Costa Rica News – Costa Rica’s version of the movie “The Terminal” has come to a conclusion. On Friday the Costa Rica authorities placed Cuban Yorvanky Pérez de Piña on a plane back to his homeland.
The Cuban has been living at the Juan Santamaria Airport in Costa Rica since April 24th after arrival from a trip to visit his ailing mother in in Cuba.
Perez received a provisional refugee ID card and a work permit when he first arrived in Costa Rica more than two years ago, but failed to renew those documents when they expired.
Though married to a Costa Rican woman, he never applied for permanent residency.
To try to prevent the authorities from putting him on the plane back to Cuba, he once again rubbed feces on his body. However, this time it did not work and he was placed in handcuffs and sent home.
All legal avenues to keep Yorvanky in the country had been exhausted including a request for asylum to the Costa Rican government which was rejected.
The Cuban’s lawyer stated that he is considered a “deserter” in Cuba and a return to the island means that Yorlvanky runs the risk of being imprisoned or even rejection of being able to re-enter.
There are groups of people on both sides of the fence on this issue. Some believe that he did not have the proper documentation and he should be sent home and others believe that the actions of Costa Rica violate the the Cuban’s human rights.
