PAPER FEBRUARY 2024 Secondary actors: the role of smugglers in mixed

This decline could be the consequence of an increase in the overall number of people on the • Despite marketing their services widely on social move in the region, the greater use and sharing of networks, smugglers played a negligible role in maps by people on the move, and the reopening of decisions to migrate. [...] of Venezuelans to leave their country in search of better However, some of the respondents in this paper’s sample opportunities elsewhere in the region.6 reported that smugglers they used deliberately misled them (39%), while 20% of those who reported using Travelling through the Darien Gap, a perilous jungle smugglers identified them as the likely perpetrators of region straddling the Colombia-Pa. [...] Of of using smugglers have varied over time depending on these 1,167 respondents, 54% hired smugglers for only the magnitude of migratory movements; the opening of part of the trip, 37% for several sections, and 9% for the new, little-used or geographically complex routes; and entire migratory route up to the time of the survey, see the implementation of new restrictive migration policies. [...] Secondary actors: the role of smugglers in mixed migration through the Americas 7 Services provided by smugglers Crossing borders was the most popular in much of the world, it is common for migrants transiting smuggling service… the Americas to recruit smugglers to irregularly cross By far the most frequently used smuggling s. [...] Central American respondents frequently used the services of smugglers for internal transportation in the In November 2021, when Nicaragua stopped requiring countries along the route, as well as for the provision of Cuban arrivals to have visas, the number of regular flights food, water and lodging.