Costa Rica experiences migratory exodus amid hardships and human trafficking

He migratory exodus that crosses the American continent passes through Costa Rica amid hardships, risks to integrity and life, and using dangerous crossings on the porous border with Nicaragua, where migrants are also exposed to extortion and human trafficking.

In the community of Los Chiles, in northern Costa Rica, the migration crisis has one of its many stops on its way to the United States.

It is the place designated by the authorities so that migrants can leave for Nicaragua, and the vast majority of them do so at night, in irregular and dangerous conditions.

The land of “the Taliban”

According to official data, in recent weeks the daily number of migrants entering Costa Rica from Panama through the Paso Canoas border has increased from 1,000 to 3,000.

From there, migrants who can afford the US$30 ticket take buses to Los Chiles, the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border.

In recent days, more than 40 buses per day have been arriving in Los Chiles.

The death of three Venezuelans on July 19 in Los Chiles, when the vehicle in which they were transported fell into a river, exemplifies the risk to which these people are exposed by hiring illegal services to mobilize them in old cars that are in terrible conditions.

It was learned that the community operates dozens of carriers known as “the Taliban”who pick up migrants at bus stops and charge them to take them to border blind spots.

This illegal transport of people flourishes due to little control by the authorities and because the migrants do not have the 150 dollars that the Government of Nicaragua charges as “safe passage” to enter legally through the Las Tablillas border post, located six kilometers from Los Chiles.

Another of the risks that migrants are exposed to is human trafficking, since on the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua it is also possible to hire “coyotes” to travel from one country to another through orange groves, rivers and trails.

“In Costa Rica, what is greatly affecting the deterioration of security conditions is the presence of this group of coyotes that are called the Taliban, who ultimately benefit from the transit of people. They have made this their business and to protect their illegal source of income they exercise violence and more control over the area”, commented the Humanitarian Manager for Oxfam in Central America, Iván Aguilar.

A crisis for border communities

Currently, in Costa Rica there is a large group of migrants, mainly Venezuelans, stranded in Paso Canoas, on the border with Panama, because they do not have the money to pay for the bus that transports them directly to the border with Nicaragua.

This is the only route authorized by the Government of Costa Rica in order to implement an expeditious passage and prevent migrants from crowding in the capital San José.

In Los Chiles, the canton with the lowest human development index in Costa Rica, residents feel that government authorities are not addressing the situation.

The president of the Los Chiles Development Association, Minor Reyes, said that this has been happening since “the first migratory waves of 2015″.

“There are health problems, people who arrive without money, we have to give them economic and food assistance. The Government as such has not taken things so seriously, we have seen an abandonment ”, Reyes detailed.

Given the lack of police and the low capacity of health services, the community was forced to unite, with the support of international cooperation, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations such as the Center for the Social Rights of Migrants ( Cenderos), to provide humanitarian assistance.

What was intended as a quick stop in Los Chiles, for many migrants has become a place to rest, for medical treatment in a small public clinic, or for a longer stay due to lack of money.

“We arrived very tired, we just want to keep advancing but they have told us that we have to do it at night so that the Nicaraguan Army doesn’t catch us. We have no money, we come from a country in ruins where we can’t even eat. With faith in God we know that we will achieve our goal.” said Pedro Álvarez, a Venezuelan migrant who was preparing to travel with a “taliban” to an exit point at the border.

This report was produced with the support of Oxfam in Central America with funding from the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO).

Source: EFE