A few weeks ago we posted about Costa Rica slowly but surly becoming the new hub for drug trafficking. Mexican authorities in the port of Mexico’s Puerto Progreso last week found frozen sharks stuffed with 894 kilograms of cocaine. The sharks were unloaded from a ship whose voyage originated at the Costa Rican port of Caldera. This is just one of several recent cocaine busts in the last few weeks involving Costa Rica.
The war on drugs is intensifying as the battles continues, experts and officials warn that Costa Rica will not be spared. Mauricio Boraschi, director of the Costa Rica Drug Institute (ICD), said that as Mexico’s efforts force drug traffickers to the south, the Central American countries need to start talking, something they have been notoriously lax in doing.
On June 17, Ambassador Peter Cianchette and Costa Rican Ministry of Public Security Janina del Vecchio together signed a letter of agreement for their 2 countries to implement the campaign.
Under the initiative, Costa Rica will receive more than $40 million (a far cry less then what Mexico’s $400 million ) to fund many special projects aimed at combating criminal gangs and the trafficking of narcotics and firearms. They include helping take part in a regional fingerprint exchange, improved policing and police equipment, and improved prison management. The Costa Rican government will also receive other assistance under the Merida Initiative such as support for maritime patrols to interdict smuggling, an assessment of and aid for the nation’s border security, and participation in a number of training programs.
For the first time and working with ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, a government held monopoly), Costa Rica Police are now establishing a procedures for placing wiretaps on phones that they consider ONLY under certain circumstances – meaning without a court order – and creating a communication control center in Costa Rica for coordination among other police agencies of the Central American countries.
Speak Your Mind