The number of Nicaraguan refugees in Costa Rica is growing sharply

In recent weeks, the number of Nicaraguans fleeing their country due to the tightening of Daniel Ortega’s regime in the face of social protests and the application of laws that punish dissidents with jail.

Most of them are concentrated in Costa Rica, the closest and most familiar destination, an already hot border.

“There are estimated to be between 350,000 and 400,000 Nicaraguan exiles in Costa Rica“, Explains a Clarino Mariano Rosaof the Socialist Workers’ Movement (MST), which heads the International Commission for the Life and Freedom of Political Prisoners in Nicaragua.

This commission, made up of nine people including deputies and party leaders from Argentina – including Luciana Echevarría, a Cordoba deputy for the MAS-FIT Unit -, Brazil, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Panama, attempted to enter Nicaraguan territory to check the health conditions of political prisoners, but the regime prevented this by militarizing the border and closing the gates.

The repression

“It was a line-up that hadn’t been seen for a long time; military, police and paramilitary saturation of the border. A virtual militarization with the presence of about 300 soldiers, snipers and paramilitary groups who harass the Commission ”, said Rosa.

The flow of Nicaraguans to Costa Rica is so massive that it overloads the country’s asylum systems. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the current number of refugees already exceeds that of the 1980swhen Sandinismo fought against the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza.

The regime accuses not only dissidents, but also their families. In this context, the Commission chaired by Rosa is rCollection of testimonies to prepare a report on the atrocities committed by the regime Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo.

The prisoners

“The work of the Commission has had a great impact because it has placed the issue in the international framework. There are more than 190 political prisoners in inhumane conditions in Nicaragua, including torture“, To explain Lia Aburtoof the Articulation of Social Movements, the most important organization of Nicaraguan exiles.

“Their life is at risk due to the imposition of the dictatorship which attributes unfounded crimes such as terrorism. The regime is evilattacked the safety of people and things like that he is willing to do anything to stay in power despite the people having declared it illegitimate ”, adds Aburto.

The Commission, meanwhile, is collecting information for its report. “We are collecting testimonies of former political prisoners who fled to Costa Rica by illegally crossing the border, relatives of the murdered, of the disappeared, who are also thereof prisoners, as well as economic exiles who suffer from a very precarious helpless situation in this country ”, underlines Rosa.