<P> The Darién Gap was subject to the presence and activities of the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has committed assassinations, kidnappings and human rights violations during its decades - long insurgency against the Colombian government . FARC rebels were present on both the Colombian and Panamanian sides of the border . In 2000, two British travelers, Tom Hart Dyke and Paul Winder, were kidnapped by suspected FARC guerillas in the Darién Gap while hunting for rare orchids, a plant for which Dyke has a particular passion . The two were held captive for nine months and threatened with death before eventually being released unharmed and without a ransom being paid . Dyke and Winder later documented their experience in the book The Cloud Garden and an episode of Locked Up Abroad . </P> <P> Other political victims of the Darién Gap include three New Tribes missionaries, who disappeared from Pucuro on the Panamanian side in 1993 . </P> <P> In 2003, Robert Young Pelton, on assignment for National Geographic Adventure magazine, and two traveling companions, Mark Wedeven and Megan Smaker, were detained for one week by the United Self - Defense Forces of Colombia, a pro-government paramilitary organization, in a highly publicized incident . </P> <P> From May 2013, Colombian neo-paramilitary forces were reported to be very active in the Darién around Los Katios National Park and the Cuenca Cacarica . In 2013, Swedish backpacker Jan Philip Braunisch disappeared in the area after leaving the Colombian town of Riosucio with the intention of attempting a crossing on foot to Panama, via the Cuenca Cacarica . His skeletal remains were recovered in June 2015 with evidence he had been killed with a shot to the head . The FARC admitted to killing him, having confused him for a foreign spy . </P>

Why is there no road through the darien gap