San Jose, April 30 (IANS/EFE): A Cuban has spent a fifth day "trapped" in Costa Rica's Juan Santamaria International Airport, his lawyer said.
Yorvanky Perez de Piña, who has been living in Costa Rica since early 2012, arrived in San Jose last Thursday from Havana, where he had traveled to visit his ailing mother, but upon disembarking he was refused entry into the country, attorney Eduardo Flores told EFE Tuesday.
The Cuban has a provisional refugee ID card and a work permit, both of which have expired, and so Costa Rican authorities refused to acknowledge his status as a refugee, which he had requested in January 2012 when he arrived for the first time in the central American country, his lawyer said.
Flores added that Perez had never requested permanent residence despite the fact that he married a Costa Rican woman in April 2012 and now runs a produce shop with her in San Jose.
"I'm not intending to convert his mistakes into rights, but would rather see that the political constitution is respected, his human rights, the right to a family and his marriage," Flores said.
The attorney last Friday filed a habeas corpus writ aimed at getting his client released, and thereafter the constitutional court ordered the authorities to provide Perez with food and facilities for his personal hygiene and to avoid deporting him while the matter is resolved.
On Friday, before the court order, Perez was to have been deported to Cuba, something that was not done because he smeared excrement on his body to prevent authorities from putting him on the plane.
Flores said that Costa Rican authorities did not permit him to meet with his client until Monday.