San José (AFP) – More than 1,000 migrants, most of them Cubans, “violently” crossed the border from Panama into Costa Rica on Wednesday, officials said.

The incident risked repeating a recent crisis in which thousands of Cubans determined to make it to the United States became stranded in Costa Rica because their passage north through Central America was blocked.

Costa Rican officials vowed to deport back to Panama any undocumented migrants, and blamed the United States for “promoting” the flow of Cubans.