It Could Happen Here — “CZM Rewind: The Green Hell: Migration Through the Darién Gap”

Original Air Date: December 26, 2025
Host: Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts

Overview

This episode explores the harrowing ordeal faced by migrants crossing the Darién Gap, the notorious stretch of jungle between Colombia and Panama. Using on-the-ground interviews with migrants from Cameroon, Iran, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela, as well as personal reflections from the journalist, the episode exposes the physical and psychological toll of the journey, the geopolitical realities underpinning mass migration, and the impact of US and Panamanian policy on those seeking safety and hope for a better future.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Life and Death in the Darién Gap

• The episode opens with a vivid recounting of the devastation in the jungle:
  • Bodies on the trail, traumatized children, and hope amidst despair.
  • The host recalls:

    "The most difficult part of the journey is when you are trekking and you meet dead bodies on the road. It makes you weep. You make makes you cry. But there's only one focus in the forest ahead. You have to keep going." — James, Cameroonian migrant (06:23)

• The Darién Gap is described as both “La Ruta del Muerte” – The Route of Death – and “The Green Hell.”

2. Who Takes This Journey—And Why

• Testimonies reveal diverse backgrounds:
  • Cameroon Migrants: Driven by civil war, personal loss, and persecution, especially in anglophone regions.
    • “My mom, my dad, my two brothers. And I'm the only one left. So things are not normal. There is no job. I've completed school, but there's nothing for me to do. So that's why I decided to migrate…” — Powers, Cameroonian migrant (12:35)
  • Iranians: Explain how repression and restrictions on speech and religion drive migration.
    • “It was so difficult for us… because of the freedom, because we can’t speak in our country… if you speak in your street, something like this, they will arrest you.” — Somaye and Mohaddase, Iranian migrants (38:05)
  • Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Nepal, North Africa: Similar stories of desperation, repression, or economic ruin.
• Routes: Many from Africa and Asia exploit relatively open Brazilian visas and travel overland, negotiating a perilous sequence of countries to reach the Darién.

3. The Journey: Danger, Despair, and Determination

• No roads in this jungle; only mud, river crossings, cliffs, and perilously faint trails, with crime and exploitation at every turn.
• Migrants must pay for guides—often cartel-controlled—for “protection” and access.
• The host reports:
  • “For anywhere between two and fifteen days, migrants trek through waist-high mud and rivers deeper than they are tall...with barely any more than what they can carry. Little to no food, inadequate clothing, and terrible footwear …past dead bodies and past people who might soon become dead bodies.” (15:20)
• Danger and death are constant companions.
• Reflecting on personal safety, the host notes:
  • “I'm comfortable outdoors...but in the jungle, after all the stories I'd heard that week, I was afraid. It gets scary. I don't know why…there’s new animals, new plants. I don't know what's poisonous…Who's going to try and hurt me.” (54:02)

4. Stories of Resilience and Community

• Powerful accounts from migrants and their children:
  • A Venezuelan mother:
    • “No, no, nobody should do this. Nobody. We do this out of pure physical necessity to look for a better future for our kids. We can't stay in our country. We couldn't stay any longer there.” (1:29:45)
  • A Zimbabwean woman:
    • “My daughter, she was strong...but she got wounds all over the body…I was crying myself…I, I don't even recommend someone to use Darien Gap. No.” (1:36:55)
• Help along the way comes from other migrants, providing food, encouragement, and energy for the journey.
• Children’s accounts lend heartbreaking perspective:
  • “The mountains. I was so tired and I couldn't climb anymore. And when I fell in the river, I was really scared.” (1:33:45)
  • The host observes the girl seemed to see it “like an adventure she'd seen Peppa Pig having,” a reflection he found both tragic and hopeful.

5. The Reality of Migration Policy and U.S. Border Externalization

• U.S. and Panamanian policy have turned the physical ordeal of the Darién Gap into a de facto barrier:
  • “Because the US refuses to create more legal pathways, people instead take the sodden pathway straight up and down the mountains of the Darien rainforest. The journey will take them past the corpses of people who never left.” (22:00)
• Panama’s president, with U.S. funding, promises to “close the Gap”—but the host explains this is largely political rhetoric; the jungle remains open and impossible to seal.
• The U.S. is described as moving its southern border enforcement ever further away from its own territory and into Central America and beyond.
  • “By deporting people from Panama, the US effectively deprives them of much of the due process they should, in theory, have the right to in the United States.” (1:20:00)
• The host argues these policies do not deter migration, only escalate its dangers.

6. Arrival in Bajo Chiquito and the Local Impact

• Bajo Chiquito, once a tiny Embara indigenous community, now functions as a de facto migrant reception town.
• Despite the influx—1,000+ people a day—there is little anti-migrant sentiment among the locals.
• Migrants get their first meal, sleep, WiFi, and a brief respite before continuing.
• The transformation of the village, and its adaptation to the migration crisis, will be covered further in the following episode.

7. Reflections on the American Dream

• Despite the trauma and awareness of U.S. politics and hostility, migrants cling to hope:
  • “They wanted to work and be paid a fair wage, to send their kids to school and maybe to college, to feel safe in their homes, and to be able to speak and dress if they wished without fearing consequences. All of those things are in peril in this country, too, and they know that. But they still feel their dreams are worth the journey.” (1:49:45)
• The episode closes with a child’s simple wish:
  “For Noemi...the American dream was pretty simple. She wanted two things: to see Minnie Mouse and to see Harant. It could happen.” (1:52:00)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We do this out of pure physical necessity to look for a better future for our kids. We can't stay in our country. We couldn't stay any longer there.” — Venezuelan mother (1:29:45)
• “Nobody should do this. Nobody… it's not very—I don't even recommend someone to say, yeah, use Darién Gap. No.” — Zimbabwean mother (1:36:55)
• “I'm a fit person…I run ultra marathons…I used to exercise for a living. And it's fucking hard. It's wet. Everything's wet all the time…everyone's feet are just fucked when they get into town.” — Host's reflection (1:00:42)
• “When you see most of Cameroonians traveling, taking the risk path from Colombia, Brazil, right up to where I am, it is not because they like, it's because of the situation back at home.” — James, Cameroon (18:40)
• “They kill women for simple things. I think American people know about Mahsa Amini.” — Iranian migrant (38:55)
• “Trying to close borders doesn’t work at home, and it won’t work in the Darién Gap either.” — Host's analysis (1:17:55)

Important Timestamps

• 00:25: Opening and initial report from the Darién Gap—personal story
• 06:23: Testimony from James, Cameroonian migrant
• 15:20: Description of journey conditions (terrain, challenges)
• 18:40: Interview: James on Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis
• 38:05: Iranians describe their route and reasons for leaving home
• 54:02: Host’s reflections on physical fear and the jungle environment
• 1:00:42: Host details the physical toll on migrants’ bodies
• 1:20:00: Analysis of U.S. migration policy and consequences
• 1:29:45: Venezuelan mother on why she risked the journey
• 1:33:45: Child migrant describing the journey as an “adventure”
• 1:36:55: Zimbabwean woman’s emotional journey
• 1:49:45: Host’s summary of migrants’ dreams and realistic expectations
• 1:52:00: Closing with Noemi’s wish — the child’s version of the American dream

Tone and Style

The episode blends deeply empathetic on-the-ground reportage, candid conversation, and political analysis. The tone alternates between raw, vulnerable, and analytical, maintaining a human face on the migration crisis and giving agency to the voices of those experiencing it.

Conclusion

This episode of It Could Happen Here is an unflinching yet compassionate examination of one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes, putting real migrant stories at its core and exposing how global forces, U.S. policy, and local adaptation all intersect in the Darién Gap. The episode is both a documentation of suffering and a tribute to the perseverance and hope of those who travel “the Green Hell” in search of a new life.