Two Nicaraguan refugees in Costa Rica, members of the World Network of Young Politicians, denounced that the Honduran immigration authorities did not allow them to enter that country despite the fact that they were accredited by the National Electoral Council (CNE) to observe the votes of the 28 of November.
In addition to the two Nicaraguan refugees, 13 other members of the organization were rejected by the Honduran authorities between Wednesday night and Thursday. The young people were returned to their countries of origin and in the case of the Nicaraguans, one was returned to Costa Rica and the other remains stranded in El Salvador.
Honduran immigration officials did not give explanations for banning the youth from entering. However, the Nicaraguan Magdiel Galeano said that at the Tegucigalpa airport they pushed him to the door of the plane and threatened to deport him to Nicaragua if he continued to claim.
“When I arrived at Migration, the first officer who attended me, passed my passport and said that it gave her a red alert, she passed it again and gave the alert again. Then, he said that his supervisor would attend to me. I gave him my passport, my refugee card, and at that moment he told me: “you have not met the requirements,” but I had sent everything and they sent me a confirmation email that I could enter, “he said. Galeano.
After about thirty minutes, the immigration officer pushed Galeano to the plane that would take him back to Costa Rica. As he continued to claim the reasons why he was not allowed to enter Honduras, the officer would have told him: “I went up or you want to be deported to Nicaragua,” Galeano said after arriving in Costa Rica.
Stranded in El Salvador
Meanwhile, Nicaraguan Jhoswel Martínez failed in his two attempts to enter Honduras. First, he left Costa Rica on a flight with a stopover in El Salvador, but in that country they told him that he could not take the plane that would take him to Tegucigalpa because he lacked a covid-19 test. Later, the young refugee underwent a PCR test and bought a land ticket to Honduras, but at the El Amatillo border post he was not allowed to continue his journey.
“As I am on the border with Honduras, they notify me that some Bolivians (members of the World Network of Young Politicians) did not let them enter either and returned them to their country,” explained Martínez, who is stranded in El Salvador. “They didn’t let me enter (to Honduras) and my bags went to Tegucigalpa on the bus. I only kept my passport, my covid-19 test, my two cell phones, my asthma inhaler and my wallet with 2000 colones, “he added.
The youth network to which Galeano and Martínez belong was created in November 2018 in New York, United States, and is made up of young people from different countries of the American continent. This organization asked the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Honduras for authorization to observe the general elections and they authorized them. At least 80 young people managed to enter the country.
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