QCOSTARICA (Prensa Latina) President Luis Guillermo Solis rejected Friday giving shelter to Syrian refugees.
“We are in a very different cultural area, and there isn’t a community of reference able to give them shelter,” said Solis.
According to Solis, those coming from Syria would not find the sociological, religious or cultural shelter they need to live normally in Costa Rica.
In the opinion of Solis, welcoming the refugees would only have a symbolic implication, “without an important incidence in the situation of crisis.”
“I would rather maintain a very serious, responsible and articulated policy in handling immigrants or those asking for political asylum than playing with people who have very great needs and even greater expectations that finally will end in a country that is not adequate and even condemned to discrimination,” he added.
The United Nations estimate that some 381,000 Syrian refugees and immigrants traveled to Europe during 2015, a situation that analyst describe as migratory crisis.
I’ll take a small family in my home.
Yeah, this is an interesting development, and upon reflection, Solís does have a point. Costa Rica isn’t the best place for these people to come. There aren’t the existing institutions to help them adapt.
However, you then have to wonder about the slippery slope. You could argue, for example, that it’s not the best place for Jamaicans (which includes an ancestor to Solís) to come either, since there really aren’t that many in Costa Rica and those that are here tend to be poor. You could similarly argue that it’s not the best place for Jews or Chinese, since both communities here tend to be small. Conversely, you could argue that it’s great for gringos, since there are already American Legion Posts, English-speaking churches, and all the rest.
I think I therefore have to disagree with the president on this issue. He makes a good practical point, but the implications of his line of reasoning aren’t appealing.
He’s also bordering on violating the new constitutional insertion that Costa Rica is a multi-ethnic state. I didn’t read in that insertion that some ethnic groups are welcome while others aren’t.
Although rolling out the welcome mat for refugees is different from merely allowing migrants from those countries to come. It may not make much sense for either the refugees to come to Costa Rica or for Costa Rica to encourage them to come. Solís has a point, just one that is a really close call.