Colombians in Costa Rica vote for their homeland

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica (UNHCR) - The political "party" started early in the morning, when people started forming lines outside San José's Museo de los Niños, or Children's Museum. By mid-day, the music was blasting, the food was flowing and people were walking around in T-shirts and baseball caps in the colours of Colombia's national flag.

They were far from home, but that did not stop the Colombian diaspora in Costa Rica from making their voices heard in the May 26 Colombian elections.

"This is a democratic party," said Pilar de Riano, the Colombian Ambassador's wife. "Colombians, who like to 'rumba', have come together to vote for a better future, for peace and stability, and also to share a moment with all their friends and families, far from their homes."

In all, 4,443 Colombians in Costa Rica registered to vote in the elections, among them some refugees.

"We are eager to vote," said Ricardo Angel, a Colombian refugee who came to Costa Rica with his wife four years ago. "We came to contribute, although far from home, to build a new country. We believe things can change in Colombia."

"We had to leave everything behind and start over here," added his wife. "Things have not been easy, but we expect that a new government will create the conditions to return home one day."

Four decades of fighting between leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries have driven tens of thousands of Colombians into neighbouring countries. Currently, there are about 5,000 in Costa Rica, 7,700 in Ecuador, 2,400 in Panama, 8,400 in Venezuela, and 3,000 in Peru.

Jairo Beltran left his family and everything he owned in Colombia. "I left my wife and children in Cali before coming to Costa Rica," he said. "It has been very painful to me to think that they could be endangered or that at any moment they could be kidnapped or killed. My wife's brother was kidnapped two years ago and nobody has heard about him since."

He added, "Things haven't been easy since my arrival to this country. I have encountered some problems finding a job and making some money for me and for my family in Colombia. But I don't lose hope of seeing them again and of being reunited as a family. I am voting today with a lot of hope in the future."

Not everyone is hopeful. Hugo Baeza, a 27-year-old Colombian who left Colombia's second-largest city of Medellín for Costa Rica last year, said, "I will not vote and I am sure many of my compatriots here, in Colombia or elsewhere think the same as I do."

He explained, "Things will not change in Colombia, and the fact that we vote or not will not change anything at all. Forty years of armed conflict and the many political elections in between have fixed nothing. On the contrary, we continue to watch our families flee the country, and those who don't have the means to flee have become displaced within Colombia."

The Colombian election was eventually won by Álvaro Uribe Velez, a former governor and mayor of Medellín.

By Giovanni Monge
UNHCR Costa Rica