Venezuelans crossing the Darien Gap say they lost hope after July's election

LAJAS BLANCAS, Panama (AP) — Venezuelans trekking across the Darien Gap – a rugged jungle passage between Colombia and Panama – say they're making the perilous journey because they lost hope for change after a contentious presidential election handed victory to President Nicolás Maduro despite vote tallies released by the opposition showing that his competitor won by a landslide.

“We stayed waiting for the election (results) because if Maduro left (power) then we would stay. But nothing happened,” said Enrique Dordis, 46, a former cab driver from the central state of Carabobo, who left Venezuela last week with his wife, an 8-year-old son, Emanuel, and four other family members.

Tucked in a tent in the Lajas Blancas camp, he reflected Thursday on the raging rivers and heavy downpours the family had to face in their four-day trek across the dense jungle, once believed to be nearly impossible to cross. “Money is not enough. You get desperate and you have to look for a better future for your children,” he said.

Last year, more than half a million migrants – a record number – crossed through the Darien on their way to the United States. More than 60% of them were Venezuelans fleeing economic and political turmoil by the millions. Those who didn’t migrate held onto hope that their country, once one of Latin America’s wealthiest, would someday bounce back.

While migration from Venezuela has since slowed along the border from record levels, the disputed results of the July election and the state repression that followed was the final straw, and many fear it could potentially trigger a new wave of migration.

“We feel very disappointed after the election, which was a total fraud,” said Rosimar Angulo, a Venezuelan staying with other migrants in a small Red Cross reception center on Thursday morning at the mouth of the jungle passage.

Angulo arrived in the camp after traveling by boat from Bajo Chiquito, where migrants make their first registration with Panamanian authorities, after trudging days through the jungle on foot.

“It’s getting harder and harder, our relatives are getting sick,” Angulo said, as a fellow traveler was carried on a stretcher by members of the Red Cross.

Like Angulo, many of the Venezuelans arriving to Lajas Blancas said that they made the decision to leave shortly after Venezuela’s electoral authority handed victory to Maduro, despite vote tallies released by the opposition showing that his competitor won by a landslide.

More than half a dozen Venezuelan migrants interviewed said they held out until several weeks after the election, hoping for a favorable outcome for opposition candidate Edmundo González — who has since left the country — and encouraged by street demonstrations led by leader María Corina Machado.

“For us, the same government winning again means there will be no improvement in the country,” said Laura Naveda, a migrant traveling with 13 family members, including several children.

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Migrants sit on a northbound bus heading to Costa Rica as they wait to leave Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, after walking across the Darien Gap from Colombia in hopes of reaching the U.S. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Migrants from Vietnam charge their phones at a camp for those who walk across the Darien Gap in hope of reaching the U.S., in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A Panamanian immigration officer takes the fingerprints of William Kanana, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at a post in Lajas Blancas, Panama, where migrants who trekked across the Darién Gap are processed, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A Panamanian immigration officer does a biometric check on William Kanana, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at a post in Lajas Blancas, Panama, where migrants who have trekked across the Darién Gap are processed, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Migrants wait to get back their passports as Panamanian immigration officers process their identifications at a post where those who trekked across the Darién Gap stop along their way north toward the U.S., in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Panamanian police inspect the luggage of Francismar Acosta, from Venezuela, in Lajas Blancas, Panama, after she trekked across the Darien Gap from Colombia with her daughter Adhara Figueroa, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Migrants arrive by boat to Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, after their trek across the Darien Gap from Colombia in hopes of reaching the U.S. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A boat takes migrants to Lajas Blanca, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, after their trek across the Darien Gap from Colombia in hopes of reaching the U.S. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Marisol Jaime, from Venezuela, lies on the shore after disembarking from a boat in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, following her trek through the Darién Gap from Colombia in hopes of reaching the U.S. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A woman walks with her children through the street in Piriati, Panama, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Migrants from Bangladesh wait at an immigration post where Panamanian officers process the identifications of those who have trekked across the Darién Gap, in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Migrants from Nepal use their phones at a camp for people who walked across the Darien Gap in hope of reaching the U.S., in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

The cell phones of migrants get their batteries charged for a cost of $1 dollar per hour at a camp for people who walked across the Darien Gap in hopes of reaching the U.S., in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Emanuel Dordis, of Venezuela, sleeps next to his father at a camp for migrants who trekked across the Darien Gap in the hope of reaching the U.S., in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Children play at a camp for migrants in Lajas Blancas, Panama, after walking across the Darien Gap in hopes of reaching the U.S., Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Dorcas Many carries her daughter at a camp for migrants who walked across the Darien Gap in hopes of reaching the U.S., in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Migrants rest at a camp after treking across the Darien Gap from Colombia in hopes of reaching the U.S., in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A boat takes migrants to Lajas Blanca, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, after the migrants trekked across the Darien Gap from Colombia in hopes of reaching the U.S. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Brayan Quintero and his son Brian, from Venezuela, arrive by boat to Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, after walking across the Darien Gap in hopes of reaching the U.S. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Dorcas Many, from Democratic Republic of the Congo, carries her daughter Maria Many at a camp where migrants who walked across the Darien Gap stop in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Venezuelans crossing the Darien Gap say they lost hope after July's election

Venezuelans crossing the Darien Gap say they lost hope after July's election

Migrants arrive to Lajas Blancas, Panama, after trekking across the Darien Gap from Colombia in hopes of reaching the U.S., Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama used nitrogen gas Thursday to execute a man convicted of killing three people in back-to-back workplace shootings, the second time the method that has generated debate about its humaneness has been used in the country

Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. local time at a south Alabama prison. He shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes with his body at times pulling against the restraints. That was followed by about six minutes of periodic gulping breaths before he became still.

Miller was convicted of killing three men — Lee Holdbrooks, Christopher Scott Yancy and Terry Jarvis — in 1999 and the state had previously attempted to execute him by lethal injection in 2022.

“I didn't do anything to be in here,” Miller said in his final words that were at times muffled by the blue-rimmed gas mask that covered his face from forehead to chin. However, witnesses at the trial had expressed no doubt about his guilt, describing Miller shooting the three men.

At the execution, Miller also asked his family and friends to “take care” of someone but it was not clear whose name he said.

Miller was one of five inmates put to death in the span of one week, an unusually high number that defies a yearslong trend of decline in the use of the death penalty in the U.S.

“Tonight, justice was finally served for these three victims through the execution method elected by the inmate," Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement. “His acts were not that of insanity, but pure evil. Three families were forever changed by his heinous crimes, and I pray that they can find comfort all these years later.”

Family members of the three victims did not witness the execution and did not issue a statement to be read to reporters, state officials said.

The execution was the second to use the new method Alabama first employed in January, when Kenneth Smith was put to death. The method involves placing a respirator gas mask over the inmate’s face to replace breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death by lack of oxygen.

Alabama officials and advocates have argued over whether Smith suffered an unconstitutional level of pain during his execution after he shook in seizure-like spasms for several minutes, at times rocking the gurney. Smith then gasped for breath for several minutes. The shaking exhibited by Miller was similar to what was seen at the first nitrogen gas execution but did not seem as long or as violent.

Alabama Corrections Commissioner John Q. Hamm said the shaking movements were anticipated.

“Just like in Smith we talked about there is going to be involuntarily body movements as the body is depleted of oxygen. So that was nothing we did not expect,” Hamm said, explaining the nitrogen gas flowed for 15 minutes. “Everything went according to plan and according to our protocol."

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the execution “went as expected and without incident.”

“Tonight, despite misinformation campaigns by political activists, out-of-state lawyers, and biased media, the State proved once again that nitrogen hypoxia is both humane and effective,” Marshall said in a statement.

Marshall did not personally witness the execution but a representative from his office did, prison officials said.

A delivery truck driver, Miller was convicted of capital murder for the Aug. 5, 1999, shootings that claimed three lives and shocked the city of Pelham, a suburban city just south of Birmingham.

Police say that early that morning, Miller entered Ferguson Enterprises and fatally shot two co-workers: Holdbrooks, 32, and Yancy, 28. He then drove 5 miles (8 kilometers) away to Post Airgas, where he had previously worked, and shot Jarvis, 39. Trial testimony indicated that Miller was paranoid and believed his co-workers had been gossiping about him.

“You’ve been spreading rumors about me,” a witness described Miller as saying before he opened fire. All three men were shot multiple times.

Miller had initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but later withdrew the plea. A psychiatrist hired by the defense said that Miller was mentally ill but his condition wasn’t severe enough to use as a basis for an insanity defense, according to court documents. Jurors convicted Miller after 20 minutes of deliberation and recommended by a vote of 10-2 that he receive the death penalty.

In 2022, the state called off the previous attempt to execute Miller after being unable to connect an IV line to the 351-pound (159-kilogram) inmate. Miller had initially challenged the nitrogen gas protocol but dropped his lawsuit after reaching an undisclosed settlement with the state.

Hamm said the state did not change the protocol. Miller, among other things, had requested to be given a sedative. Hamm declined to say if Miller was given a sedative and referred questions about the settlement to Miller’s attorneys.

Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, and other death penalty opponents hold a demonstration outside the Alabama Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, asking the state to call off the scheduled execution of Alan Miller in what would be the nation's second execution using nitrogen gas. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)

FILE - Officials escort murder suspect Alan Eugene Miller away from the Pelham City Jail in Alabama, Aug. 5, 1999. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)

FILE - This undated photograph provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows inmate Alan Eugene Miller, who was convicted of capital murder in a workplace shooting rampage that killed three men in 1999. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP, File)