Criminal gangs target refugees and migrants travelling through Panama

A group of migrants crossed the Tuquesa River into Bajo Chiquito, the latest victims of a growing number of bandits now operating in the Darién jungle. They describe the men who robbed them to Panama's border police. Two were armed with rifles and three had machetes, and one was on horseback. One after another, the migrants tell us the same story. They stole everything, even the food for the child. The migrants arrive in Bajo Chiquito with no food or money to continue their journey. Some of the women have been sexually molested or even raped. Eleven-year-old Enrique Puerta and his sister Saraí are among the many children we find who seem desperate to tell us about their ordeal, with their parents' permission. There were many bandits around. They wore masks and came out with guns. And when we were on the road, we heard a lot of shots and we saw dead people. I got very scared when the bandits shot a man's foot. That made me very scared. I was also scared when I saw a woman who was dead in a river alongside a child. They were already eaten. All that was left was their legs. Thousands of children are experiencing the same thing. But they're also stories of sacrifice and selflessness. I went across the river and I almost drowned because of exhaustion. The water was very deep. I survived thanks to this Cuban man, my nephew, and another man who saved me. This Haitian woman was dying from dehydration but was saved by two strangers. She's a human being. We can't just abandon her. I told her that I would come back for her. I reached the village and I brought her down on this stretcher. Panamanian border police concede they need more resources to contain the escalating crime wave in the jungle and keep migrants from danger. Danger that's not deterring those risking their lives to escape poverty and violence at home. Lucia Newman, Al Jazeera, Darien Gap, Panama.