Caitlin Dickerson on the Darién Gap’s Humanitarian Catastrophe

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2024

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Darién Gap, the perilous mountain region connecting Central and South America, was thought for centuries to be all but impossible to cross. But now, hundreds of thousands of migrants are doing just that to reach the U.S. Pulitzer Prize-winning immigration reporter Caitlin Dickerson took three trips to the Darién Gap over five months, following groups of migrants on their 70-mile trek from northern Colombia into southern Panama. They risked hunger, thirst, drowning, disease, violence, sexual assault and death. We talk to Dickerson about what she witnessed and what she calls the “flawed logic” of U.S. immigration policy – “that by making migration harder, we can limit the number of people who attempt it.” Her new article in the Atlantic is “Seventy Miles in the Darién Gap.” Guests: Caitlin Dickerson, staff writer, The Atlantic - won a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on immigration; her new article is "“Seventy Miles in the Darién Gap.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, forum listeners. It's Alexis. Did you hear that forum is launching a video podcast? It is true.
0:07.0	Each week we'll drop a video recording of a recent forum episode on the KQED News YouTube channel.
0:14.0	We can't wait to bring you into the studio for our conversations on Bay Area Culture, California News, and beyond.
0:21.2	Our first few episodes are out now. Just visit YouTube.com slash KQED News to see it all.
0:28.0	That's YouTube.com slash KQED News.
0:32.1	Support for Forum comes from Broadway SF, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:39.9	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:46.2	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an
0:51.9	unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion.
1:00.0	The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orphium Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th.
1:08.3	Tickets on sale now at Broadway, sf.com. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Mina Kim.
1:33.3	Coming up on forum, The Darien Gap, a treacherous jungle connecting Colombia and Panama,
1:38.3	was thought for centuries to be virtually impassable.
1:41.3	But now hundreds of thousands of migrants are attempting the perilous journey,
1:45.3	risking hunger, drowning, disease, and violence to ultimately make it to the U.S.
1:50.5	Pulitzer Prize-winning immigration reporter Caitlin Dickerson took three trips to the Darien Gap,
1:55.4	following migrants on their 70-mile trek. She writes about the, quote,
1:59.2	humanitarian catastrophe she witnessed and the policy
2:02.4	failures that have driven people there for the Atlantic's September cover story, 70 miles,
2:07.3	in the Darien Gap. Join us.
2:13.5	Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. The U.S. has tried for years to discourage migration by pressuring Latin American countries to close established migration routes, but that's driven migrants to more dangerous or deadly alternatives. And one of those perilous routes is the Darien Gap. Once considered
2:36.1	impassable, the steep jungle terrain between Northern Columbia and Southern Panama, has seen a sharp
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.