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STORY: COSTA RICA / NICARAGUAN REFUGEE
TRT: 2:12
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 3-6 JUNE 2019 UPALA, SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA
1.SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Arturo Martinez, Nicaragua Student:
“The man starts beating me, pointing a gun at me and saying, ‘I’m going to kill you’. They put me in a dark room. They beat me and threatened me. ‘We’re going to kill your family, we’re going to kill your parents.’ I was detained for 18 days.”
2.Wide shot, empty hallway
3.Med shot,books on bed
4.Various shots, Arturo reading
5. Wide shot, group entering bus
6. Wide shot, crowd walking through street
7. Wide shot Costa Rica border
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Arturo Martinez, Nicaragua Student:
“It was very hard, because I didn’t have anyone in Costa Rica. Having lost everything I worked for, I felt like I had nothing. I came close to committing suicide.”
9. Close up, Items in Arturo’s room
10. Med shot, bunk beds
11.Wide shot, crowd in park in Costa Rica
12. Close up, Arturo Martinez
13.Close up, feet walking
14.Wide shot, Man sitting in Costa Rica
15. Close up, two men embrace each other
16. Wide shot, back of man in Costa Rica
17. Close up, feet walking
18. Various shots, Arturo Martinez reading book
19. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Arturo Martinez, Nicaragua Student:
“I don’t know what the future has in store for me. All I can do is try to move on.”
Arturo Martinez was only months from graduating from university when he joined in anti-government protests. In return, he was beaten and threatened, forced to abandon his studies and flee the country. Now in Costa Rica, he struggles to rebuild his life.
In the wake of anti-government protests that swept Nicaragua in April 2018, demonstrators and sometimes their families and friends, were met with severe repression by security forces and paramilitary groups. Those targeted have included students, doctors, teachers, farmers, journalists and members of civil society organisations. In the midst of a brutal crackdown, hundreds were killed and thousands injured.
In April 2018, Arturo was months away from graduating when he joined thousands of students in anti-government protests in Nicaragua. Paramilitary groups fired on demonstrators and killed hundreds. Fearing for their lives, more than 100,000 people fled the country most of them for Costa Rica.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Arturo Martinez, Nicaragua Student:
“The man starts beating me, pointing a gun at me and saying, ‘I’m going to kill you’. They put me in a dark room. They beat me and threatened me. ‘We’re going to kill your family, we’re going to kill your parents.’ I was detained for 18 days.”
Arturo found safety in Costa Rica but has struggled since abandoning his studies. As the numbers of those fleeing rises Costa Rica continues to host thousands of Nicaraguans granting them safety and protection bringing students like Arturo one step closer to rebuilding their lives.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Arturo Martinez, Nicaragua Student:
“It was very hard, because I didn’t have anyone in Costa Rica. Having lost everything I worked for, I felt like I had nothing. I came close to committing suicide.”
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Arturo Martinez, Nicaragua Student:
“I don’t know what the future has in store for me. All I can do is try to move on.”
More than 100,000 Nicaraguans have fled the country. The vast majority – some 75,000 – sought refuge in Nicaragua’s neighbor to the south, Costa Rica. With the influx continuing, UNHCR expects the number of Nicaraguan asylum seekers in Costa Rica to hit 125,000 in 2020.
While Costa Rica has maintained an open-door policy towards those fleeing persecution, the influx of Nicaraguans has put strains on the country’s relatively small asylum system. To handle the growing number of asylum claims, Costa Rican authorities, with support from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, have worked to streamline the refugee recognition process by using broad profiles of those who are known to be persecuted in Nicaragua, such as journalists, farm workers, and students. This has meant quicker processing of asylum claims and a higher rate of recognition for Nicaraguans.
