Costa Rica is one step away from reporting the year with the fewest cocaine seizures in a decade, is that good or bad?

QCOSTARICA – With just a few months left until the end of the year, Costa Rica is on track to report the lowest seizures of illegal drugs in the past decade, according to data from the Ministry of Public Security, which also includes the Drug Control Police ( PCD) belongs. ).

In mid-September, the country reported that a total of 13,199 kilos of cocaine had been seized, while last year 15,680 kilos were seized during that period.

The reduction is part of a trend that has been reflected since 2020, when a record 51,479 kilograms were seized.

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In the case of marijuana, the decline is even more striking: last year 15,847 kilos were seized and only half is registered for this year.

That can be good or bad news, depending on the viewpoint used in the analysis.

And the fact is that lawmakers, analysts and the government differ on this issue.

A positive approach is explained by criminologist Tania Molina, who emphasizes that countries such as Colombia, Ecuador and Panama seized large quantities of cocaine last year and that this reduced the amount of drugs passing through Costa Rica. In this case the same phenomenon could repeat itself.

“If they do their job well and work more efficiently (at the source), the number of seizures here should decrease, as that cocaine does not reach Costa Rica,” the specialist said.

Meanwhile, the government of Rodrigo Chaves has another positive statement on this subject.

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According to Manuel Jiménez, Vice Minister of Security, the reduction is due to the Operación Soberanía (Operation Sovereignty) that is underway.

This is a series of measures, including the interconnection of intelligence from all police forces involved in public security, coordination with international authorities and, of course, the installation of scanners to detect drugs, such as those at the Moín Container Terminal. This does not include the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), a dependency of the Supreme Court that works with the Public Prosecutor of Costa Rica.

“They simply cannot bring drugs into the country as easily as before and this has led them to use other international drug trafficking routes; that is, all those drugs that came to Costa Rica are diverted to other countries or other jurisdictions where they don’t have as much difficulty bringing them into the area,” Jiménez said.

The official added that criminal gangs now typically don’t put thousands of kilos of cocaine in a container because they can be easily tracked, but now they barely put 50 kilos.

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The problem can also be viewed from a more critical perspective.

The minimal decrease in the number of murders compared to the same period last year would be an indication that the war between criminal gangs and the settlement of scores is far from over.

So far this year, 671 murders have been recorded (a high figure for the country), some 24 fewer than at the same time last year. If this trend continues, the year could end with nearly 900 cases, while 2023 would set a record with 907 cases.

Another indicator is that the US State Department has indicated in 2022 that Costa Rica is contesting with Mexico for first place in the region in the region in the transshipment of cocaine, which is denied by the government.

‘I fear, Costa Ricans, that we already live in a narco-state. We give more resources to public safety and yet 1,240 kilos of cocaine passes through their noses at the border. Sorry, that is not naivety or incompetence,” said Sofía Guillén, lawmaker for the Frente Amplio.

Meanwhile, Álvaro Ramos, former Minister of the Interior and Police, said the country simply does not have the operational capacity to combat drug trafficking and this is reflected in the fact that the territorial sea is huge and Costa Rica cannot patrol it.

The expert claims that drugs are passing through the country and that we are not aware of it.

“We cannot seize drugs because we do not have the resources, there are no aircraft to patrol, we do not have operational boats for the sea that we have, we have no radars, neither fixed nor mobile. Therefore, it is a lie to say that drug traffickers no longer use the country to transport drugs,” Ramos said.

Lawmakers from various parties are calling for more direct action to tackle the problem of drug trafficking and organized crime, but have been slow and even reluctant to increase security budgets.

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