QCOSTARICA – The Foreign Ministry has managed to contact nine Costa Ricans and their families affected by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, for a total of 15 people.
As Costa Rica does not have an embassy in Ukraine, national authorities coordinated assistance with friendly countries to face the risk they run due to the war situation.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rodolfo Solano, explained that the group is made up of five men, one woman and three minors and six people of Ukrainian origin with family ties to Costa Ricans.
Since February 18, the consular service has been active and ready to answer any questions, via emails and telephones from the Costa Rican consulates in Austria and Germany, as well as the mail from the Consular Department in Costa Rica.
“The network of consulates in the countries of the region is active, based on the protocols defined by the Consular Department, to attend to the situation,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Costa Rica reinforces talks with friendly countries that have logistical and operational capacity to articulate timely assistance to Costa Ricans in Ukraine.
Telenoticias reported that relatives of a Costa Rican family in Ukraine say that their loved ones are hidden in a basement in Kyiv to be able to protect themselves from armed attacks.
“The situation is quite critical, we know it because of the fear they transmit to us, logically they are at home right now, but they are not allowed to go out,” said Whitney Fallas, Sebastián Fallas’ sister.
Sebastiá assures that they have heard bombings from the basement of their house: “This is like a movie. My brother and sister-in-law told me that detonations and planes are being heard flying through the air,” said Whitney Fallas.
