Costa Rica Is About To Declare An Emergency Due To Migration: These Are The Figures Of The Crisis

The president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, announced this Tuesday that he will soon sign a decree to declare a national emergency due to the increase in migratory flows entering the country in transit and warned that the authorities will deport migrants who "behave badly."

"This situation warrants declaring a declaration of national emergency due to the number of people passing through our territory," Chaves said in his weekly press conference.

The National Emergency Commission will meet this Tuesday to make the national emergency declaration official, which Chaves will sign, in order to enable and expedite funds and resources to address the situation.

The figures of the migration crisis in Costa Rica

According to official data from Costa Rica, so far in September 60,000 migrants have entered from Panama through the border post of the Paso Canoas community, which has a population of 20,000 inhabitants.

Through the Darién, the inhospitable jungle that connects Colombia with Panama, 390,000 migrants have crossed this year, most of them Venezuelans, which is generating a crisis in the region.

In Paso Canoas, the Costa Rican authorities have set up a bus route that takes migrants to the border with Nicaragua, but many of them do not have the $30 per person ticket cost, which has generated an agglomeration of hundreds of migrants in that community.

As Chaves announced this Tuesday, the authorities will soon adjust that plan so that migrants board the buses at another location to avoid crowding.

Read also: Chronicle: This Is How Panama Experiences the Migration Crisis

Last week , authorities detained 27 migrants in Paso Canoas on suspicion of participating in riots against the police when officers tried to prevent street vendors.

"I have instructed the Ministry of Public Security to have a firm hand with those few people who think that the gentleness, kindness and generous heart of Costa Ricans can be confused with weakness. I have also ordered the General Directorate of Immigration and Immigration to begin the deportation process of these people who caused disturbances, to Venezuela or their country of origin," declared Chaves.

The president stated that the message that the Government sends to migrants who "behave badly and disrespect the authorities" is that "they are going to return to their country of origin because we are not going to tolerate it."

"Whoever comes here has to respect our laws, the police and the towns through which they will travel," he asserted.