Dec. 20 is a national day of mourning in Panama in memory of the victims of the 1989 US invasion of the country. At the time, it was the largest invasion since Vietnam and the first after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the US, it was heralded as liberating the country from dictator Manuel Noriega, a former US ally. But in Panama, many saw it as something much different. The victims of the US action are still demanding justice.
A growing number of people from Venezuela have been making the risky crossing through the Darién Gap in recent weeks. Jose Loya decided to make the difficult trek, citing xenophobia and discrimination as some of the main reasons why he chose to leave Peru, where he was living with his wife and child.
The Darién Gap, which connects Colombia to Panama, is a jungle with ruthless terrain. But despite its daunting obstacles — including robberies and life-threatening routes — at least 46,000 migrants have made the journey this year alone in an attempt to make it to the US.
Latin America and the Caribbean now register a million new COVID-19 infections about every six days. With the vaccine rollout lagging and lives and livelihoods hanging in the balance, what is next for the region? As part of The World’s series of conversations on the pandemic with Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, reporter Elana Gordon moderated a discussion with demographer Marcia Castro.