There is a large number of art traffickers in Costa Rica, the clandestine network of art dealers has suppliers from Turrialba, Guapiles and Guanacaste who provide them with authentic native art pieces from different eras, including and especially pre-Columbian pieces, at a cheap rate, the traffickers then sell them for much more to private collectors in other countries, some disguised as replicas, others simply taking advantage of the corruption of customs and airport officials. (According to an investigation carried out by Hassel Fallas from Costa Rica’s newspaper La Nacion)

Prior to 1982 there was no law that protected this heritage, as of that year Costa Rica has a law that prohibits the possession, trade and trafficking of pre-Columbian art; since then the National Museum has recovered over 10,000 objects from private collectors.

Art trafficking is the third largest illicit activity in the world behind drugs and arms trafficking.

In March of 2013 a Costa Rican stone sculpture originating from the Caribbean Coast was auctioned at Sotheby’s auction house in Paris and sold for $865,000.00. The figure was a stone warrior holding a trophy head, despite the country’s effort in trying to stop the auction of this object arguing that they were from dubious origin the police did not intervene due to lack of evidence supporting that the piece of art had been stolen.

Around 214 inherited Costa Rican historical assets with an established base value of $1.3 million USD have been auctioned in countries such as: France, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Spain, U.S.A. and Switzerland.

An art dealer sent a stolen Picasso from Heredia, Costa Rica (no one knows how it got here) to Washington in 2014… via courier. Rolled up in a cardboard tube, a customs officer discovered that what was supposed to be a document valued in $1 was an original Picasso painting from 1905, one of his famous Harlequins valued in $76,000.00 USD, the authenticity certificate was issued April 4, 2014. The package had been sent from San Joaquín de Heredia, Costa Rica, the INTERPOL visited the address listed but of course the person living there had nothing to do with the case, the matter is still under investigation.