Costa Rican Poverty
Is it simply easier to turn a blind eye to those things that make us uncomfortable than to face the reality of their existence? Is it truly acceptable to live in warm houses and complain about the lack of cable options, knowing that the cost of our monthly cable bill is higher than another person can hope to earn for their entire family’s expenses in one month? Perhaps it is especially easier to let those most unlike ourselves fall by the wayside – after all, if they want to be rich like us, they just need to do things like we do. In Costa Rica exist both rich and poor alike, with the gap between them constantly widening. Those who have conformed to the system, losing their culture to the more attractive, richer European culture seemed to have benefited more than those who have fought to preserve what little culture they still hold true. However, it was not the ‘privilege’ of all people groups to conform to this European lifestyle – both indigenous and black people groups having been socially marked since their discovery. Clearly, minority discrimination within the Costa Rican government has made poverty more evident among blacks and indigenous people, leaving the world organizations to hold the Costa Rican accountable to protect their minorities from taking the brunt of escalating prices, lack of jobs, and a sub-standard supply of basic needs.
According to 5 out of 6 interviewees, the poorest of Costa Rica are it’s indigenous people. Living in very humble conditions, they live in harmony with the earth – not only as a rich part of their culture, but also, according to Adam Kardos’ article, ‘Costa Rica’s indigenous peoples recognize that their fates are tied to the land that they inhabit.’ Without land, the indigenous will quickly lose their culture and their identity, which is the main value they desire to conserve. The indigenous people compose only 1.7% of Costa Rican citizens, but have fought enough for the attention of the Costa Rican government to enact policies protecting indigenous land (Kardos). Unfortunately, without money or large population, the government easily forgets about this important minority group – leaving a majority of these excellent policies unmet (Kardos). Second to the indigenous, blacks are considered to be highly discriminated against in Costa Rica by both interviewees and authors alike, resulting in their inevitably higher rate of poverty. According to the author of “One-third of People in the Regions Suffer from Discrimination and Racism,” in many countries, ‘black and indigenous people are still considered inferior or second-class.’ Having been mostly tucked away in their Limon province, poverty is most easily shown, as ‘residents of Limon earn 37% less than the national average income, according to the Municipality of Limon and unemployment in the province, which sits at 7.9% is 20% higher than the national average (Barry).’ Again, as a minority group, the black community has been horribly ignored and neglected by the Costa Rican government (Hutchinson).
Both the indigenous and black peoples each compose little more than 2% of the Costa Rican population. With so few people, they have hardly any government representation, leaving both people groups with no advocate but themselves, driven to protesting for their needs. Also, both people groups are isolated in small areas of Costa Rica, far away from the buzzing businesses of San Jose, so obviously the government tends to focus more on the other 96% of Costa Ricans. As understandable as their actions might be, these people are still paying taxes, hoping as many other Costa Ricans hope, that they will be taken care of and so easily swept aside.
One specific grievance against the government is the lack of jobs taken by foreign investors, who have forced farmers to move to the cities (such as Limon) to find work. Although farmers are very happy to continue farming in their own lands and doing what they’re best equipped for, these companies suck up all their potential profits, sending them out of business and into the city. Arriving in the city, the farmer finds nothing but a lack of jobs – especially using only the skills that he possesses as a farmer. His lack of education and subsequent lack of job leads him to be classified with ‘those less fortunate’ – this poverty realized by default of a poor system of government. The Costa Rican government is mostly concerned with attracting foreign investment, but easily forgets the effect on it’s own people – especially those who live off the land (such as the indigenous and black farmers).
The lack of government support for both the black and indigenous minority groups has been the principal cause of their ensuing poverty rates, according to 3 of 6 interviewees. At a national level, the government focuses on pleasing the bigger companies (such as the aforementioned foreign investors) who sustain the majority of Costa Rican culture, understandably putting the needs of minority groups aside to ‘temporarily’ aide those with bigger pocketbooks. Unfortunately, their needs have been ‘temporarily’ set aside for several years, and it’s time for the government to set up a program to care for these 4% whose smaller, minority-owned businesses are being buried, only making it easier for the larger companies to exploit the already high supply of workers for their companies. This surplus of labor drives wages down, forcing workers to survive on less wages – meanwhile cost of living continues to increase.
Increasing tourism in Costa Rica with no government regulations has unavoidably led to increasing prices. Now with a temporary ability to receive higher profit, stores are charging more lofty prices, leaving the Costa Rican minority, who’s already surviving on less wages from the bigger companies who took over their trade, at a loss for how to pay for their basic needs. According to Hutchison, black Costa Ricans are often ‘exploited by low wage labor’ in these bigger companies. Another side effect of increasing tourism in Costa Rica is the increase in the supply of cheaper, Costa Rican prostitutes. According to one interviewee, the main reason older ‘gringos’ even came down to Costa Rica was to buy a cheap prostitute for the weekend and fly back to the States the next Sunday.
There is an obvious downward spiral for Costa Rican minorities’ education. Returning to the example of the black farmer, once the farmer has migrated into the city and been exploited for his cheap labor, he lives in a shabby house in an impoverished part of town. His children need to work to bring home food for the other 4 children, so he sends them off to sell bread, missing out on their education. The indigenous live on their reservation, sending out some sons and daughters into the city to illegally sell products in order to make a living. Once discovered, the police confiscate all their goods and throw them in jail for a few days. Again, these children miss out on the opportunity of education to create enough to support their families. Without a true appreciation for higher education, most blacks and indigenous people don’t make it very far past high school. It often costs too much to go to a University, even with the aid of a few scholarships for minority groups. Without this necessary education, the cycle begins again, with no ability to get a good job, teaching their children to do the same.
There are several alternatives to aiding in this fight against poverty, including stricter government regulation of tourism and foreign investment in Costa Rica to keep prices at a fairer rate and stronger government programs to more evenly distribute the wealth already in Costa Rica. Stricter government regulation of tourism and foreign investment would protect Costa Rican minorities from being subject to such inflated prices and losing their original livelihood as farmers. Protecting these minority groups from being forced to work for low wages would free up their children to receive a more beneficial education, and in turn, produce a higher standard of living. However, as a result of protecting these minority groups through restricting regulations on tourists and foreign companies, tourists would be less likely to come to a country with regulations than to one without. Limiting foreign investment would repulse the investors as well and would probably influence a withdrawal of several foreign companies located in Costa Rica.
It is impossible to deal with Costa Rica strictly on a one country level. Because discrimination against minority groups is simply a consequence of the country’s focus on the majority of it’s people, it is important to think globally about the solution of resolving poverty not only among Costa Rican minorities, but among all people world-wide. Costa Rica should never have to be in a position that forces them to choose to to ignore the needs of it’s minorities. Currently in this position, they have chosen to go against Christ’s biblical principles of putting the poor first, inflicting punishment on minorities by allowing irregulated tourism and monopolizing big business practices. Only with an honest, global organization set aside to regulate and benefit the poorer people world-wide will Costa Rica be rewarded for choosing to save it’s minorities from ensuing poverty. Only with this organization can Costa Rica hope to remain competitive to attract tourists and foreign investment, while also caring for the needs of all their people.
As previously discussed, minorities have suffered a great deal from poverty, being the default group to be overlooked when making any nation-wide decision. Whether from lack of education or irregulated business practices and tourism, poverty is indeed a crisis among the indigenous and black minorities. In order to resolve this poverty, Costa Rica must not only look inward to changing government social programs in order to redistribute it’s own wealth, but also look outward to ensuring honest global practices. These global regulation boards can ensure that Christ’s principles of honoring the poor above the rich will be met with the best interest of the people in mind.