Faber-Castell accuses Costa Rica of misusing donated factory

Faber-Castell, the world’s largest pencil maker, says the Costa Rican government misused a former factory the company donated for humanitarian purposes by detaining asylum seekers there after they were deported from the United States last year. The factory, closed in 2013, was gifted to Costa Rica in 2018 under a contract with the ministry of public security that specified the premises be used as a shelter to offer refuge and humanitarian assistance and “to house a shelter for the care of migrants … without the possibility of changing the purpose of the property.” The company said it had not realised anyone had been detained at the site and that the building was to be transformed into a humanitarian refugee centre, adding that “under no circumstances was it agreed to be used as a prison.” In late February 2025 Costa Rica accepted about 200 people deported from the US and escorted them to the former factory, named Centro de Atención Temporal para Migrantes (Catem), in Puntarenas.

Costa Rica, Puntarenas

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