Human traffickers offer ‘VIP route’ from Venezuela to avoid Darién perils. It’s just as dangerous

Coyotes claim route is 100% safe', but dozens have died and Colombian coast guard have rescued more than 1,000 people

Some time before dawn on an October morning, Jancerlin Martinez, 33, was preparing to embark on the next leg of her journey to the United States, where she hoped to join relatives in Florida. She had left Venezuela with her sister Jaerlin, 26, and brother Joencer, 19, a few days earlier, eager to provide a better future for her unborn child.

Martinez had saved for two years for the trip, before traveling overland to the Venezuelan border, and then flying with her siblings to the Colombian island of San Andres. From here they planned to cross the Caribbean to Nicaragua, before continuing overland through Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.