SWAT team members in Costa Rica practice rappelling. Source: Fuerza Publica

Costa Rica has various characteristics that make her unique: biodiversity, ecotourism, strong democratic roots, a commitment to environmental protection, and the lack of a military force. Costa Rica’s constitutional abolishment of the military took place in 1949 after a bloody civil war, and since that time the country has been a bastion of peace and non-bellicose conflict resolution, despite being located in the volatile Central American region.

Ticos are proud of their non-military tradition, which has enabled them to allocate budgetary funds that would otherwise be used for defense purposes into education and public health care -although many would argue that the latter is an ailing institution and the former could use even more funding. Not having a standing army has been a key element in the nation’s development and imminent exit from the Third World, but this has not stopped the militarization of Costa Rica’s public safety forces.

Fuerzas Comando 2012

A few weeks ago, a special detachment of Fuerza Publica officers from Costa Rica participated in the Fuerzas Comando 2012 competition in Colombia, a militaristic tournament organized and sponsored by the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) -the military Unified Combatant Command from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) that is responsible for providing contingency planning and operations in Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean.

In an official press release by the American Forces Press Service, Fuerzas Comando 2012 is described as follows:

“As elite commandos from across the Western Hemisphere compete this week in a grueling counterterrorism and special operations skills competition, the commander of Special Operations Command South said they’re building the relationships required to confront transnational organized crime gripping much of the region.”

The Fuerzas Comando event has been taking place every year since 2004. It is a competition between the special units of the security forces in participating SOUTHCOM countries. U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Thomas L. Brown, II further explained one of the reasons the DoD has been sponsoring this event:

“Transnational organized criminals, violent extremist groups and dangerous non-state actors present a particular challenge because they operate without respect for national boundaries and sovereignty.”

Costa Rica has sent teams from the Unidad Especial de Intervencion, a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit from Fuerza Publica, to Fuerzas Comando tournaments over the last few years. On the 2012 Q1 Report on United States Government Assistance to Costa Rica, the U.S. Embassy indicated that $50,000 were given to our government for this event and described the aid as follows:

“Fuerzas Comando allowed Costa Rica to participate in a special operations skills competition and senior leader seminar designed to enhance multinational and regional cooperation, mutual trust and confidence. It improved Costa Ricans Special Interventions Unit training, readiness, interoperability and capability in the tactics, techniques and procedures.”

Most of the competing teams in Fuerzas Comando are made up of men (and a few women) who are highly trained in the use of special tactics to neutralize threats. These aren’t your typical Latin American and Caribbean security forces. They are mostly elite teams like the fearsome Cobras in Honduras, special anti-narcotics agents that have been trained by U.S. military and SWAT experts. The Cobras and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency special operatives are thought to have been involved in the recent collateral killing of four indigenous Hondurans in the Mosquitia region –including two pregnant women (link contains strongly graphic pictures).

Colombia came away as the winner in this year’s Fuerzas Comando, followed by Ecuador and Uruguay. The Central American countries that receive plenty of military aid from the United States ranked high in the competition: El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras respectively took the fourth, fifth and sixth places. Canada and Mexico finished ahead of the U.S. special ops teams. The high ranking of the Canadian Forces in Fuerzas Comando 2012 is not surprising due to their extended missions in Afghanistan, even though Canada is drastically reducing her defense budget. Mexico, on the other hand, has invested millions of dollars in special tactics and training to fight the violent Drug Cartel War.

For a country without a military force, Costa Rica finished in a respectable 10^th place. Panama’s special police forces finished 16^th, an unexpected result for a country that, like Costa Rica, eliminated her armed forces a few years ago but receives a lot of training from U.S. military and federal law enforcement groups. The police forces of Panama are often labeled by their own people as being very militaristic.

The Joint Patrol Treaty

Costa Rica and the United States are parties to an agreement in which maritime assets from both countries can be used for drug interdiction. This agreement -authorized by Law Number 7929- has been the source of much disagreement in opinion. The treaty essentially allows the United States Coast Guard to patrol our waters and dock in our Caribbean and Pacific coasts, and President Laura Chinchilla has been very supportive of it.

One of the earliest sharp criticisms directed at the current administration was related to the joint patrol treaty. In 2010, Ticos were surprised by headlines that announced the imminent arrival of amphibious assault ships from the U.S. Navy with 13,000 Marines aboard who were ready to come ashore. Opponents decried that move, stating that U.S. Coast Guard patrols in Costa Rica are useful for the purpose of drug interdiction, but Marines coming ashore would be an abrupt act of militarization.

The joint patrol treaty has once again been questioned by legislators who feel that U.S. Navy ships should not be involved. The Costa Rica Star previously published an article on this matter in June, and the National Assembly in Costa Rica still has one debate pending: the entry of U.S. Navy ships. Although these heavily armed military vessels are not part of the Joint Patrol Treaty per se, the U.S. claims that the U.S. Navy’s  presence is needed to support the operations of the Coast Guard.

The Business of Militarization

It could be argued that there is no political or civic interest behind Costa Rica’s militarization, meaning that most Ticos still do not support the idea of a national army; however, there is a major global industry dedicated to cashing in on threats to national security and enticing nations to allocate greater portions of their budgets to defense. The idea of Costa Rica getting a bit militarized is only a tiny example of a growing international business trend.

The military-industrial complex has surpassed the scale that the late U.S. President Dwight David Eisenhower warned about. War profiteering is an old business model, but major corporate players have fine-tuned the art of making money from militarization during peacetime as well. Enticing Costa Rica to participate in events like Fuerzas Comando and allowing U.S. military units to patrol our waters or conduct training are situations that manufacturers and dealers of military hardware and equipment pay close attention to.

U.S. enterprises lead the way in the complex world of militarization for profit as evidenced by the heavy presence of American companies at the biennial Special Operations Forces Exhibition & Conference (SOFEX) that takes place at the King Abdullah I Airbase in Amman, in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The most recent SOFEX took place a month before Fuerzas Comando 2012, and according to a 2010 eyewitness report by Shane Smith for Vice Magazine, the U.S. is the biggest sponsor of this alarming trade show.

King Abdullah of Jordan shares something with the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy: an affinity for special ops, and thus the idea of SOFEX was born. High-ranking military and defense officials from around the world rub elbows with weapons merchants as they are introduced to a training exercise conducted by Jordanian special forces, kind of what you would see at Fuerzas Comando. After the show, attendants are free to roam around the tents and inspect the latest in killing technology.

The surreal aspect of SOFEX is that the weapons systems on display are purchased by military forces that might one day use them against each other. The presence of independent weapons dealers -many of them American- makes it even more paradoxical, since there is always the possibility that weapons or munitions “Made in the USA” on display at the SOFEX could be used against U.S. forces, but SOFEX is an exercise in free market doctrine. It is a free-for-all, and with billions of dollars allocated to defense budgets all over the world, business is good.

As long as there is armed conflict somewhere, or far-reaching complex operations like the War on Drugs, events like SOFEX will prosper.

Selling Unnecessary Weapons and Equipment for Stockpiling

Part of the militarization business strategy involves selling and reselling of military-grade weapons and equipment to organizations that might not even need them to begin with. In the United States, for example, SWAT teams of some small-town police departments are stockpiling on military gear that is essentially recycled for profit. A recent article in the online version of Wired magazine explained that:

“Small police departments across America are collecting battlefield-grade arsenals thanks to a program that allows them to get their hands on military surplus equipment – amphibious tanks, night-vision goggles, at virtually no cost, except for shipment and maintenance.”

This situation is making SWAT teams look more like the competitors at Fuerzas Comando, and the militarization business enticement is in full display:

“Take the 50-officer police department in Oxford, Alabama, a town of 20,000 people. It has stockpiled around $3 million of equipment, ranging from M-16s and helmet-mounted infrared goggles to its own armored vehicle.”

This useless stockpiling is not limited to the United States. In late January, the Transit Police in Costa Rica was the victim of a break-in that relieved them of an arsenal of handguns. 215 semiautomatic service pistols were stolen from an armory under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works (MOPT in Spanish). While most of the pistols have been recovered, an investigation revealed that they had been purchased and were never assigned to any officers.

The law in Costa Rica specifies that when the government buys a weapon it must be assigned to a responsible individual within 30 days. This provision of the law seeks to avoid stockpiling, which sometimes can be a dangerous practice. To keep weapons accounted for, they must be assigned to. As explained by Ana Amenabar for Diario Extra back in March, there may have been about 400 unassigned pistols sitting in just one armory.

In essence, the stolen handguns were part of a surplus purchase. Weapons dealers are no different than other salespeople: they are known to wheel and deal with their buyers, pushing them to take advantage of offers or bulk purchases and stockpile, which may have been the case with the MOPT buyers.

Curbing the Illicit Weapons Trade

Weapons are at the heart of the militarization-for-profit strategy. We live in a gun-crazy world, and just like with any business activity, there is a seamy underbelly to the weapons trade. One of the ironies of the War on Drugs is that it has promoted a booming illegal gun running industry, to wit: the massive firepower amassed by Mexican drug cartels over the last couple of decades.

The MOPT armory break-in is a good example of the widespread illicit weapons trade. Most of the stolen pistols have been recovered, and 17 of them were confiscated from gun smugglers in Panama who already had piles of cash earmarked for an illegal gun purchase.

The illegal gun trade has fueled the unending abhorrent violence that has prevailed in Africa for so many years. In 2003, the Nobel Peace Laureate and former President of Costa Rica Oscar Arias Sanchez, along with other Peace Laureates, drafted an idea that may soon become a United Nations resolution. According to a recent editorial in The Economist, the Arms Trade Treaty will be formally debated at the UN next month, and it aims to regulate the weapons trade at a global level.

International regulations are always touchy subjects, and regulation of the incredible lucrative weapons trade is bound to ruffle some feathers. The countries that fully support the Arms Trade Treaty are Australia, Argentina, Costa Rica, Finland, Kenya and Japan, and the United Kingdom. By 2008, 133 countries had voted for the treaty, but 19 nations decided to abstain. Only one nation voted firmly against the treaty at that time: the United States of America.

It is not surprising that the U.S. would vote against the treaty; after all, the American weapons industry is a major business institution like Hollywood, Silicon Valley or Wall Street. Times are changing, however, and in 2009 the United States reversed its initial vote and now supports the Arms Trade Treaty. This is not surprising, considering that President Barack Obama is also a Peace Laureate like Oscar Arias.