Cubans Stranded in Costa Rica in Calm but Tense Circumstances

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 23 (acn) The situation of the over 2 thousand Cubans stranded in Costa Rica could be described as calm and tense at the same time as they hope that next Tuesday´s Central American and Caribbean ministerial forum finds a solution to their case.

Costa Rica´s La Prensa Libre newspaper described as calmed the environment of Cubans near the Peñas Blancas Costa Rican border with Nicaragua.

Meanwhile, La Nacion newspaper said that they are in good health and hopeful to receive good news out of a meeting of foreign ministers of Central America and the Caribbean scheduled for Tuesday, with Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia as guests.

The over 2 thousand Cubans are in shelters set up by Costa Rican authorities, the Costa Rican Red Cross and local churches, who provide drinking water, food and medical attention, according to some relatives in Cuba who spoke with the Cuban News Agency.

Some newspaper pictures depict the Cubans playing cards, domino, talking and some buying products. But the situation has become tense every passing day due to the constant arrivals of more persons, from 62 November 17 to 200 on Friday.

The Cubans left the island legally towards different South American nations, like Ecuador, and from there they made it to Colombia and Panama to finally arrive in Costa Rica in route to the United States encouraged by the US dry-feet, wet-feet and the Cuban Adjustment Act.

In a phone conversation with the Cuban News Agency from Washington, lawyer Jose Pertierra said that it is common for Latin Americans to migrate to the U.S., since the living standard there is much higher than in the rest of the continent. So their interest is economic.

But in the case of the Cubans, the US dry-feet, wet-feet and the Cuban adjustment Act give them differentiated treatment if compared to other Latino immigrants. Under the act, the Cubans immediately become eligible for food and housing, medical insurance and just year later they are granted the green card or permanent residence.

In this context, US ambassador to Nicaragua, Laura Dogu recently said that her country will welcome the Cubans if they make it to US territory.

According to Pew Research, a D.C-based Think Tank, from October 2014 to July this year, 27 thousand 296 Cubans entered US territory, with two third of them having done it through the Mexican border.

The Consular Affairs Division at the Cuban Foreign Ministry reiterated that the Cuban embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica, follows the situation of the migrants and that it has provided Costa Rican immigration authorities with the documents that some Cubans did not possess.