Speaker 5: don't know the word, but the equivalent to them is 189 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 5: if you impose of his own Brazil Brazilians were imposed 190 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:53,960 Speaker 5: of his own news. 191 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:55,600 Speaker 6: They do that to Americans. 192 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:55,960 Speaker 7: Too, So. 193 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 5: You know where I'm from. They don't have a visa 194 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 5: to uh as far as for Brazilians, so we don't. 195 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:07,120 Speaker 5: So a lot of Africans can go to Brazil and 196 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:09,280 Speaker 5: from Brazil take the the. 197 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:10,600 Speaker 6: Route all the way. 198 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 3: That game was Jim couldn't fly here directly that he 199 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 3: was able to get a little bit closer to the 200 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 3: US by flying to Columbia. I'll let him explain how 201 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:19,360 Speaker 3: he pulled that off. 202 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:25,120 Speaker 2: For me to have a pass to Colombia, it was 203 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:30,560 Speaker 2: not easy. So we had we had to There was 204 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:34,080 Speaker 2: a female female on that twenty World Cup that was 205 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,520 Speaker 2: that was taking place in Colombia, so we had to 206 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 2: go to Columbia as football fans. That's why they had 207 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 2: They had to give us our Biza. 208 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 3: That is all right. 209 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 2: From Colombia, we'll find our way out of the airport to. 210 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 3: Where we are today. Most are Continental America. We'll have 211 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 3: to travel to Brazil, just like Amos. Here's one a cap. 212 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:04,800 Speaker 3: I'll let the speaks introduce himselves. 213 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:07,840 Speaker 6: My name is so I m I'm from Idan. 214 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 8: My name is mohade for Omraan, my name is Ali, 215 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 8: and I'm from Iran. 216 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:17,319 Speaker 3: They told me why they left a run, but I'm 217 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 3: sure manygi could wear that went out of yourself, so 218 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:21,679 Speaker 3: we won't included here. How did you come from Iran? 219 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 3: To hear you got for Turkey? 220 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:27,319 Speaker 6: It was so difficult, And we. 221 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 8: Came from Iran, Tehran to Dubai, after that South all 222 00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:39,679 Speaker 8: of Brazil and after that believe Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and 223 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:45,560 Speaker 8: Nikoklei and jungle Panama. Here Panama. And it was so 224 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:51,600 Speaker 8: difficult for us because we are young. We just leave 225 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 8: our family, my sister, my mother, father. It was so emotional, yeah, 226 00:12:56,960 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 8: and it was so hard for us. But because of 227 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,680 Speaker 8: the freedom, because we can't speak in our country. 228 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 6: You know, if you speaking in your in the street, 229 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:08,480 Speaker 6: something like it. They will arrest you. 230 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,959 Speaker 8: Yeah, in jail when you are not Muslim, when you 231 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:17,440 Speaker 8: really like something like a Christian or something else. 232 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 6: They arrassed. 233 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:22,560 Speaker 8: Yes, it was. It was so so, so, so difficult 234 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 8: living in Iran. But it's a wonderful country. But not government. 235 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 3: When I talk to migrants, I always want to offer 236 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 3: them the chance to share their stories in ways that 237 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:36,400 Speaker 3: they want to share them. And I asked them what 238 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 3: they would want to say if they could talk directly 239 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 3: to Americans. It's a question I ask a lot, because 240 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 3: in all the coverage of migration I've seen in this country, 241 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:47,920 Speaker 3: I rarely see migrants' voices. I'm very familiar with being 242 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:49,679 Speaker 3: the only journalist in a place, and i'd be lying. 243 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,680 Speaker 3: I said, I didn't prefer it that way, But I 244 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 3: do always feel obliged to use the platform I have 245 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:57,520 Speaker 3: here to give people a chance to share their stories, 246 00:13:57,679 --> 00:13:59,199 Speaker 3: their voices, and their struggles. 247 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 9: So he's their message, We love you, hope too you 248 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 9: love is that's hard question? 249 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, I think that's very good. 250 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 9: It will be our next home, and we should be 251 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,319 Speaker 9: proud of that, We should be worth for that, we 252 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 9: should be be a real American for the concert. 253 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 7: Yeah, they know women are very bad situations, have a 254 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 7: bad situation in Itra. Yeah, for all people, that is saying, 255 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 7: but for women is very, very, very hard. I think 256 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:47,240 Speaker 7: American people know about Massa Amini. Yeah, and they really 257 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 7: they chill us, really they chill women for simple things. 258 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:57,400 Speaker 3: I heard hundreds of stories like this in my time 259 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:00,320 Speaker 3: about how Jiqito and the last Blancast migrant reception center 260 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 3: that migrants traveled to after they arrive in Bajo Chiquito. 261 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 3: People left horrific things behind them and saw horrific things 262 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 3: on their journey, but they all remained hopeful for a 263 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 3: better future in America. These journeys, in some cases, could 264 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 3: take a year or more. When napoally Man I met 265 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 3: in Bajo Juquito, I had spent thirty months just to 266 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 3: get that far, and among his group, his journey had 267 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 3: been the fastest. As long as these journeys are, that 268 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 3: darien often stands out as the hardest part. Do understand 269 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 3: why I want to take you back to that shady 270 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 3: spot by the river just a few minutes south of 271 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 3: Bajo Juquito. So what I'm doing right now and you 272 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 3: can hear from my foot depths is I'm doing what 273 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:50,480 Speaker 3: it told me not to do. I'm walking along the 274 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 3: migrant trail. Lots of like vines and creepers, and oh 275 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:01,880 Speaker 3: fucking hell, that's me nearly eating shit. There's little bits 276 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,480 Speaker 3: of tape marking a trail. I think they just come 277 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 3: down the river here. Some local guys are pushing out 278 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 3: wheelbarrows on the trail to dump trash. There's trash everywhere 279 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 3: to fucking mess the little wood arrows that they've carved 280 00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 3: just outside town to direct people into town. And if 281 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 3: I heeard, I can see migrants making what's probably hopefully 282 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 3: their final crossing of the river here. One thing I 283 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 3: noticed was that as soon as I got out of 284 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,320 Speaker 3: sight in nearshot of the town, the jungle seems a 285 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 3: lot more intimidating. I'm somebody spends a lot of time 286 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 3: in the mountains, and I grew up playing in the woods. 287 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:40,320 Speaker 3: I'm comfortable outdoors, and I frequently camp and hike for 288 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 3: days on my own. I like it better that way, 289 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 3: and I might see more comfortable forty feet under the 290 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 3: sea free diving, or three hours from the nearest road. 291 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 3: Then I am in a busy city sometimes, but in 292 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 3: the jungle. After all the stories I'd heard that week, 293 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 3: I was afraid. I get scary. I don't know why. 294 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 3: I mean, everything's new to me. I'm, you know, relatively 295 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 3: comfortable in the outdoors, but fucking there's new animals, there's 296 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,159 Speaker 3: new plants. I don't know what's poisonous. I don't know 297 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 3: what's going to kill me, and know who's going to 298 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:16,680 Speaker 3: try and hurt me. Got another fucking horse, Jesus wept. 299 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:27,959 Speaker 3: I'm jumping out my skin everything Now it's funny. I'm 300 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 3: in a place that's beautiful, you know, like these better 301 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:35,560 Speaker 3: paradise plants are just just growing here, gorgeousness. Horses belong 302 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:42,120 Speaker 3: to people of the bah community. I suppose having snacks, 303 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:46,679 Speaker 3: you know, eating jungle horse food. And here here, I'm 304 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 3: at the river. It's wide here, it's sort of shallow, 305 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:52,720 Speaker 3: and it's been dammed up a little bit with rubbish, 306 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:54,600 Speaker 3: just like flop some and jets some kind of stuff. 307 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,760 Speaker 3: And then this is where people cross because of that 308 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:00,399 Speaker 3: little dam. But it's still got some four to it, 309 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,520 Speaker 3: like you wouldn't want to fall and crack your head 310 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:05,679 Speaker 3: or you know, a lot of these folks can't swim 311 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:10,280 Speaker 3: without the fear it's hard going. Because you've only hiked 312 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 3: on trails, you perhaps don't realize how much work goes 313 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 3: into making that surface possible. There are no trail crews 314 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 3: in the Darien, and as a result, every step has 315 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 3: the potential to results in a sprained ankle or another injury, 316 00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 3: which might sound trivial but can be faithal in such 317 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:29,040 Speaker 3: a remote and challenging place. Trail is all rocks, like 318 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:31,880 Speaker 3: maybe rocks the size of a fist that way now, 319 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:35,800 Speaker 3: and then there are sort of in this area we 320 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,159 Speaker 3: only have the lower canopy, so we have ferns, We 321 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 3: have reeds, bamboo plants growing really tall and straight, that's 322 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:43,879 Speaker 3: what they use for the poles that they pit I was, 323 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 3: and then sort of low grassy kind of plants. And 324 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 3: then where the migrants walk is just this muddy trail 325 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 3: that every time it rains just turns into like ankle 326 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:57,480 Speaker 3: to knee deep mud. And I could see them making 327 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:00,960 Speaker 3: pretty slow progress along the trail towards me. At the 328 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 3: end of the day, as I took a pedagua back 329 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 3: to Madragante, where I would be staying the night, I 330 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:09,280 Speaker 3: reflected again on this and the incredible tenacity it took 331 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,240 Speaker 3: for people with little outdoor experience and terrible equipment to 332 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,439 Speaker 3: pass through the jungle. You know, I'm a fit person. 333 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:18,399 Speaker 3: I run ultramarathons. I used to be exercised for a living. 334 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 3: And it's fucking hard. It's wet. Everything's wet all the time. 335 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:29,239 Speaker 3: You're wet from the rain, then you're wet. If you're 336 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:31,679 Speaker 3: wet from the sweat, and you're wet. If you cross rivers, 337 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:35,160 Speaker 3: you get wet. You just can't stay dry. And everyone's 338 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 3: feet are just fucked when they get into town, like 339 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:41,520 Speaker 3: the size of the blisters I've seen, And like one 340 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:44,640 Speaker 3: lady had a cramp today where like it just locked 341 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:46,480 Speaker 3: up a whole that she like I grabbed her. She 342 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:49,240 Speaker 3: was falling down and I was able to like hold 343 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:53,119 Speaker 3: her up. But people are really pushing themselves physically as 344 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 3: well as psychologically. That river crossing south of Bachigiso was 345 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:00,240 Speaker 3: as far south as I was going to be to 346 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,640 Speaker 3: get without being forcibly adjaced from Panama, and my request 347 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 3: to take a boat or walk further south was denied 348 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:09,760 Speaker 3: by the Panamanian Ministry of Security. So the only part 349 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 3: of the migrants journey I would share with them was 350 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,040 Speaker 3: the last kilometer or so of their walk. Even then, 351 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 3: I wasn't really supposed to be leaving town at all, 352 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 3: So several times over the days I spent in Bahajigito, 353 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 3: I would look over my shoulder, hop down the river bank, 354 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:27,359 Speaker 3: jump across the stream, and lightly jog out of town. 355 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,840 Speaker 3: Once on the trail, I'd started to walk slowly and 356 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,359 Speaker 3: try and waive a groups of outcoming migrants. I didn't 357 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:36,720 Speaker 3: want to scare them. I offered to carry their bags 358 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,440 Speaker 3: and let any help I could, supporting them as they 359 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:42,000 Speaker 3: walked towards their first meal and clean drink of water 360 00:20:42,080 --> 00:21:04,119 Speaker 3: in up to a week. Just getting to baj Gito 361 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:07,119 Speaker 3: was a journey in itself for me. I took two flights, 362 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 3: a five hour drive which was efnally split between paved roads, 363 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:14,720 Speaker 3: roads that aspired to pavement, and dirt roads. At the 364 00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,399 Speaker 3: end of our road journey, the Pan American Highway, the 365 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,679 Speaker 3: links Alaska to Argentina, seems to give up on fighting 366 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:25,120 Speaker 3: the jungle and Peter's out. Asphalt turned to worse asphalt, 367 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,400 Speaker 3: which turned to dirt, which turned to mud, which led 368 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:32,160 Speaker 3: us to a river. A driver, however, was prepared for this. 369 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 3: The drive here was mad like that road was fucked. 370 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 3: We're in this tiny little guard. The driver took off 371 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 3: his shoes and socks to conduct the more technical section 372 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 3: of the drive, which I thought was quite amasing. Yeah, 373 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 3: really steep, lots of holes, lots of potholes, you know, 374 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:52,679 Speaker 3: just really rutted out kind of dirt road. And then 375 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 3: we got here and took to some guys, negotiated a 376 00:21:56,880 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 3: price and told him where we wanted to go, and 377 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,679 Speaker 3: they said, yeah, sure, buy some water, you know, snow 378 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:04,840 Speaker 3: water on the way about three hours and so we 379 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 3: bought some water right there, and yeah, here we are 380 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 3: on the boat now, as you can hear. I recorded 381 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,200 Speaker 3: this on a piragua. It's a kind of dugout canoe 382 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 3: with the hole made out of a single tree and 383 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:20,960 Speaker 3: a toothstroke motor bolted on the back. It's the only 384 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,879 Speaker 3: way to travel here other than on your feet, and 385 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,400 Speaker 3: it's the only way the Embarra can get the produced 386 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:30,480 Speaker 3: cigaret to market. The skill of the piragueros, the people 387 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,919 Speaker 3: who drive the piraguas, is incredible. They navigate parts of 388 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 3: the river so shallow that they have to pull up 389 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 3: the toothstroke motor. And I noticed all the motors have 390 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:41,639 Speaker 3: propellers that are covered in chips and bashes from smacking 391 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 3: into the rocks at the bottom. In the bow of 392 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 3: the boat, I sat on top of my giant rucksack, 393 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:51,119 Speaker 3: marveling at the birds, insects, and foliage of the jungle, 394 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 3: and occasionally I jumped up to make fairly useless contributions 395 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,960 Speaker 3: with the boat's bamboo pole under the close supervision of Marcellino, 396 00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:01,920 Speaker 3: a driver and are soon to be host homstly just 397 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:03,760 Speaker 3: laughed at me as I leaned my whole way into 398 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,479 Speaker 3: the pole, which notably slipped, and I tried to avoid 399 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 3: falling face first into the chocolate brown water. On the 400 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,680 Speaker 3: way to bat Jiquito, we passed several small lember our villages. 401 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,679 Speaker 3: Little children waved at us from the banks or from 402 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 3: the shallows of the river where they washed and played. 403 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:22,160 Speaker 3: Adults looked on I, doubtless worthy. One nurse's excrect tree 404 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:24,199 Speaker 3: white dude was doing going the wrong way on the 405 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:27,440 Speaker 3: river for a migrant, but they smiled and waved back anyway. 406 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,520 Speaker 3: After an overnight flight, a five hour drive, and three 407 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 3: hours in a dugout canoe, we rounded a corner in 408 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 3: the river and ba Jigito came into view. Over the 409 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,240 Speaker 3: last few years, it reorientated itself from a tiny indigenous 410 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:45,359 Speaker 3: village to an unofficial reception center for migrants. On my 411 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 3: hopelessly outdated topo map, the area has nothing but contours 412 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:53,760 Speaker 3: and green shading, no roads, no trails, no markets of 413 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:56,760 Speaker 3: human existence at all. And perhaps that's how the state 414 00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:59,680 Speaker 3: sees this place. That Daddy Inn is as real to 415 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:03,879 Speaker 3: most Panamanians a Sesame street or Jurassic Park. But for 416 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 3: the mber this has been their home since long before 417 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 3: Panama and Columbia and even maps existed. A few dozen 418 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,399 Speaker 3: houses in the village, mostly built on stilts to avoid 419 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 3: the seasonal floods, now offer up their rooms as hostels 420 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:19,959 Speaker 3: for the migrants. Some of them have enclosed at bottom 421 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 3: floor using plywood or cinder blocks. Others have strung hammocks 422 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,880 Speaker 3: from their support posts. For four or five bugs, migrants 423 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:29,960 Speaker 3: can get their first good night's sleep since they left 424 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 3: Neck or Clee in Columbia as much as a week before. 425 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:35,680 Speaker 3: Along the main street, which is really just to raise 426 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 3: concrete footpath about a meter across, you can buy a 427 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 3: meal any of half a dozen places for five bucks. 428 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 3: You can get an hour of Wi Fi for a dollar, 429 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 3: or charge your phone for the same price. Cold drinks 430 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 3: for a dollar as well. Are one of the many 431 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 3: front rooms that have turned into small kiosks. And that's 432 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:53,719 Speaker 3: where the migrants I have been sitting down with at 433 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 3: the river went. When they're arrived into town, I let 434 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:58,440 Speaker 3: them be for a while I went off to interview 435 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 3: more migrants. About a thousand of them arrive in this 436 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:05,360 Speaker 3: village every day. Each year since a pandemic has seen 437 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 3: record numbers arrive, and the little village on the side 438 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 3: of a hill, surrounded by palm trees and full of 439 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:15,000 Speaker 3: smiling children in their traditional brightly colored pallumers chasing chickens 440 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 3: and dogs, has welcomed every single one of them. About 441 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:20,680 Speaker 3: a thousand of them arrive in this town every day. 442 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:23,680 Speaker 3: To get here, they also take a boat from neck 443 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,240 Speaker 3: o'clee across the Golf of the Dabienne. They crossed on 444 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 3: small motor boats to Capolgana or Kandel. Those are both 445 00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:32,120 Speaker 3: towns on the western side of the Gulf of the Darienne. 446 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 3: From there they begin their walk. Even though they're now 447 00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 3: north of the Dolf, they're still in Colombia and on 448 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:41,719 Speaker 3: the Colombian side of the border. They're guided by guides 449 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:44,280 Speaker 3: to whom they pay several hundred dollars and in return 450 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 3: receive protection and a wrist band that ensures they can 451 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:51,840 Speaker 3: walk without being robbed. Nobody I spoke to had made 452 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 3: it this far without paying a guide. The area is 453 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,800 Speaker 3: largely under the control of the Golf Cartel, several members 454 00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,639 Speaker 3: of which were sanctioned by the USA. While I was 455 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:02,160 Speaker 3: in the Uncle the marcos I spoke to you didn't 456 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:03,800 Speaker 3: really have much bad to say about this part of 457 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:07,280 Speaker 3: their experience, but universally acknowledged that the next part was 458 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,200 Speaker 3: where they really confronted their fears and nightmares about the Daddy. 459 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 3: N Here's one Venezuelan migrant sharing his experience. 460 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:16,160 Speaker 6: A Gandhi. 461 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:20,040 Speaker 10: That's nothing compared to what comes from the border to hear. Yes, 462 00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 10: the road is better, and I say that the dangerous 463 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 10: less too, and they have everything you need there. You 464 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,919 Speaker 10: come prepared, you have you come with water, and there 465 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,919 Speaker 10: are also many ravines where you can drink water. Well, 466 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,360 Speaker 10: there are springs that come from the mountain, but from 467 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:34,960 Speaker 10: the border on it's pretty ugly. 468 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:40,159 Speaker 3: It's a stretch from the Colombian Panamanian border at a 469 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,840 Speaker 3: place that they call Las Bandabas, which means to Flags 470 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:47,959 Speaker 3: to Bajo Chiquito, where migrants suffer the most. There they 471 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,760 Speaker 3: can't drink from the river because a human waste and 472 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,159 Speaker 3: human remains that constantly fill it like the water deadly. 473 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 3: They must walk on unmaintained trails. It often turns in 474 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:02,640 Speaker 3: deep mud. They only have the supplies they carry, which 475 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:05,040 Speaker 3: often run out, or they jettison to stave weight on 476 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,960 Speaker 3: the incredibly steep mountain path. They climb and descend those 477 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 3: mountains across rivers, often without eating or drinking for days 478 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 3: at a time. On the trail, they passed by the 479 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,359 Speaker 3: bodies of their fellow travelers as a constant reminder of 480 00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 3: the risk they're taking. If you ask people in Panama City, 481 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:25,439 Speaker 3: they'll tell you that Dalian is closed now. New President 482 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 3: hose Raoul Molino was elected on a promise to shut 483 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:33,160 Speaker 3: down the gap, end the humanitarian crisis, and deport more 484 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,919 Speaker 3: migrants for the US funding, and that funding has certainly arrived, 485 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:39,360 Speaker 3: with more than six million already spent since he took 486 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 3: office in July. Since then, Panama has deported more than 487 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:48,120 Speaker 3: eleven hundred people to Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, and India. Each 488 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:52,679 Speaker 3: of these has been funded by US taxpayers. Obviously, the 489 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 3: jungle isn't closed, and it can't really be closed. But 490 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 3: in an interview before he was elected, Molino said that 491 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 3: the border of the United States, instead of being in Texas, 492 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,880 Speaker 3: has moved to Panama, and that is something he can 493 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 3: do with US support. I spoke to some in venezuel 494 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:11,280 Speaker 3: And ladies help and carry their bag because it's a 495 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:13,000 Speaker 3: steep hill, and they were saying that no one has 496 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:15,080 Speaker 3: seen any barriers. I don't know anything about any barriers 497 00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:17,639 Speaker 3: or any fences in a Darien and that like they 498 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,720 Speaker 3: hadn't heard it was closed. Evidently it's not standing in 499 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:23,480 Speaker 3: front of one hundred people who just got off a 500 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:29,680 Speaker 3: boat from the Darienn Hubris Aside, the rhetoric of closing 501 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 3: the daim signals are turned not just in Panamanian politics, 502 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,840 Speaker 3: but in the way the world sees and handles migration. 503 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:40,400 Speaker 3: The US has always sought to externalize its borders, from 504 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 3: US train border patrol officers and Dominican Republic along the 505 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 3: border is Haiti to DHS agents deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. 506 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 3: As migration has become more politicized, the US has sought 507 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 3: to move its enforcement away from prying eyes and from compassion, 508 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,040 Speaker 3: and instead brought more trauma to a place that is 509 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 3: already so hard. I've spent much of the last decade 510 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:03,720 Speaker 3: of my life watching the state try to bring the 511 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,320 Speaker 3: mountains and desert close to where I live under its control. 512 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:11,240 Speaker 3: I've stood with Kumiai people as the government dynamited their graveyards. 513 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 3: I found border walk contractors lost deep in the mountains. 514 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,720 Speaker 3: I've driven the impossibly steep concrete roads that they built, 515 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 3: worried about my truck turning end on end. I've seen 516 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,520 Speaker 3: billions of dollars thrown at these mountains, and I've seen 517 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 3: people with twenty dollars angle grinders or ladders made of 518 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:31,120 Speaker 3: old palettes defeat the wall in moments. Trying to close 519 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:33,480 Speaker 3: borders doesn't work at home, and it won't work in 520 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 3: the Daddy and Gap either. Just building the roads to 521 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,440 Speaker 3: get the construction equipment into the gap is a gargantuan task, 522 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 3: and any attempt to create a barrier across the sixty 523 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,040 Speaker 3: kilometer wide wilderness area or simply push migrants onto other 524 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:50,560 Speaker 3: more dangerous routes, into places where you can't build and 525 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 3: the places where nobody can rescue you. If you fall 526 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 3: down or break your leg. That doesn't mean there's nothing 527 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:59,360 Speaker 3: the US can do. I saw first hand the impact 528 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 3: of Americans spending here as migrants had a reception center 529 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 3: called Lajas Blancas, had their families torn apart, and men, 530 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:09,080 Speaker 3: women and children cried as their parents and partners were 531 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 3: taken away for a flight back to Colombia, Cuba, or 532 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 3: Venezuela that my taxes helped to pay for. I console 533 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,880 Speaker 3: the children with toys and stickers and something to eat 534 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,960 Speaker 3: as their dads were loaded into a flatbed truck. A 535 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:25,440 Speaker 3: government didn't send money to feed these children, but it 536 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:27,720 Speaker 3: seemed to have the funds to fund their parents' deportation. 537 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,160 Speaker 3: By deporting people from Panama, the US effectively deprives them 538 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:34,480 Speaker 3: of much of the due process they should, in theory, 539 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 3: have the right to in the United States, and the 540 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 3: US can easily deport them back to places like Cuba 541 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:43,480 Speaker 3: and Venezuela, which it considers to be dictatorial regimes. The 542 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 3: US does not and cannot stop migration. People have always moved, 543 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,160 Speaker 3: and people will always want a better future for their children. 544 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:54,360 Speaker 3: What it can do is make it as painful and 545 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:57,720 Speaker 3: dangerous as possible. But the rais of word barriers in 546 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,040 Speaker 3: the Daddy and gap which I've seen person on so 547 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 3: media didn't exist for the hundreds of migrants I spoke to. 548 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 3: No one I asked had even seen them, but what 549 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 3: they had seen was far worse. 550 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,880 Speaker 11: Aimulcholi, there are many rivers that you're forced into all 551 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,880 Speaker 11: the time. You're putting your life and everything else on 552 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 11: the line there. I was worried that the indigenous people 553 00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:23,040 Speaker 11: would come out and do something to us. In the nights. 554 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:25,840 Speaker 11: I was worried that any of the children, god forbid, 555 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 11: would have an accident. The same for me. It's horrible 556 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 11: to think about it now. 557 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,160 Speaker 3: This mother hood cross with a five, six and sixteen 558 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 3: year old child, the baby of six months. They'd all 559 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,239 Speaker 3: made it in one piece, but the journey clearly had 560 00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 3: its impact on the children. 561 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:46,440 Speaker 11: There are many people who are left out there without 562 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:48,960 Speaker 11: food and do not have anything to give to their children. 563 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:53,120 Speaker 11: We had food until last night. Nothing left now, and 564 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 11: we had to each one had to just eat a 565 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,720 Speaker 11: little bit because we had nothing else to give them. 566 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 11: You can't find anything there. It's in the middle of nowhere. 567 00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:04,840 Speaker 11: People died right now, along with those who came with us. 568 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:06,840 Speaker 11: Yesterday how many died yesterday? 569 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 3: Three? 570 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:12,160 Speaker 11: I think three died yesterday. One drowned in the river. Yeah, 571 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:16,600 Speaker 11: it's really tough this. No, no, nobody should do this. 572 00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:17,680 Speaker 3: Nobody. 573 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:21,000 Speaker 11: We do this out of pure physical necessity to look 574 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 11: for a better future for our kids. We can't stay 575 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:25,960 Speaker 11: in our country, We couldn't stay any longer. 576 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:29,240 Speaker 3: There here are a couple of the kids I spoke to, 577 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:31,760 Speaker 3: or in some cases, the kids who took my regorda 578 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 3: and conducted interviews with each other. 579 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:39,680 Speaker 11: The mountains. I was so tired and I couldn't climb anymore, 580 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,480 Speaker 11: And when I fell in the river, I was really scared. 581 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:50,600 Speaker 3: Apparently the whole thing was like an adventure. She'd seen 582 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 3: Peppa Pig happy, which at once made me giggle and 583 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:55,640 Speaker 3: also one reflection, It's one of the saddest things I've 584 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 3: ever had to record. I'm sure her mum told her 585 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 3: that to make it easier for her to pass through 586 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:03,200 Speaker 3: a terrible place. They're really sure to be at home 587 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 3: washing Pepper Pig and playing with her friends. No walking 588 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 3: past three dead bodies which are currently decomposing on the trail. 589 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:13,360 Speaker 3: She seemed remarkably resilient. She said the long bus ride 590 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:15,600 Speaker 3: she'd taken to get there. One boring because she enjoyed 591 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 3: looking out the window, and the whole journey was well, 592 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:23,480 Speaker 3: I'll let her say ees Mohamma not buying her Mum 593 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:24,760 Speaker 3: gave us a different account. 594 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:26,920 Speaker 6: Rahmo. 595 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,120 Speaker 1: I didn't want to cry because I didn't want her 596 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 1: to see me crying. But sometimes I would explode because 597 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,040 Speaker 1: it's hard for your child to ask you for water, 598 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:39,760 Speaker 1: to ask you for food, and you don't have any 599 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:41,560 Speaker 1: to be in a place where you walk. You walk 600 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 1: from five in the morning, it's five in the afternoon. 601 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 1: You're walking. You don't know what to do, going through 602 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:49,320 Speaker 1: more than one hundred rivers and asking God not to 603 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,080 Speaker 1: rain and not wanting it to get worse. It rained, 604 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:55,560 Speaker 1: and the girl got a fever. She got a fever. 605 00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:59,360 Speaker 1: But well, God is good that we pray a lot. 606 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:02,080 Speaker 1: I say that we don't know God so much in 607 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:05,160 Speaker 1: the church from the process and the process that we 608 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:07,800 Speaker 1: are in, and we don't know we can be so 609 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,439 Speaker 1: strong until we go through that storm and we see 610 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:12,520 Speaker 1: that He protects us. He knows that He was always 611 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:15,280 Speaker 1: there watching over us, taking care of us at all times. 612 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:19,960 Speaker 3: Parents being amazed at their children and drawing shrink from 613 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:23,000 Speaker 3: them and their faith was a common message I heard 614 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:26,920 Speaker 3: from migrants. He's a migrant from Zimbabwe telling me how 615 00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 3: her daughter inspired her to keep going when she felt 616 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 3: like she couldn't walk anymore. 617 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:34,080 Speaker 12: My daughter, she was strong, she was strong, but she 618 00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:37,399 Speaker 12: was crying also, but she had what wounds all over 619 00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:40,359 Speaker 12: the body. Even me, I was crying myself. I was like, 620 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:43,680 Speaker 12: I want to just put myself in the water, then 621 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:44,120 Speaker 12: I can. 622 00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:44,879 Speaker 6: Just go both. 623 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:49,600 Speaker 12: The gain was tough, really really tough. The mountain, the stones, 624 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 12: the river. It's not easy at all. It's not very 625 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:58,040 Speaker 12: I don't even recommended someone to say you use daddy 626 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:02,160 Speaker 12: and give no. And even by I did know about it. Yeah, 627 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:05,479 Speaker 12: I was regretting myself. I was crying. I was like, God, 628 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:09,600 Speaker 12: I don't know my family and my family they don't 629 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:11,120 Speaker 12: know where I am right now. 630 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,560 Speaker 3: But like so many other migrants, when the government of 631 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:18,240 Speaker 3: the world abandoned her, she found strength in the strangers 632 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:20,080 Speaker 3: along the road who wouldn't abandon her. 633 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:24,120 Speaker 12: We didn't even eat anything, were just asking people, can 634 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:25,560 Speaker 12: I have a piece of biscuit? 635 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:26,600 Speaker 6: They just help us. 636 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:28,760 Speaker 3: That's nice. The other migrants helped. 637 00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 6: You, Yeah, the others. 638 00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:33,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, do you think that they treat African people differently. 639 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,760 Speaker 12: Very nice, especially these Spanish people, they are very nice. 640 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:41,560 Speaker 12: I don't want to lie because if you need help, 641 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:44,040 Speaker 12: you for call them for your look. The other ones 642 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,200 Speaker 12: they might run away, but the other ones they just 643 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:51,600 Speaker 12: found for health. They even give us tablets on the road, 644 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:56,400 Speaker 12: give us energy drinks, give my daughter a sweets for energe. 645 00:35:57,160 --> 00:35:59,600 Speaker 12: They push us like, let's go, guys, let's call, let's go. 646 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:03,399 Speaker 12: You make it injury, and we really make it. 647 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,359 Speaker 3: The journey over the mountains to Banama has become more 648 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,040 Speaker 3: and more popular in recent years as other routes have 649 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:37,600 Speaker 3: become more dangerous or closed themselves off to migrants entirely. 650 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:41,480 Speaker 3: It's a route the Embira tell me that started with 651 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:45,160 Speaker 3: people leaving India and then Haiti. It grew as conditions 652 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:48,560 Speaker 3: in Venezuela became more unsustainable and people found themselves too 653 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:51,279 Speaker 3: poor to stay home and too poor to travel north 654 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:54,360 Speaker 3: by any other means, and so they chose a deadly 655 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,600 Speaker 3: jungle over a future in a country where their votes 656 00:36:56,600 --> 00:37:01,040 Speaker 3: don't matter. Last year, as many half a million people 657 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:05,120 Speaker 3: across the jungle. This year we might see more Magaret's 658 00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:07,840 Speaker 3: arriving about Jigito spend the day in the village before 659 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,000 Speaker 3: taking off in a piagua of their own up to 660 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:13,680 Speaker 3: Lahas Blancas, the migrant reception center I mentioned earlier. They 661 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,400 Speaker 3: register with Panamanian Board Patrol known by the acronym Sena Front, 662 00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:21,160 Speaker 3: and they call their families to say they survived. Then 663 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,040 Speaker 3: they dry out their blistered feet, enjoy the cooking of 664 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:26,279 Speaker 3: several of the families who have turned their homes into 665 00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:30,040 Speaker 3: sort of ersad's restaurants. They sleep on the floors of 666 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:33,160 Speaker 3: the houses or underneath them, ardge their phones for a 667 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:37,040 Speaker 3: dollar a time. Certainly, migration has changed this town, and 668 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:39,520 Speaker 3: I want to talk about that more in tomorrow's episode. 669 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,200 Speaker 3: But despite more than a million people passing through this route, 670 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:48,080 Speaker 3: you don't find antimigrant sentiment here right now, despite the 671 00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:50,799 Speaker 3: gap being a deadly deterrent, numbers are expected to reach 672 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:55,279 Speaker 3: Arequid again this year, maybe seven hundred thousand people will 673 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,360 Speaker 3: walk the gap. But despite these numbers, which may seem 674 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:01,439 Speaker 3: high for a small country, I didn't really find much 675 00:38:01,480 --> 00:38:04,840 Speaker 3: anti Migroan sentiment in Panama as a whole. There's plenty 676 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,080 Speaker 3: of it in the US, though, and as the United 677 00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:09,680 Speaker 3: States winds down its war and terror it needs a 678 00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:12,880 Speaker 3: new nebulous enemy to justify its military spending and to 679 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:16,080 Speaker 3: keep the security into valance companies donating to politicians in 680 00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:20,440 Speaker 3: their millions. In part. It is found that by simply 681 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:24,200 Speaker 3: opening a floodgate of weapons and funding, they can spew 682 00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:27,680 Speaker 3: forth genocide and death in Palestine and keep some of 683 00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:31,400 Speaker 3: its income streams. But it needs a more long term solution. 684 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:34,480 Speaker 3: There are only so many Palestinian babies that can balm, 685 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:36,680 Speaker 3: and we'll run out of Palestinians long before we run 686 00:38:36,719 --> 00:38:40,440 Speaker 3: out of bombs. The USA is new enemy when it 687 00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:42,800 Speaker 3: must seek out all over the world. It's a migrant. 688 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:46,320 Speaker 3: It's a woman I met carrying her child across the mountains. 689 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:50,080 Speaker 3: The little Venezuelan girl throwing bottle caps into a cinder 690 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:52,399 Speaker 3: block with me to pass the time as she asked 691 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:55,719 Speaker 3: me questions about America. It's a twenty one year old 692 00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:58,040 Speaker 3: man whose remains my friends found in a border on 693 00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:01,359 Speaker 3: a hot day this September. The US will stop at 694 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,239 Speaker 3: nothing and fining and destroying the migrant, and just as 695 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:06,440 Speaker 3: it did in the War on Terror, it will find 696 00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:09,160 Speaker 3: fast friends in states desperate to avail themselves to the 697 00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:13,000 Speaker 3: seemingly unlimited flow of resources. The US dedicates to keeping 698 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:15,680 Speaker 3: its conflicts out of the sights and the minds of 699 00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:29,239 Speaker 3: its citizens. The USA's open hostility to migrants isn't something 700 00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:33,160 Speaker 3: that's unknown here. Everyone I met knew about it. Several 701 00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:35,520 Speaker 3: of them had watched with horror as Kamala Harris and 702 00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:38,840 Speaker 3: Donald Trump argued not about how to treat migrants but 703 00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:40,640 Speaker 3: about who could turn more of them away in a 704 00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:45,439 Speaker 3: recent presidential debate. Every migrant I met had questions about CBP, one, 705 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,080 Speaker 3: about US asylum policy, and about how they could get 706 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:52,920 Speaker 3: to the US before a second Trump administration. Despite this, 707 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:55,520 Speaker 3: they all clung to their versions of the American dream. 708 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:58,440 Speaker 3: They wanted to work and be paid a fair wage, 709 00:39:58,719 --> 00:40:01,319 Speaker 3: to send their kids to school, maybe to college, to 710 00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:03,480 Speaker 3: feel safe in their homes, and to be able to 711 00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:07,399 Speaker 3: speak in dress as they wish without varing consequences. All 712 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:10,160 Speaker 3: of those things are imperiling this country too, and they 713 00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:12,919 Speaker 3: know that, but they still feel their dreams are worth 714 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:17,000 Speaker 3: the journey. For Noemi, the little girl who took the 715 00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:20,120 Speaker 3: daddy and in Astride, the American dream was pretty simple. 716 00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:24,000 Speaker 3: She wanted two things. To see Minnie Mouse and to 717 00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:29,680 Speaker 3: see her aunt. Why am I mine with seven or 718 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:31,800 Speaker 3: thousand euros, a studio. 719 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:37,520 Speaker 6: Not ye Ammia, as you dear Amia. 720 00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:49,960 Speaker 1: It Could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media. 721 00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:53,200 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 722 00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:56,880 Speaker 1: Coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 723 00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:00,520 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You could 724 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:02,880 Speaker 1: now find sources for it Could Happen Here, listed directly 725 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,200 Speaker 1: in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.