Fleeing Nicaraguans strain Costa Rica’s asylum system

By MOISES CASTILLO and CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Since the summer of 2021, when Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega locked up dozens of political opponents ahead of November’s presidential elections, Nicaraguans have been seeking asylum in Costa Rica at the highest levels since Nicaragua’s political crisis exploded in April 2018. The exodus of Nicaraguans fleeing political repression has neighboring Costa Rica’s asylum system teetering under the weight of applications that exceed even the 1980s when civil wars ravaged Central America. Asylum seekers now account for 4% of Costa Rica’s population. Despite having only 5 million citizens, Costa Rica trailed only the United States, Germany and Mexico in the number of asylum applications it received last year.