Costa Rica is experiencing an unprecedented wave of insecurity. Murders have increased 60% in the last decade, and last year’s 656 homicides was the highest number in its history. It is projected that by the end of 2023, up to 900 could be counted. What is happening in the once peaceful country?
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Costa Rica, the country known for its tranquility, now leads the growth in homicide rates in the Americas, which is why, in school classrooms, shooting drills are now being carried out.
The growing violence and shootings, which leave more and more collateral victims in the neighborhoods and on the streets, have forced the educational community to implement a special protocol that helps children react to an incident of this type in their homes or anywhere else.
Authorities are making greater efforts to combat drug trafficking, the cause of increased insecurity. The country is no longer only part of the drug route, but also the scene of conflicts between local mafias increasingly sophisticated.
The government response has been to install scanners at all borders to make it difficult for drugs to enter national territory and thus lower crime.
Security Minister Mario Zamora points out that they will attack the problem, but under the rule of law.
“Costa Rica discards the heavy hand or the soft hand, what we apply is the rule of law, that is, we identify a person and present them before a judge with sufficient evidence that they have committed a crime. That is the route democracy and that is the route we are going to follow,” he told France 24.
The operations of the last three months have left 70 hitmen in custody. Meanwhile, the public is waiting for a lasting solution to arrive.
“We are facing cancer, and aggressive cancer, (so) chemotherapy must be applied, as many times as necessary, and it must be used in a democracy so that this criminal phenomenon can be reversed. To the extent that we use force within the State right, we create security”, Zamora exemplified.
Source: France 24
