How migration transformed an Indigenous town in Panama’s Darien Gap

The community of Bajo Chiquito has seen its population explode, as migrants and asylum seekers trek north to the US.

Bajo Chiquito, Panama – For many years, residents in the remote Indigenous community of Bajo Chiquito, Panama, lived a quiet life.

No paved roads lead to the town. Only dirt paths and the Turquesa River connect Bajo Chiquito to the outside world. A dense jungle filled with parrots and howler monkeys cocoons the community.

But over the past few years, the lives of the Emberá-Wounaan people who call Bajo Chiquito home have been dramatically and perhaps irreversibly transformed.

That is because, over the last several years, Bajo Chiquito has mushroomed into a hub for one of the busiest migration routes in the Western Hemisphere.

Hundreds of thousands of people now cross from Colombia into Panama each year, using a narrow land bridge called the Darién Gap. Bajo Chiquito sits at the northern edge of its most popular trail: The Colombian border lies a mere 24km (15 miles) away.