The bottleneck out of Costa Rica is stretching the patience of Cuban migrants and the Costa Rican government's pocketbook. But some still won't risk it.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Costa Rica has long been the destination of choice for poor immigrants from neighboring Nicaragua. But now, the country is becoming a refuge for increasing numbers of Salvadorans fleeing violent crime and gangs, Cubans desperate to reach the U.S. border, and stateless “transcontinentals” arriving from as far as Iraq, Bangladesh and Somalia.
The first trickle of a group of thousands of Cubans trying to reach the United States crossed the Mexican border into Texas Friday, ending a dangerous, months-long odyssey through the Americas.
In what they nervously hope will be the successful conclusion to a months-long odyssey through South and Central America, the first group of 180 Cubans left Costa Rica on Tuesday, landed in El Salvador and then made it further north to Guatemala by bus after traveling through the night.
The latest wave of Cuban migration has drawn increased skepticism from some representatives to the 1966 law that grants them preferential status in the US.
A primer on how nearly 8,000 Cuban migrants became stranded in Costa Rica, why they're being flown to El Salvador and what awaits them if they make it to their destination, the United States.
Cuban migrants will be flown to El Salvador on charter flights and then bussed to Mexico -- all at their own expense. From there, they must find their own transportation to the U.S. border.
Central American human rights ombudsmen say they'll closely monitor the treatment of thousands of Cuban migrants set to travel from Costa Rica to the U.S.-Mexico border.
