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The high level of violence indicates how once peaceful Costa Rica is feeling the increasing grip of the cocaine trade. But is the Central American country on a similar path to Ecuador to the south?
The number of murders in Costa Rica has grown slowly in recent years, but reached an all-time high in 2023 with 907 murders recorded. 17.2 murders per 100,000. That was a 38% increase in homicides compared to 2022, where they occurred 12.2 per 100,000a huge increase compared to previous years. In 2012, the county reported just 407 homicides.
To combat the ongoing violence, President Rodrigo Chaves Robles issued an executive order in mid-October that allows law enforcement use automatic weapons in certain situations. The move, aimed at creating a level playing field against criminals, who are increasingly heavily armed, was accompanied by a video from the presidential office.
SEE ALSO: Costa Rica is considering extradition to combat growing judicial corruption
“In a firefight, high-caliber automatic weapons such as the AK-47 give the upper hand… This unequal fight must end. Therefore, even if some want to continue giving hugs to those who give bullets, the government will do everything in its power to balance things,” the video commentary said.
Costa Rica’s Caribbean port city Limon in the province of Límon, together with the nearby container port of Moín, is a hotspot for drug trafficking and a popular departure point for cocaine transports to Europe. By 2023, 214 murders were registered in the province of Límon, a higher number than in San José, despite a population three times smaller. The region’s largest drug trafficking groups want access to these ports to transport cocaine from Latin America, and local partners want to help them. As a result, local criminal organizations in Costa Rica are becoming increasingly powerful and sophisticated.
The experience of nearby Ecuador is a cautionary tale for Costa Rica, showing how easily organized crime violence in a country can spiral out of control. control. Bordered by Colombia and Peru, two of the largest cocaine producers in the world, foreign transnational drug trafficking networks have entrenched themselves in the country in recent years as they push record breaking tonnage of cocaine to international markets. Murders in Ecuador jumped 74.5% year-on-year in 2023 to 8,008, presidential candidate was murdered, public security is weak, and so is the kidnapping widespread. Now the country is currently stuck in a costly situation war against gangswhich have been encouraged and strengthened by the profits from the cocaine trade.
InSight crime analysis
Costa Rica is a far cry from the situation in Ecuador, but a series of warning signs point to a deteriorating security outlook and have authorities on edge.
Murder rates remain high in San José, the capital and the country’s most populous area, and in Límon, but there is also violence. increasing in other areas, such as Puntarenas, on the Pacific coast.
Corruption cases involving members of the judiciary more than doubled between 2019 and 2023. Low police pay, which starts at about $600 a month, has long been a problem. point of concern about the vulnerability of the force to bribery and corruption.
SEE ALSO: Durán: a window into the explosion of organized crime in Ecuador
In addition, organized crime is reportedly taking advantage of the country’s increasing social inequality. Puntarenas in particular stood out to Mary Fran Malone, a professor of political science and international affairs at the University of New Hampshire, who recently wrote a book study on the perception of insecurity in Costa Rica.
“Puntarenas is not just a port area. If you look at the economic activity levels of men aged 18 to 25, at the education levels and at all these indicators, you can see that the number of people who are marginalized has systematically increased… and that will be a magnet. for gang recruitment,” she told InSight Crime.
Crime groups are recruiting people as young as 13, the Costa Rican Judicial Investigation Department (Organismo de Investigación Judicial – OIJ) has said. Randall Zúñiga, head of the OIJ, said there are about 5,000 active gang members in the country. And with the increasing availability of cocaine, the country’s local organized crime groups are becoming stronger and more complex. according to to a report on the evolution of gangs in Pavas, San José.
But despite this, Costa Rica is in a stronger position than Ecuador to counter the growing threat from organized crime groups.
Control of the prison system in Ecuador was crucial to the development of the country’s criminal groups. Gangs like the Lobos, ChonerosAnd Tiguerons incubated in the prison system for decades before murders were committed on the nation’s streets. As early as 2007, then-President Rafael Correa warned of the danger of gangs controlling prisons. to describe the country’s prison system as ‘a ticking time bomb’. But fifteen years later, authorities were unable to prevent the disaster repeated massacres in prisons that heralded the increasing strength of the gangs.
Costa Rica has no such prison problem. “Gangs don’t control prisons like they do in other countries,” Zúñiga told InSight Crime. The country has a low pre-trial detention rate – about half that of Ecuador – according to to the World Prison Brief. This reduces the mixing of people awaiting trial with gang members and suppresses a traditional source of gang recruitment.
In response to concerns about corruption, Chaves Robles said on July 30 announced the largest pay increase for police officers in the country’s history. Furthermore, overall corruption in Costa Rica is much lower than in Ecuador. according to to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, curbing any attempt by criminal groups to penetrate and influence public institutions.
Costa Rica has no military capable of launching a militarized response to the rise of organized crime after disbanding its armed forces in 1949. However, the country is alert to the threats it faces and already appears to be having some success in the fight against crime. The number of homicides is expected to decrease slightly this year, Zúñiga told InSight Crime. OIJ reports point to a 3.36% decrease in homicides in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
In this sense, Costa Rica’s security situation may be closer to Chile than to Ecuador.
In Chile there are drug trafficking organizations and a Venezuelan mega-gang Tren de Aragua provided a 32% increase in murders in 2022. Another one drop of 7% by 2023 helped allay fears of an Ecuador-like collapse. A clear message from President Gabriel Boric that Chile, and in particular the Santiago Metropolitan District, has a crime problem helped the government take swift action. The government recently added: 500 officers to the police in Santiago, announced the construction of a prison where only the leaders of criminal groups will be held, and published plans to strengthen the northern border area a large part of the violence is centered.
Although the year isn’t over yet, there are early indications that homicides could drop in Costa Rica this year. Costa Rica, once called the Switzerland of Central America, could have greater resilience against transnational organized crime and control the interest and influence of the global cocaine trade.
Feature Image: Members of Costa Rica’s OIJ investigate a crime scene after a shooting. Credit: Unidad de Exiliados Nicaragüenses