No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeNewsCosta RicaPolice evict squatters from U.S. investor's property in Esterillos Oeste

Police evict squatters from U.S. investor’s property in Esterillos Oeste

Officials from various public agencies have evicted a group of squatters who occupied a private property for over a year and a half in Esterillos Oeste, a coastal area in the central Pacific canton of Parrita.

Parrita Mayor Freddy Garro Arias told The Tico Times that officers from the National Police and Judicial Police conducted the eviction of some 30 families Thursday. Officials from the Child Welfare Office, the National Animal Health Service and the municipality helped move the families.

Garro said the eviction request was received last year from the legal representatives in Costa Rica of David Aven, a U.S. citizen who acquired the property to develop a beach community project known as Las Olas.

The mayor said that after meeting with a group of the squatters he concluded that they are not residents of Parrita. “Most of them come from other areas like Jacó and Herradura, and there are also Colombian and Haitian migrants,” he said.

Business opportunity

Municipal staff demolished a total of 17 shanties, some of which were empty. Garro said they know that some of the squatters don’t actually live on the site.

The Public Security Ministry’s press office confirmed that several of the shacks were empty and that none of them had drinking water or electricity.

“We’ve witnessed some of these people arriving in cars, some of them expensive cars, just to spend the weekend or clean their part of the land, so we concluded that not all of them are here because they need a place to live,” the mayor said.

Garro also said some of the squatters told municipal officials that more people were planning to occupy the property in coming weeks, but mostly looking to get possession rights in order to be able to sell the land later. “It’s a very attractive land located just two or three minutes from the beach,” he noted.

He added that National Police officers told them that some of the evicted people also had occupied a public property in Parrita last year. “We believe they moved here after they were evicted from Parrita in February 2015,” he said.

Garro said there was not any kind of construction activity taking place on the property at the time the squatters entered the lands.

He said the owner is currently amid an arbitration claim against Costa Rica after his project was shut down in 2011. “Allegedly the land, or part of it, is within a protected wetland,” he said.

The project, according to its website, would include a hotel, a beach club, a complex of villas, recreational areas and shops.

Recommended: Esterillos Oeste: Squatter invasion, sex assaults and robbery on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast

Trending Now

Costa Rica Identified as Key Maritime Route for Cocaine Trafficking

Costa Rica appears among the main maritime and aerial routes for cocaine trafficking between South and North America, according to the World Drug Report 2025 published...

Retired Nicaraguan Army Captain Sentenced to 50 Years for Treason

A retired military officer was sentenced to 50 years in prison in Nicaragua for the crime of "treason against the homeland," his family denounced...

Celso Gamboa Allegedly Ran Drug Ring with Costa Rican Government Ties

Celso Gamboa, once Costa Rica’s Security Minister and a Supreme Court judge, now faces extradition to the U.S. for leading a major cocaine trafficking...

Costa Rica’s Pride March 2025 Defies Restrictions and Celebrates Diversity

A large crowd gathered in Paseo Colón, San José, to participate in the LGBTIQ+ Pride March 2025. It began at noon, as people marched...

Costa Rica’s Rare Birds at Risk as Human Activity Threatens Extinction

Costa Rica’s bare-necked umbrellabird, a striking black bird with a red throat pouch and crest, is in trouble. A new study in Nature Ecology...

Costa Rica and U.S. Strengthen Border Scans and Biometric Cooperation

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem met Wednesday with Honduran President Xiomara Castro to discuss security and migration, following her offer in Costa...
L. Arias
L. Arias
Reporter | The Tico Times |
spot_img
Costa Rica Tours
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica