San Jose - Officials and human rights groups have noted a new people-smuggling trend as 54 African and Nepalese migrants were detained in Costa Rica over the weekend from a rusty boat after a rugged ocean crossing. Immigration authorities detained seven women and 47 men from a boat that was drifting with mechanical problems off the Caribbean coast of Limon province. Police arrested three Colombian crewmen on charges of illegal smuggling.
The newest detainees joined 41 other Africans already in Costa Rican immigration custody, and officials noted a growing frequency of Africans trying to make their way to the United States washing up on Central American shores.
Most of the recent migrants were caught arriving from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Guinea, officials said.
Last month, a boat carrying 79 Africans was intercepted off the Nicaraguan coast. Panama, Venezuela and Colombia have also reported a recent influx of illegal immigrants from Africa, most trying to make their way to the US or Canada.
Human rights monitors say many of the migrants are fleeing danger in their own countries, and pay up to 7,000 dollars for the dangerous ocean crossing. They are often deprived of sufficient food and water, and abandoned on Caribbean shores without knowing where they are.
