Circle the area on this map
B. Flores’ prison-based gang started out by extorting migrants fleeing Venezuela’s economic, political and humanitarian crises as they traveled west to Colombia and then south to Ecuador, Peru and Chile. The criminal enterprise followed the migration path and also diversified into sex-trafficking, contract killing and kidnapping.
D. The Darien Gap is a 66-mile-long area straddling the border between Panama and Colombia. There is no road through the stretch, forcing desperate migrants to hike through wetlands, mountains and rain forests. Heavy rain and flash floods are frequent, law enforcement and medical support are non-existent, while assaults and robberies are common.
D. The three allied countries have authoritarian left-wing regimes that have been hit by U.S. trade sanctions over human rights violations. Those sanctions exacerbated the nations’ struggling economies which have been plagued by poor government policies and changing markets. Poverty and political repression have triggered mass emigration from the countries.
C. Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and oil production supported a thriving economy with celebrated universities, a public health system and a flourishing middle class. The economy crashed about a decade ago, leaving Venezuelans struggling to feed their children and dying from preventable diseases. The educated, including about half the doctors, were the first to flee the country.