By Wendy Anders

Police in southern Costa Rica Sunday discovered six undocumented Cubans traveling huddled in between gas cylinders in the back of a flat-bed delivery truck.

Migrants from Cuba, Haiti, and other countries continue to risk over-land travel to reach the U.S., said the Costa Rican government earlier this month.

From April 2016 until January 2017, the government said 18,000 migrants were found attempting to pass through Costa Rica through the southern Paso Canoas border on their way to the United States, apparently fleeing poverty and other difficult circumstances in their home countries to seek better economic opportunities.

Police detected the six Cubans at a checkpoint at La Gamba de Golfito on the Inter-American highway. They said they are investigating reports that the Cubans each paid about US$1,000 to be transported in the truck bed.

The driver of the truck, whose identity is under police verification, was arrested for possible connection with human trafficking, said police.

The Cubans received aid and, after confirming they were in good condition, were transferred to a Golfito hotel while the police investigation continues, said police.

The Costa Rican government last September opened a Center for Temporary Assistance to Migrants (CATEM) in El Cruce, in the northern county of La Cruz, Guanacaste to improve care of migrants, strengthen public security, and health surveillance.

The center is equipped to house and provide drinking water to more than 1,500 people, with 60 tents, administrative offices, police post, an infirmary, a children’s playroom, and a storage facility.

It has 34 showers, 69 portable toilets, a laundry area, stoves, a dining room and common areas. Each tent has lighting and a clothes line.

Costa Rica has responded to the sudden large flow of migrants through its territory in a way they hope can be an example to other countries, by providing healthy and dignified conditions to migrants as they seek to better their lives, said the government in a press statement.