How village in Panama enriched by migrants had to adapt

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.

BAJO CHIQUITO, Panama — No roads lead to this tiny Indigenous community deep in the jungle of the Darién Gap, where a tsunami of U.S.-bound migrants has abruptly slowed to a trickle.

The only way to reach the village is by piragua, a flat-bottomed wooden canoe powered by an outboard motor.

After a three-hour journey up the windy Tuquesa River, 56-year-old piragua driver Omar Canari finally arrived at the village, shirt drenched from heavy summer rains. Canari steered his piragua up to the riverbank and docked just below a weather-beaten sign that read, "Bienvenidos, Bajo Chiquito."

Barely anyone was in sight.

Bajo Chiquito, one of several Indigenous communities along the Tuquesa River, for years has served as a way station for migrants