Drug trafficking blamed as homicides soar in Costa Rica

[steve from amherst]

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• Rodrigo Chaves Robles

JAVIER CORDOBA

Sat, April 1, 2023 at 12:05 PM EDT·5 min read

 

 

In this article:

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• Rodrigo Chaves Robles

  Costa Rican politician

 

 

LIMON, Costa Rica (AP) — In this colorful Caribbean port, where cruise ship passengers are whisked to jungle adventures in Costa Rica’s interior, locals try to be home by dark and police patrol with high-caliber guns in the face of soaring drug violence.

Costa Rica logged a record 657 homicides last year and Limon – with a homicide rate five times the national average -- was the epicenter.

The bloodshed in a country better known for its laid-back, “it’s all good” outlook and its lack of a standing army has stirred a public outcry as the administration of President Rodrigo Chaves scrambles for answers.

Where Costa Rica had previously been just a pass-through for northbound cocaine from Colombian and Mexican cartels, authorities say it is now a warehousing and transshipment point for drugs sent to Europe by homegrown Costa Rican gangs.

 

In Limon, that shifting criminal dynamic has mixed with swelling ranks of young unemployed men who make up the majority of the casualties in fierce territorial battles.

Martín Arias, the deputy security minister and head of Costa Rica’s Coast Guard, said Limon’s violence stems from disputes over both the control of cocaine shipped to Europe and the marijuana sold locally.