This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. It is part of a project on reverse migration by Arizona Republic reporter Daniel Gonzalez and El Paso Times visual journalist Omar Ornelas.

PALENQUE, Panama — A man in a white T-shirt and surf trunks stood on a small pier calling out names from a list.

Rows of men, women and children, sweat trickling down their faces in the sweltering tropical heat, stepped forward one by one. Each received a wristband and a life preserver, then climbed into an open-air fishing boat until the boat was jammed with passengers seated shoulder to shoulder, their belongings stuffed into black plastic bags.

The 40-plus passengers were from Venezuela, migrants who originally fled economic and political turmoil in the South American country to seek a new life in

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