An indigenous rights issue has put Costa Rica’s much-vaunted human rights record to the test as the country struggles to protect members of the Bribrà and Teribe indigenous communities from non-indigenous people who have forcibly, and at times violently, removed them from indigenous ancestral lands.
BUENOS AIRES, Puntarenas – Just before 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning, government officials successfully negotiated a peace agreement between indigenous Bribrà residents and local farmers in Costa Rica's southeastern indigenous reserve of Salitre, where violence broke out Saturday due to a land dispute.
While most of the nation was celebrating Costa Rica's long run in the World Cup Saturday, a large group of farmers in the country's southeastern indigenous territory of Salitre were taking up arms.