Two expats in Costa Rica have won an appeal against the local government of Talamanca, which declared the foreigners “personas non grata" in the Caribbean beach town of Puerto Viejo for being “environmentalists,” according to a statement from the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
For years along Costa Rica’s azure coasts, thousands of men and women have cast their nets into the ocean, which has returned to them a humble subsistence via artisanal fishing.
A peaceful protest over land rights in Costa Rica’s maritime zone sparked a violent backlash from police on the Pacific coast last Monday, as anti-riot officers used tear gas to remove dozens of protesters from the Inter-American Highway in Puntarenas.