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.