The pope said following his traditional Angelus blessing today that many of the Cubans are victims of human trafficking, and called on the region's governments to find a solution to the "human drama."
Thousands of Cubans had been migrating through Central America in fear that the year-old warming in US-Cuban relations could end Cubans' special immigration privileges in the United States.
Some 8,000 Cubans have been stranded in Costa Rica since mid-November when Nicaragua began rejecting Cubans from crossing its territory. Costa Rica stopped giving Cubans travel visas last week.