Posted on 03/23/2006 1:42:02 PM PST by Kitten Festival
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Crime and joblessness have long been part of the tough Leon XIII neighborhood of Costa Rica's capital, where residents such as Alexandra Martinez do their best to steer clear of broken pavement and street-corner drug dealers.
But the 37-year-old homemaker says that things have gotten worse in the last few years. Her explanation: "There are a lot of Nicas here," she says, using a slang term for Nicaraguans.
Martinez says these immigrants, many of them undocumented, are hard-drinking, aggressive people who compete with Costa Ricans for jobs and drain the nation's public services. She approves of a recent federal law aimed at stemming the influx.
"It's the biggest problem we face in the country," she says.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Remember the Hutus and the Tutsis!
Sheesh it seems like even Central Americans don't like having their countries invaded. Who woulda thunk!
--during my six months in Venezuela in 1981, everything got blamed on the "Columbianos o Columbianas"--
If only we did have a wall.
When I was in Finland, I never heard the Finns have a good word for the Swedes. When I got to Sweden, I found out the feeling was mutual. The Argentines and Brazilians didn't seem to have any love for each other, either. Nobody likes their neighbor.
It has to be pretty bad in Nicaragua when you have to escape to Costa Rica
Well hey don't tell them any different! Maybe that "virtual" wall WILL work! lol
The Ecuadorans hate the Peruvians, and the Peruvians and Bolivians hate the Chileans. Chileans don't like Argentines much.
Costa Rica is a prosperous, stable country by Central American standards, and hence is a mecca for people from Nicaragua who come illegally to get work. However, when you visit, the first thing you realize is that Costa Rica's resources are severely strained. They have a relatively strong welfare state with free healthcare and education, but the roads suffer greatly. They have the worst roads I've ever seen in any country. Potholes every 10 feet on some roads. I was down there in October and they have roadblocks set up on the Panamerican Highway near Liberia where they search cars for illegals. Their whole standard of living is at stake, since Costa Rica is really the only Central American country with a middle class.
When Hurricane Mitch struck Honduras and Nicaragua in 1998, President Bill Clinton granted something called temporary protective status, allowing more than 100,000 people to stay here another 18 months without risk of deportation. Eight years and five extensions later, a majority of those with temporary status remain. Seventy thousand Hondurans and 3,600 Nicaraguans are still here, with the right to work. And 222,000 Salvadorans are still here, temporarily working, five years after two earthquakes devastated El Salvador.
But even if their status expires, there's little chance they will be deported, since Immigration and Customs Enforcement's stated focus is national security and violent criminals. It raises questions about just how workable any so-called guest or temporary worker program can be."
A government spokesman states that no decision has been made yet whether to grant another extension on these temporary permits.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0602/06/ldt.01.html aired 2/6/06
NOTE: Since this time the above "migrants" have been given another extension, indefinately.
What happens when you scrap your army in the name of peace 'n' love.
Costa Rica has no army.
Yeah, I remember the Ticos being very proud of having no army and being able to provide good social benefits for all. Unfortunately, there's only so much that a poor country can do with a limited economy dependent on tilapia, coffee and tourism (and IT, as Ticos like to also point out).
Kingston Trio. Circa 1955
Now they know how we Americans feel. I'm sure CS has instituted a more effective Border policy than we have.
Excluding illegal Hispanic immigrants? They must be racist just like we get accused of being when we talk about stopping illegals.
Wait a minute...
The million guns Chavez is importing is not to protect against a US invasion.
It is to filter the guns up north, until there are battles on the US border, and infiltration.
It is a long term plan. Hello FBI? CIA? NSA?
Gangs will bring them in. Firefights in Utah.
"It has to be pretty bad in Nicaragua when you have to escape to Costa Rica."
WHAT??!! CR is one of the most beautiful countries in the world! The "Ticos" are friendly, law-abiding, well-educated (they have one of the finest health care systems on earth) and peace-loving (there is no standing army. No need for one.) They are not a third-world banana republic like Nicaragua and El Salvador. I'm taking my nephew there on April 7th, as a matter of fact. A gorgeous place with fantastic food and wonderful ecosystems. Hope to see you there one day :^D
They just give them a map with an arrow pointing straight north.
doesn't Alexandra Martinez know that the Nicas are only in Costa Rica to perform jobs that Costa Ricans would not do?
;)
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