Police Step Up Controls In Guanacaste To
Detect Illegals
Tens of thousands of Nicaraguan nationals
have been making their way back to Costa
Rica this past week, returning to their
homes and jobs after spending the holidays
in the native land.
Along with the estimated 75.000 plus
Nicaraguans who are legal to enter Costa
Rica, some with residency, others on work
permits, etc, hundreds and perhaps thousands
of illegals, as it occurs every year, have
been making their way to Costa Rica in
search of work and promise of a better life.
The immigrants take their chances with the
police controls along the border between the
two countries and control posts in the
Guanacaste and San Carlos area to detect
illegals.
The latest report by the immigration police
is the interception of a small bus carrying
31 illegal Nicaraguans headed for San José.
Costa Rican authorities say the bus was
driven by a Costa Rican identified by his
last name only, Méndez, who is being charged
with the trafficking of illegals of "coyotaje"
in Spanish.
Many such as Méndez take advantage of the
high volume of people trying to illegally
enter Costa Rica in the first weeks of the
new year, while others make it a livelihood,
transporting illegals all year round,
mocking border controls and control posts.
The Méndez bus was intercepted in
Cuajiniquil in La Cruz, Guanacaste, south of
the Nicaraguan border of Peñas Blancas.
Travelling in the bus were 22 men and 9
women, which were sent back to their native
land.
Rafael Ángel Araya, head of the police unit
in Guanacaste, said that the tighter
controls and actions of the police officers
has increased, especially during this time
of year when it is almost a tradition for
illegals to tempt their fate in the new
land.
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