President Carlos Alvarado asked Costa Ricans to remain calm in the light of the increase in the migratory flow of Nicaraguans due to the political and social crisis in the neighboring nation.
The president said on Monday that this situation is not out of control and ruled out that the country will face a situation similar to that of 2015 and 2016 with Cuban-born citizens, who were stuck here at that time in their attempt to reach the United States.
One of the reasons he stated there is a big difference is that immigrants who are arriving because of the crisis, “have somewhere to stay”.
As there is a significant Nicaraguan population in the country, these people who come for a shelter have, say, where to stay, in terms of family, friends, or acquaintances, unlike Cubans,”
said Alvarado.
Regarding the increase in refugee requests, Alvarado said that these are exceed 1000, but that many are already Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica. He said the new ones are not a statistically large group.
The Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) has reported 178 deaths since the demonstrations against the regime of Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, began.