More than 1,500 undocumented migrants who were on their way to the United States are stranded due to the coronavirus pandemic in a jungle area of Panama.
The closure of the shelter that housed 85 and fed 150 people a day is likely to further concentrate immigrants in the area around Peñas Blancas, as more arrive every day with no way forward.
The demonstration in Peñas Blancas, Guanacaste was peaceful but a forceful reminder that thousands of migrants are waylaid in Costa Rica as Nicaragua continues to block their path north toward the United States.
As Central and South American countries seek a regional solution to the latest migrant crisis, migrants stuck in Costa Rica say they’re running out of money and becoming increasingly desperate.
As news came over the weekend that Panama would carry out another airlift to Mexico for 3,800 unauthorized Cuban migrants there, hundreds of migrants from across Africa remain in Costa Rica with no way forward.
Costa Rica has proposed a “humanitarian corridor” through the region that would allow the migrants to pass freely through with temporary transit visas.
Images of improvised rafts crossing the Straights of Florida have become iconic of Cuban immigration to the U.S. but the majority of Cubans entering the U.S. today choose the overland route through Central America — including Costa Rica — to reach family or a new life in the U.S.
