New border crisis as Costa Rica returns 250 Africans
AT LEAST 250 Africans were forcibly returned to Panamanian territory by Costa Rican police on Friday April 15.
They arrived back at the Paso Canoas border on six buses at 6:00 a.m., after they had already reached the border that Costa Rica shares with Nicaragua
After jostling with Tico police the Africans were moved to the police substation on the Costa Rican side surrounded by crowd control units .
Riot control agents of the National Police were standing by on the Panamanian side.
“It is a situation that is getting out of control,” Panama Migration Servicea director Javier Carrillo, told Telemetro.
Carrillo said the Costa Rican to return the Africans to Panama was made without notice.
He said that he had already informed representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on the situation, which generates “unrest” in the area.
He said that the migrants do not want to stay in Panama.
Staff of the Red Cross of Costa Rica have attended several Africans suffering from dehydration and malnutrition.
The new development is in addition to the thousands of Cubans stranded in Panama, which has asked other Central American countries to allow them to continue their journey to the United States.
There were two violent clashes at Paso Canoas, after Cubans crossed to Costa Rica.100 Cubans crossed to the Tico side to continue the journey to the United States, but were returned to Panama.
According to Security Minister Rodolfo Aguilera, air transfer of these migrants to Mexico, as was done with another group in March, is impossible because they do not have the required visa. However, through diplomatic channels, the Foreign Ministry and the Presidency are seeking a transfer solution, he said.