Douglas Contreras lives in La Carpio, San José La Carpio is one of the largest of the 'marginal' neighborhoods of San José. It is a dangerous place, with a high crime rate. Its estimated 23,000 residents are poorly educated, and half are Nicaraguan immigrants. The average monthly income of US$ 150 is hardly enough for a family to live on. Yet most of the residents manage to send money back to their relatives in Nicaragua too.
Douglas Antonio Contreras and his family. Douglas Antonio Contreras (26) and his wife Dina Ortecho (29) and her son Dilan (12), from a previous relationship. Douglas has turned his back on criminality. He works in the building trade as a painter, and performs under the name Transformer. The discrimination against Nicaraguan migrants is a recurring theme in his raps.
Maria Contreras and her children. Two of them, Arlen Yulisa (now 25) and Ada Crystal (16) live in Nicaragua. Douglas Antonio (26, to the right in the photo) and Webster Alexander (20) live in Costa Rica. In 1996 Maria took the 11-year-old Douglas with her when she went to Costa Rica in search of work. Four years later, when their house burned down, she went back to Nicaragua. Douglas remained behind, and became involved in criminal activity. Two years later he also returned to Nicaragua, and become a member of a youth gang.
In the La Carpio neighborhood. Certainly at least 10% of the over 4.5 million residents of Costa Rica are immigrants. Three-quarters come from the neighboring country of Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere. The make their living in jobs requiring little education or training, working as street vendors, day laborers in construction or on farms, or as domestic workers.
Douglas with Daniel Ortega in 1990. In 1976 Daniel Ortega, the leader of the Sandinistas, overthrew the dictatorship of Anastasio Somosa. The civil war which followed (1976-1990) threw the country into a deep crisis. In the photo, Ortega is probably in Douglas's home town of Ocotal for the election campaign. Ortega was defeated, but in 2006 he was elected as president of Nicaragua. The economy has not yet recovered from the war, with high unemployment which has prompted emigration.
n the Estelí prison, 2004. A member of the La Clica youth gang, in 2004 Douglas was arrested in his home town of Ocotal on suspicion of having been involved in a murder. He spent months in the Estelí prison, until he was finally acquitted because of a lack of evidence. Once out, he organized his own 'gang'. Youth gangs are a growing problem in the cities of Central America.
Juan Paulo Sánchez in front of his house. Douglas's parents are divorced, but he still has contact with both. His father, Juan Paulo Sánchez, lives in Nicaragua. He was worked in construction in El Salvador and Costa Rica, but was also involved in criminal activities, which have landed him in prison a couple of times.
Douglas and a friend in La Clica.
In Nicaragua with Dina and his father, Juan Paulo Sánchez.
Douglas and Dina, in her hairdressing salon.
Grandmother Contreras, with her great-granddaughter Ximena. Douglas grew up in the home of his grandmother in Ocotal. For years the home became a meeting place and center for drug dealing and other criminal activities by the gangs in which he was involved. Peace returned after Douglas left. Douglas himself ultimately renounced that life, after a failed suicide attempt, and thanks to the help of his mother.
Douglas, at the elementary school.
His parents' home in Ocotal, Nicaragua.
Maria Contreras's granddaughter Ximena (5). According to the Nicaraguan Central Bank, in 2010 emigrants sent more than 800 million dollars back to Nicaragua. Most of it came from the United States; another quarter from Costa Rica. The emigrant fathers, aunts, sons and daughters are an important source of income for families in Nicaragua. Douglas too sometimes sends money back to his mother.
