BFF-67 23,000 Nicaraguans seeks asylum in Costa Rica: UN

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23,000 Nicaraguans seeks asylum in Costa Rica: UN

GENEVA, July 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Nearly 23,000 people fleeing turmoil in
Nicaragua have sought asylum in neighbouring Costa Rica, the UN refugee
agency said Tuesday, as it announced a beefed up presence in the region.

Three months of protests against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s rule
and the brutal response by security forces and paramilitary groups have
killed more than 300 people, according to rights groups.

“The number of asylum applications by Nicaraguans in neighbouring Costa
Rica and other countries has increased exponentially,” UNHCR spokesman
William Spindler told reporters in Geneva.

Costa Rican authorities have registered nearly 8,000 asylum claims since
April and given future appointments to 15,000 other asylum seekers, a delay
needed because the processing system is “overwhelmed,” Spindler said.

“UNHCR is strengthening its presence in Costa Rica’s northern border
region and… is gearing up its response capacity to provide immediate
protection and assistance to thousands of Nicaraguan refugees and asylum
seekers,” he added.

While Costa Rica has endured the brunt of the influx, Panama, Mexico and
the United States have also seen an increase in Nicaraguan arrivals, UNHCR
said.

Ortega, 72, headed a left-wing Sandinista government during the Cold War,
and returned to power in 2007.

Protesters have demanded that he and his powerful vice president, wife
Rosario Murillo, resign.

BSS/AFP/SSS/1954 hrs