Deadliest Journeys - Panama, Business in the Jungle
- 3 years ago
Deadliest Journeys - Panama, Business in the Jungle
North America is linked North to South by a mythic road: the Pan-American. However, in the middle of this road, there is a long gap of some hundred kilometres, between Panama and Colombia. This is Darien. Darien is a swamp, an impenetrable jungle of 12,000km2. And yet men and merchandise have been crossing this zone for thousands of years. Today they often do it illegally by rivers or pathways. The film’s directors followed Gina, a colourful businesswoman, who stocks her business, 3 days from Panama City in the jungle, with whatever means she can. She brings up tons of goods, first by truck then by canoe. They call her the “Queen of the Tuira River”. Indians, farmers, gold diggers, adventurers: they all meet in Darien. In the Choco region, in Colombia, having a truck or even a mule is of no use. The only means of transport is men. Only the paseros, or smugglers, can carry on their backs and barefoot, the tons of goods and of the most fragile kind from one side of the mountain to the other. Finally, the filmmakers have crossed this green hell undercover with illegals from Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea. Without bearings, the illegals put their lives into the hands of smugglers with few scruples… -
North America is linked North to South by a mythic road: the Pan-American. However, in the middle of this road, there is a long gap of some hundred kilometres, between Panama and Colombia. This is Darien. Darien is a swamp, an impenetrable jungle of 12,000km2. And yet men and merchandise have been crossing this zone for thousands of years. Today they often do it illegally by rivers or pathways. The film’s directors followed Gina, a colourful businesswoman, who stocks her business, 3 days from Panama City in the jungle, with whatever means she can. She brings up tons of goods, first by truck then by canoe. They call her the “Queen of the Tuira River”. Indians, farmers, gold diggers, adventurers: they all meet in Darien. In the Choco region, in Colombia, having a truck or even a mule is of no use. The only means of transport is men. Only the paseros, or smugglers, can carry on their backs and barefoot, the tons of goods and of the most fragile kind from one side of the mountain to the other. Finally, the filmmakers have crossed this green hell undercover with illegals from Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea. Without bearings, the illegals put their lives into the hands of smugglers with few scruples… -