La Carpio: A
Paradigmatic
Case Now Online
Visiting La
Carpio, one of
San José most
conflictive
neighbourhoods
now is a close
as mouse click
and as secure as
your computer's
anti virus
protection.
La Carpio En
Línea (http://lacarpioenlinea.ucr.ac.cr/)
is a project for
outsiders to
understand the
lives of the
people of the
community known
as La Carpio,
located west of
the Hospital
México.
The website
allows visitors
to take a
virtual tour of
the area and
listen to the
stories and see
pictures and
dreams of those
who live in the
barrio.
The area is
officially part
of the district
known as La
Uruca, it covers
and areas of
626.000 square
metres,
surrounded by
the rivers
Torres and
Virilla and a
landfill, with
only one road in
and out of the
community.
The La Carpio
was created out
of the
initiative of
Costa Ricans and
Nicaraguans
squatting on the
land between
1993 and 1994.
Many of the full
name of the
people telling
the story are
not told,
including that
of one of the
founders of La
Carpio, Doña
Martha, as she
is known in the
history books,
who says that it
time for people
to stop talking
bad of the "cuidadela"
she helped
found.
The idea of the
website is to
offer outsiders
a window into a
community that
is rife with
crime, gangs,
drugs and many
good people as
well who call La
Carpio home.
La Carpio, home
to some 40.000,
half of whom are
Nicaraguan
immigrants, is
described as a
"marginalized"
community where
inequality,
violence,
discrimination,
environmental
injustice and
insecurity are
way of daily
life. Many
living in the
area do not
count with the
basic
necessities.
Although
schools, health
clinics, and a
single paved
road have been
constructed in
the community
due to
residents’
ongoing pressure
on the
government, this
infrastructure
remains
inadequate. Over
half of the
crowded
population lives
below the
poverty line
(compared with
22% of the
national
population) and
has no formal
employment, and
few residents
have title to
their land.
The media
exacerbates the
perceived and
real conflict in
La Carpio
through
sensationalist
reporting which
focuses
disproportionately
on violence
committed by
Nicaraguans,
fueling the
negative
discourses
surrounding
immigration. A
content review
of the newspaper
La Nación
between 1999 and
2004 revealed
that it carried
an average of
one negative
news article
about La Carpio
every week,
generally
portraying
Nicaraguans as
the perpetrators
of crime. The
negative and
unfair media
attention
perpetuates the
stereotype of
Nicaraguans as
violent
criminals,
thereby
legitimizing the
root cause of
the violence,
which is
structural.
A May, 2004,
blockade that
led to violence
between police
and protesters
further
exemplifies the
relationship
between
structural
violence, direct
violence, and
the media and
society’s
criminalization
of La Carpio. In
this instance,
community
members had
blocked the road
leading to the
landfill in
order to demand
that the
government and
waste management
company fulfill
their promises
to deposit a
small sum of
money per ton of
garbage
processed into a
community fund
and to grant
titles for the
land upon which
people had built
their homes.
Rather than
allowing for
dialogue between
the community
and the
authorities,
police escalated
what had been a
non-violent
conflict by
throwing teargas
bombs into the
crowd, which in
turn led to
violent
retaliation by
the protesters.
While the media
framed
Nicaraguans as
the primary
perpetrators of
the violence in
this incident,
La Carpio
residents claim
that few
Nicaraguans
participated in
the blockade and
subsequent
conflict with
police because
they feared
being arrested
and deported. By
portraying La
Carpio
incorrectly as a
community of
Nicaraguans who
are inherently
violent, the
media justifies
the structural
violence in
which La Carpio
residents are
trapped and the
direct violence
that the police
employ upon
them.
The lack of
educational
opportunities
for La Carpio
residents
presents yet
another
structural
barrier.
Environmental
insecurity and
injustice are
common forms of
structural
violence in
similarly
disenfranchised
communities
throughout the
world.
Economic
opportunities
for La Carpio
residents are
limited for a
number of
reasons related
to the forms of
structural
violence. With
little education
and few
opportunities
for legal
residents, much
less illegal
immigrants, to
access state
adult education
and training
programs or
other social
services, the
majority of La
Carpio residents
work in the
informal economy
if at all.
With reports
from the
University for
Peace (www.upeace.org).
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