Nicaraguense
Nicaraguense tells the story of Nicaraguan immigrants living in Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose. The centre of its Nicaraguan community lies in the impoverished neighbourhood La Carpio. This sprawling community is home to some 23,000 people and is one of the most feared and repudiated areas by Costa Ricans. The documentary highlights how its inhabitants face police brutality and corruption, prejudice and xenophobia and a national press preying upon them for sensationalist reporting.
Historical background
Historically, Costa Rica has enjoyed greater peace and more consistent political stability compared with the rest of Latin America. Therefore, Costa Rica attracts many immigrants, mainly from Colombia and Nicaragua. An estimated 10% to 15% of the population is Nicaraguan, many of fairly recent arrival. There are also Nicaraguans that migrate back and forth for seasonal work. Especially during the 1970s and 80s, Costa Rica took in many refugees fleeing civil wars and dictatorships from a range of other Latin American countries.
Social interest
The documentary seeks to expose how Costa Rica’s international reputation as a peaceful society with little inequality does in large not reflect the reality of many of its immigrants. A closer look at the living conditions of the poor residing in marginalized communities reveals that in fact there exists great inequality, violence and discrimination. This is underlined in a comment by a Costa Rican woman when asked about her views on the Nicaraguan immigrants, Almost all of them come here to kill.
Argumentation
The documentary also exposes how hostile perceptions of, and attitudes towards, immigrants are reinforced and perpetuated by the media and xenophobic discourses. These make it acceptable for Costa Ricans to blame immigrants for the unpleasant aspects of their society. Conversely, it argues that the Nicaraguan immigrants are not only a enrichment of Costa Rican culture and society but also an essential labour force.
Scenes ‘Nicaraguense’
- Introduction
- In the introduction several Costa Ricans express their opinion on the Nicaraguan immigrants (referred to as Nicas). They describe the Nicas as prone to violence and generally mall adjusted to Costa Rican society. The comments by the Costa Rican woman that “almost all of them come here to kill” reveals that despite Costa Rica’s international reputation as a peaceful society, there exists great inequality, violence and discrimination.
- Nicaraguan expatriates
- This clip features a gathering of Nicaraguan expatriates in Costa Rica’s capital, San José. The event was organized to celebrate Nicaraguan culture and national pride and protest against a recent police raid aimed against Nicaraguan immigrants. An estimated 10 to 15% (400.000 to 600.000) of the Costa Rican population is Nicaraguan. Thousands of Nicaraguans left their country during the Nicaraguan Revolution and Contra Revolution. After the historic 1990 Nicaraguan presidential elections some returned, but between 1990-2004 over 800,000 Nicaraguans emigrated.
- Operation Broom
- On January 30, immigration police conducted a sweep operation in the impoverished La Carpio district in San José. In the raid – aptly named ‘Operation Broom’ – 620 people were rounded up – the vast majority of them Nicaraguans, 23 of which were eventually deported. The operation was a response to the brutal murder of three children in La Carpio by their Nicaraguan father and the wounding of the mother and uncle on January 22.
- Immigration in Costa Rica
- In this clip several Costa Ricans express their opinion on the national immigration policy. The wide variety of opinions illustrates the complexity of the issue. One women argues that Costa Rica should “close the borders like the United States does with the Mexicans”, while another man feels that such “xenophobia has been principally fed by ignorance.” Some facts: Nicaraguans are the third largest community of Central Americans living abroad. Nicaragua is also the second country in Central America by percentage of population living abroad.
- La Carpio/ negative
- Police raids are a frequent reoccurrence in La Carpio and the sensationalist reporting by the media reinforce and perpetuate hostile perceptions of, and attitudes towards, immigrants. This is reflected in the comment by the taxi-driver, featured in this clip, who remarks that, “Nicaraguans are, by nature, very violent.” In reality, figures show that Nicaraguans do not commit disproportionately more crimes than Costa Rican nationals.
- La Carpio/ positive
- The remarks by Nicaraguan immigrant José Martinez show a very different side of La Carpio. He and his family chose to move to La Carpio to enjoy the community’s “solid values regarding respect and tolerance”. The negative public perception of La Carpio is reinforced by the media who generally focus on sensationalist reporting. For instance, between 1999 and 2004, the digital edition of La Nación, the country’s leading newspaper, carried an average of one negative article a week related to La Carpio.
- A perilous journey
- In this clip several Nicaraguan immigrants describe the perilous journey they took to reach Costa Rica. Most refugees must hike for 20 days or more through rough mountains and dangerous jungle to reach the Costa Rican border.
- Necessary labour force
- This clip illustrates how Nicaraguan immigrants, despite their unfavourable reputation, fulfil and essential function in the Costa Rican economy. By keeping production costs down, Nicaraguan seasonal workers have helped maintain Costa Rica’s leading position as a agricultural exporter. The Costa Rican economy relies significantly upon agriculture; the agriculture sector employs 28 percent of the labor force and comprised 20 percent of Costa Rica’s total GNP.
- Discrimination at school
- In this clip several Nicaraguan children explain how they are bullied at school because of their ethnicity. The Nicaraguan children stand out against their Costa Rican peers because they often have darker skin and use the voseo form more commonly. In Spanish, voseo is the use of the second person singular pronoun vos instead of tú.
- Riot in La Carpio
- The riot featured in this clip grew out of a disagreement over a landfill project near La Carpio. As compensation, the commercial contractor and the local government had promised community organizations to pave the streets, create a trust fund and give out land entitlements to the residents. However, after several months, the company had only paved the road they used and it failed to deposit money into the fund. In addition, the government had stopped entitling land.
- Mariluzâs story
- This clip gives a individual illustration of how immigration policies can have a profound influence on people’s personal life. By focussing on a single story – how Mariluz’s closest family got ripped apart due to financial and practical constraints – the documentary puts the Costa Rican immigration policies into perspective.
- Concluding remarks
- According to member of the Costa Rican parliament Epsy Campbell Barr, “the Costa Rica of the next twenty years will have a culture similar to a fusion between Costa Rican cultures and Nicaraguan cultures.” Barr was one of the founding members of the Partido Acción Ciudadana, a Costa Rican political party that encourages citizen participation and involvement in politics. One of its guiding ideals is to fight against corruption, arguing that it is one of the main causes of sub development and voter apathy.
- Closing credits
- Producer/ director: Julia Green FlemingCo-Producer/ co-director: Carlos Solís
Editor: Julia Green Fleming