By Wendy Anders

Anti-crime efforts in Costa Rica’s southern Caribbean region are getting a boost with recent funds pledged by the U.S. government, said the Ministry of Security in a press statement this weekend.

During a visit to the National Guard Substation in Sixaola, canton of Salamanca, in Limón province, Minister of Public Security, Gustavo Mata, as well as several police chiefs, met with U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, Fitzgerald Haney, to analyze several regional initiatives.

The focus of the efforts is on fighting organized crime, and drug, human and other smuggling along Costa Rica’s southern Caribbean border region with Panama through greater police and coastguard control of the area.

Towards these ends, a new police post in Tuba Creek South, in the district of Cahuita, Talamanca, will be built with U.S. funds in the very near future to replace the current police structure.

This new post will be similar to the United States-funded police station at Kilometer 35 in Golfito, in the southern Pacific region, and will house officials from various agencies including Migration, Fiscal Control Police, Border Police and Drug Control Police stated the Security Ministry.

According to Border Police Commissioner Allan Obando, the new post at Tuba Creek should be operating next year with approximately 100 officers of the Border Police, plus members of other police forces.

The total cost of the work has not yet been estimated as the project is still in the preliminary phase, but the similar project at Kilometer 35 involved a US$3 million investment.

Commissioner Obando explained that U.S. cooperation also includes the construction of a new coastguard station along the Sixaola River, which will allow police to better control that area where the Sixoala river forms a natural border with Panama as well as the area’s Caribbean waters.

The new coastguard station will cost approximately US$2.5 million, and is slated to be built in 2018.

U.S. Ambassador Haney said the initiative is part of a bilateral cooperation program that the U.S. has been developing to aid Costa Rica in securing its borders.