Two years ago, COHA\u00a0reported on the manufactured \u201crefugee\u201d crisis around Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica. Now the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is saying that \u201c102,000 people fled Nicaragua and sought asylum in Costa Rica\u201d in 2021. As this article shows, this statement is inaccurate, adding further to the myth that Nicaragua is suffering a refugee crisis.<\/p>\n
On June 20, a group called \u201cSOSNicaragua\u201d which is based in Costa Rica, held a conference to mark World Refugee Day. Called \u201cBreaking down walls, building hope,\u201d it was\u00a0addressed\u00a0by the head of the Costa Rican government\u2019s Refugee Unit, Esther N\u00fa\u00f1ez.\u00a0She confirmed that, since 2018, Costa Rica had received 175,055 applications for asylum, the majority from Nicaragua. However, the rest of her message must have been less welcome to the participants. Her unit had limited capacity to deal with these cases, she said, but in any case \u201ca large proportion\u201d of the people who apply for refugee status in Costa Rica do so \u201cbecause they need to regulate their migratory status,\u00a0but they do not really qualify for asylum\u201d [my emphasis].<\/p>\n
The post The UN Refugee Agency is exaggerating the number of Nicaraguan refugees<\/a> appeared first on PopularResistance.Org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n