InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to the study of organized crime in Latin America, analyzed the growing violence in Costa Rica, in the article What Is Behind Growing Violence in Costa Rica?

Costa Rica closed 2017 with a record number of 603 homicides which brings the murder rates to 12.1 per every 100 thousand inhabitants, one of the region’s lowest homicide rates, but still the highest recorded in the country that has traditionally been known as one of the region’s most peaceful.

According to the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) During the first six months of 2018 the number of homicides  to 302, 29 more than during the same period the year prior.

Authorities in the country have explained the increase in violent crimes to organized crime, settling of scores between individuals or gangs, confrontations between gangs to win over specific territories, among others.

InSight Crime explains:

“Costa Rica has, for years, served as a key transshipment point for Colombian cocaine heading to the United States and Europe.

From the beginning, local Costa Rican criminal outfits were contracted to guard drug shipments and move product across the country. Instead of making payments in dollars, transnational criminal organizations often paid local criminal groups in drugs, thus increasing the amount of product that stayed in Costa Rica, a trend seen in other key transshipment countries.

Over the years, with more drugs remaining in Costa Rica, illicit drug consumption has gone up, and local criminal actors have been quick to try to control increasingly lucrative local markets.”

Minister of Security, Michael Soto, told InSight Crime: “On average, local groups can make upwards of $2,000 to $3,000 per day in one location. However, many groups sometimes control five, six or seven different drug dealing spots”.

Walter Espinoza, Director of OIJ, said to Bjorn Kjelstad from InSight Crime: “There is a high availability of weapons. The origins of the weapons are unclear, but there is an important flow [of firearms] through the Central American corridor as a result of civil wars.”

The Government of Costa Rica announced last week several initiatives to increase security in the communities, for tourists and the allocation of additional funds for these purposes.