Panama says jungle crossing of U.S.-bound migrants down nearly 40%

The number of U.S.-bound migrants passing through the Darien jungle has fallen by 39 percent so far this year, with a total of 294,000 attempting the dangerous journey since January, Panama's president said Thursday.

In the same period last year, the number was 482,000 people crossing the jungle that separates Colombia and Panama, according to official data.

"There has been a 39 percent decrease in the flow of migrants," president Jose Raul Mulino told reporters in Panama City.

The so-called Darien Gap is a key corridor for migrants traveling overland from South America through Central America and Mexico to the United States.

Despite the dangers, including wild animals, treacherous terrain and attacks by criminal gangs, more than half a million undocumented migrants -- mostly Venezuelans -- crossed the inhospitable jungle last year.

Transit countries such as Panama and Mexico have come under increased pressure from Washington to tackle the highly contentious migration issue.

Panama has closed several routes in the Darien region, and has recently begun deporting migrants on flights funded by Washington.

Mulino said the decrease was partly due to "heavy rains that made it impossible to navigate the rivers."

But he said the migrant flow will not stop as long as the political and economic crisis continues in Venezuela.

Millions have fled the country since President Nicolas Maduro came to power over a decade ago, with elections this year bringing further turmoil after he and the opposition candidate both claimed victory.

Hundreds of migrants set out from the Mexican city of Tapachula on foot Wednesday, hoping to arrive at the US border before President-elect Donald Trump -- who has vowed massive deportations -- takes office in January.

Trump, who won an election in which illegal migration was once again a top issue, has vowed to declare a national emergency on border security and use the US military to carry out a mass deportation of undocumented migrants, a population estimated to be over 11 million.