The story goes back to December 10, 2010, when Canadian citizen Belkis Depaulo (also known as Belkis Gonzalez Garcia) was stopped at the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica as she was supposedly traveling to Brussels, Belgium; apparently the woman appeared nervous while going through airport security controls and when officers searched her luggage they found suspicious liquor bottles, which upon inspection by the Drug Control Police (PCD) and chemical analysis were proved to contain cocaine. She also had some cash on her (different currencies but small amounts), three cell phones and a computer.

The Cuban-born 37-year old woman was accused of smuggling drugs and according to an interview she held with “The Chronical Herald”  she was taken to the hospital for blood work and screening to make sure she wasn’t carrying drugs in her stomach, she states the tests came back negative. The woman was sent to preventive imprisonment to await trail. That same day the PCD arrested two other Cuban citizens in this case at the Juan Santamaria Airport in Alajuela, who intended to travel to Canada and also had seven bottles (in this case of shampoo) with cocaine in them.

DePaulo was transferred to the Costa Rica women’s prison, El Buen Pastor, and a year after her detention she stood trial, she pleaded not guilty, but the evidence against her was sufficient to have the judges sentence her to eight years of prison for drug trafficking, DePaulo would have to stay in prison through October 30, 2018.

In her interview with The Chronicle Herald, the woman says “I couldn’t understand how they could sentence you without evidence or anything. I got desperate. I was coping with the sentence. I couldn’t accept that. So I escaped” Or at least she tried.

Her attempt to leave the Costa Rican prison took place in November of 2012, that night according to the officers at the detention center, DePaulo didn’t return to her cell after mass, the minute they realized she was missing they started the search for her and eventually found her hidden among tall grass and a small ditch close to one of the fences that leads to a river. Her wrist watch gave her away, she says her alarm went off and alerted the police of her hiding place, the police stated that it was the light reflecting on her watch that allowed them to find her; regardless, her attempt was frustrated and she was put in maximum security.

DePaulo says about her time in maximum security “It was so hard for me. It was so terrible. Young girls killing themselves, it was bad… I called the Canadian Embassy several times because I was getting beaten up, but there was nothing they could do”.

(A study carried out in 2011, showed that out of the 555 women serving time at El Buen Pastor at the time 64% were accused of violations to the Law No. 8204, more specifically in relation to drug trafficking)

During the next four years the Canadian made dolls and sold them, and taught other inmates how to make them. Finally, the Canadian Embassy was able to transfer her back to Nova Scotia, Canada to serve her last two years.
She was transferred to a halfway house in Halifax. She contacted with the Elizabeth Fry Society, which helps women that have been through difficult situations and faced the criminal justice system, they helped Belkis receive social assistance.

The woman has continued to make her dolls and also clothes and makes a living off it through her company Hosana. She managed to get a diploma in office administration and is getting her life back together. “It’s not about making dolls. It’s about living” , she concluded in her interview.