Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 3 april 2019
Fate in limbo, many Nicaraguan exiles struggle in Costa Rica

By MARIO NEGRINI dissent. In her hometown isn't nearly enough and like tracking access to basic scheduled for 2021, an-
MARIA VERZA of Diriamba, paramilitary others she relies heavily on services they have a right other central opposition
Associated Press forces aligned with Orte- aid from churches and help to and may not be aware demand.
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) So there's plenty of skep-
— Back in Nicaragua, she ticism among exiles that
owned her own home and Ortega officials will abide
made enough as an ele- by another deal struck Fri-
mentary substitute teacher day: that Nicaraguans
and lawyers' assistant to who fled can return "with
eke out a stable, if not luxu- full guarantees of personal
rious, life. and family security."
Now she spends her days "In Nicaragua we say about
on the streets in and around Ortega, 'You may sign, but
Costa Rica's capital beg- you'll never follow through,'"
ging for spare change and said Cesar Gutierrez, 63.
clutching a can decorated Gutierrez is a regular at
with Nicaragua's blue-and- gatherings where he and
white flag, an unmistakable fellow exiles plan demon-
reminder to pedestrians strations, coordinate with
of the political turbulence government opponents
that has claimed hundreds back in Nicaragua, share
of lives in her native coun- news of home gleaned
try. from the internet and gos-
"I never did this before," sip about the latest from
said the 53-year-old wom- the talks.
an, who asked to be identi- "The disarming of the para-
fied only by her nickname, In this March 29, 2019 photo, Nicaraguan exile, who wishes to only be identified by her nickname militaries" is a must, Gutier-
"the teacher," for fear of "La Profe", Spanish for "the teacher", begs for spare change in Alajuela, Costa Rica. rez added, "because other-
retaliation against loved Associated Press wise they are going to bully
ones back home. "We were us. Then it will be the mo-
modest," she said, "but life ga's government left a trail from neighbors who are of. Costa Rica's govern- ment to think about how
(there) is cheaper." of dead and wounded, she in equally precarious situ- ment said the plan is ready we return."
The fate of the estimated said. ations. Still lacking a work and simply awaiting presi- Gutierrez, a former fighter
50,000 Nicaraguans who've Her offense was feeding permit after eight months, dential sign-off. in the revolution that first
fled violence and persecu- and supporting student she's sleeping on the floor Ortega's government did brought Ortega to power
tion for exile in Costa Rica protesters. One day as she of a rented, 300-square- not respond to a request in 1979, later soured on the
over the last year is a cen- brought them breakfast, foot (30-square-meter) for comment. Ortega offi- president, joined the pro-
tral point in fledgling peace gunshots rang out. "I don't house along with her two cials have had little to say tests and fled after receiv-
talks between Nicaraguan know how I'm alive," she adult children, two grand- about exiles, though in a ing threats against his life
President Daniel Ortega's said. "They were grabbing children and six others from recent speech the presi- and home. He, too, is living
government and the op- everybody." another family. On a re- dent compared all opposi- in La Carpio, taken in by a
position, which is demand- The only thing to do was cent day the only things in tion supporters to Cain, the family friend who is letting
ing guarantees for their run. the pantry were a packet biblical figure who killed his him sleep in the living room
safe return. Like many exiles she ended of pasta, a Nicaraguan brother Abel out of envy. of her modest home where
But while negotiators in up in La Carpio, a shanty- flag and a Bible. Peace talks between Orte- seven others also live.
Managua haggle over town on the outskirts of the While asylum-seekers are ga's government and the He scrapes by selling home-
that and other thorny is- Costa Rican capital, San guaranteed the right to opposition Civic Alliance made cheese to fellow ex-
sues with little progress, Jose, where the number of work, the sheer number began Feb. 27, but prog- iles after leaving his family
many exiles are struggling. Nicaraguans has swelled of Nicaraguans has over- ress has come in fits and back home and his busi-
Some formerly middle-class since the protests began whelmed Costa Rica's sys- starts. The government has nesses, a bakery and some
citizens are having trouble last April, though nobody's tem for processing such re- freed more than 160 jailed billiard halls.
putting food on the table sure by how much. quests. Authorities are able government opponents to At least 168 Nicaraguan ex-
and keeping a roof over It's a neighborhood of ce- to handle only about 600 house arrest, but hundreds iles are wanted due to their
their heads, while others ment and sheet-metal asylum applications per more remain behind bars political activities, opposi-
from the working class are homes where sleeping week, and securing work under a slow release plan tion leaders say.
reduced to living in near- quarters and a latrine of- permits involves yet anoth- that's supposed to take Among them is Sadie Ri-
indigence. ten occupy a single space. er bureaucratic hurdle. So place over 90 days. vas, who slipped across the
The most vulnerable among Water is scarce, trash piles far only 8,000 have secured On Friday the govern- border in August after be-
them have become "the up in the streets and sew- work permits compared ment and the opposition ing accused of a laundry
forgotten among the for- age flows in open chan- with the nearly 29,000 who reached two accords, one list of crimes more associ-
gotten," said Esteban Bel- nels. Even before the lat- have received credentials of which supposedly re- ated with a narco-kingpin
tran of Amnesty Interna- est influx of Nicaraguan as asylum-seekers. More stored the right to demon- than a 19-year-old college
tional Spain, who recently refugees, half of the esti- than 20,000 are awaiting strate freely — only for po- student: torture, terrorism,
visited Costa Rica to docu- mated 18,000 people in appointments. lice to forcefully break up money laundering, drug
ment their plight. the neighborhood lived in Last week Amnesty urged a protest the following day trafficking, weapons pos-
Like many others, the inadequate homes and the Costa Rican govern- during which an apparent session, destruction of pub-
teacher fled during the so- 70 percent of households ment to put an aid plan government sympathizer lic property, disturbing the
called Operation Cleanup subsisted on less than $330 in place for Nicaraguan shot at demonstrators who peace. Such accusations
launched by Ortega last per month, according to a refugees with help from the sought refuge in a mall. are typical in cases against
July, which the United Na- government study last year. international community, Recently the government protesters, and both they
tions has termed a "witch The $3 that the teacher is including identifying the also emphatically reject- and international observers
hunt" aimed at suppressing able to beg on a bad day most vulnerable and fast- ed calls for early elections call them groundless.q