Travel and Tourism
MORE THAN A THOUSAND CUBAN MIGRANTS IN LIMBO FOLLOWING COSTA RICA RAIDS
Immigration
In a week, Doña Rosa, who left Ecuador 22 days ago after arriving on a flight from Cuba, has spent $300 on a hotel room and food, money she needed further north along the route to join her sons in the U.S.
As we reported yesterday, thousands of Cubans are fleeing the island via a long and arduous land route to the U.S. that begins in Ecuador and winds through Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. Their journey in search of the “American dream,” or simply to be reunited with family in the U.S., spans thousands of miles to a destination just 90 miles from the shores of Cuba.
Two days ago, Costa Rican authorities dismantled a migrant smuggling ring that charged Cubans thousands of dollars each to travel north. Police arrested 13 suspects and raided several locations in San José and the northwestern province of Guanacaste.
Authorities in recent hours also changed immigration requirements for Cubans, now requiring them to have a visa to enter – and travel through – Costa Rica. Those two actions have created a small crisis along Costa Rica’s border with Panama.
By Thursday morning, more than a thousand Cuban migrants had been rounded up in Paso Canoas after crossing the border from Panama, the AFP reported. Another 100 milled about outside Costa Rica’s Immigration Administration north of the capital, hoping for papers authorizing them to continue on to Nicaragua.
Immigration Administration Director Kathya Rodríguez said the undocumented Cuban migrants in Paso Canoas likely would be returned to Panama, the AFP reported, leaving them in a conundrum. Going back to Cuba is not one of the options, several members of the group in Paso Canoas told The Tico Times on Thursday
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