China Will Pick Up
the Tab For Repatriation
of Its Nationals In
Detention in Costa Rica
In act to solidify its
new relations with Costa
Rica, the Government of
China has offered
financial aid to
repatriate the 72
Chinese nationals in
detention for being
illegal in Costa Rica.
China also said it would
in an "energetic manner"
combat organized crime
involved in trafficking
of persons with the
purpose of exploiting
cheap labour.
The announcement was
made yesterday during a
meeting of Chinese
diplomats, Wang Xiaoxu
and Lan Hu, with Costa
Rican director of
Migración y Extranjería
(immigration service),
Mario Zamora, who was
guaranteed "every kind
of support".
Lan said that his
government is prepared
to establish a mechanism
of collaboration for the
exchange of information
to combat organized
crime. "The fight
against this type of
global crime is of great
importance", said Lan.
The assistance will be
materialized by the
opening of the first
Chinese embassy in the
country, which is
foreseen in the coming
weeks.
Costa Rica announced the
opening of diplomatic
relations with China at
the beginning of last
month, at the same time
breaking off its 63
years of
diplomatic relationship
with Taiwan.
As part of the
co-operation agreement,
China has agreed to
provide criminal
histories of Chinese
nationals travelling to
Costa Rica.
Currently, there is no
mechanism to know the
criminal past of an
Chinese national
travelling to Costa
Rica. China is still on
the "restricted visa"
list and as such Chinese
nationals can only be
issued a visa for entry
to Costa Rica by the
director of immigration.
"As a matter of fact we
have yet to deport a
Chinese national based
on his criminal
history", said Zamora.
Wang and Lan visited the
Centro de Aseguramiento
para Extranjeros en
Tránsito - immigration
holding centre - located
in Hatillo, where they
met with the 72
undocumented Chinese.
According to immigration
records, 61 were
detained last April 23
when their fishing boat
capsized some 200
kilometres off Punta
Guinoes in the Peninsula
de Nicoya, The group was
headed for the United
States. The remaining
were detained during
various immigration
raids.
The immigration service
says it costs the
government ¢15.000
colones (us$29) daily
for each person to
maintain. So far the
bill has come to ¢81
million colones
(us$157.000) and the
cost to deport the group
comes to us$468.000 or
us$6.500 per person.
"The Chinese government
will repatriate them
soon", said director
Zamora. |
|
