1 Million Nicaraguans Have
Emigrated to Costa Rica
GENEVA -- About 1 million Nicaraguans have emigrated to neighboring
Costa Rica seeking a better life due to the dire poverty and lack of
jobs in their own country, according to the International
Organization for Migration.
With a population of 5.6 million inhabitants - more than half of
them under 18 - with an annual growth of 2.7 percent, Nicaragua, the
second-poorest country in the Americas, "is facing a tremendous
challenge to overcome its poverty," IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe
Chauzy said Friday in Geneva.
That challenge, he said, particularly affects women, since a quarter
of Nicaraguan households are headed by women.
The spokesman cited Capt. Lenin Flores, head of a busy post on the
Nicaragua-Costa Rica border, who said that the Nicaraguan emigrants
"are not criminals," but people "risking everything to find work and
a better life," even though they do it without the required
documents.
Chauzy also pointed to the case of 18-year-old Juanita, who traveled
a long, hard road to cross the border illegally with her husband and
children, and said that "wages are low and we have two kids, we just
can't manage that way."
In the last 30 years, Nicaraguan emigration has been spurred by
natural disasters, political conflicts and economic hardship.
Costa Rica, meanwhile, has become a magnet for people without
professional qualifications thanks to the abundant job market in
sectors less attractive to the native population - above all in
agriculture, construction and domestic service.
Though there are no exact figures, it is estimated that 250,000
Nicaraguans reside permanently in Costa Rica, while a similar number
stay in the country only as long as their temporary jobs last. EFE |
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