An article published recently by the New York Times titled ¨23,000 Nicaraguans Have Fled to Costa Rica. 50 Fugitives Are Hiding Here¨  caused Costa Rican authorities to investigate whether there is indeed a safe house in the country where Nicaraguans might be hiding.

According to the article some 50 fugitives live in a modest three-bedroom ranch home in the Costa Rican countryside.

The crisis in Nicaragua began back in April 2018, and has since taken the lives of an approximate 325 people according to data by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, in addition to thousands of injured. Nicaragua has also seen the repercussions of this in its economy, the tourism industry, for instance, which had been on the rise for the past few years, took a huge hit with hotels and restaurants having to close their doors.

The article also affirms that a Nicaraguan businessman living in Costa Rica by the name of Jorge Estrada is the person that pays the rent for this safe house in Costa Rica, he also pays for food for the former protesters.

“If all of this that the United States is doing, all this pressure, does not work for this man Ortega to react and leave, then one of the bloodiest wars Nicaragua has ever seen is coming,” Mr. Estrada said. That is, the war would come, if only the opposition had guns.
“There are no weapons,” Mr. Estrada lamented. “The United States are the only ones who can help us with that, and they still haven’t given the green light, so to speak.”

The Costa Rican Government is working on confirming the existence of this shelter: “The Government of Costa Rica does not favor or allow the use of its territory for any type of activity that has to do with problems with neighboring countries”, commented Minister of Security, Michael Soto.