Colombia, U.S. to hold conference on migration in 2023

Colombia and the United States will hold a conference in the first quarter of next year to look at measures that would guarantee rights for migrants heading
north to the U.S. border, officials from the two countries announced on Friday.
Colombia has become a stepping stone for many migrants from Latin America and elsewhere who travel through the dangerous jungle of the Darien Gap that links Colombia with Panama, before continuing up through Central America.
The phenomenon is a problem for the whole region, U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told journalists in Bogota.
“This is a regional challenge and it therefore requires a regional solution,” Mayorkas said during a joint declaration with Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva, following a meeting with President Gustavo Petro.