African Refugees in Nicaragua

This past summer I went to Nicaragua for three weeks, and while I was there I kept hearing terrifying stories about African and Haitian refugees who were passing through the country on their voyage to the United States. The Nicaraguan government is putting up very strict regulations for dealing with these refugees at the moment.

One story that I heard was about a Nicaraguan couple who were driving and stopped at a stop light. One or two of these refugees approached them to ask for directions around this new country they had arrived in. The couple, being kind people, gladly gave them directions. As they began driving, the police approached them, asking what they were doing talking to the refugees. They replied honestly, saying that they were simply giving them directions, and the police fined them with the crime of helping them.

Another story, perhaps the most shocking was told to me by one of my cab drivers. As we were driving along a street, he pointed out a small restaurant that looked closed. He told me that the restaurant was owned by Nicaraguans who kept seeing these refugees walking along their street with the end goal of arriving in the United States. The owners of the restaurant began to give them free water and meals. They were soon found by the police and shut down. These people were giving them basic commodities that they needed in order to survive. The refugees arrive onto the western hemisphere with little to no money to their name and have close to nothing to survive on.

When the government catches the refugees, they send them back to Costa Rica so that they can deal with them.

After hearing all of these stories, I couldn't help but wondering why the Nicaraguan government actively rejected these people from walking on their soil. Close to none of these refugees wanted to stay in Nicaragua permanently, most of their end goals were reaching the United States. In Costa Rica, the Refugees are being passed over to red cross workers who are helping take care of their basic needs.

Before the Nicaraguan government began sending refugees back to Costa Rica, the Costa Rican government let them pass through, but now that there are even more, Costa Rica has begun jailing them and even deporting them back to their home countries.

Because the Nicaraguan border is becoming so tough to cross, hundreds of refugees are currently camped out on the Costa Rican side of the border in hopes of being able to cross. Many of them say that if the border doesn't open, they would just stay in Costa Rica instead of seeking another way to get to the United States.

If the border doesn't open in the next few years, or even months, it will result in an extreme humanitarian crisis. They are living near the border in Costa Rica in make-shift tents with no clean water and very little access to food. They are living in horrible, deadly conditions, and those fortunate enough to be able to pass through Nicaragua only have tougher roads ahead. They have to pass through Honduras and Mexico (on foot) and risk their lives because of the gang violence that is prominent in many areas of the countries.

The Nicaraguan government shouldn't be so tough on these migrants because they don't have any desire of staying in the country permanently, they just want to pass through the country. If anything, they should warn them about the danger of continuing on to the United States. I also think that these people should be given refugee status in the United States. They are risking their lives by taking this very dangerous road with the end goal of reaching the United States in hope to make a better life for them and their kids. Returning to their home countries after reaching the United States would be almost just as dangerous as it was for them to arrive. Everyone knows how dangerous parts of Central America are because of gangs and drug trafficking, yet nobody is doing anything to save these people from putting themselves in imminent danger.

#nicaragua #refugees #CostaRica #Africa