Two Spanish tourists and three Costa Rican tourists (including a minor) suffered an armed robbery while they were enjoying a walk in one of the trails of the Rincon de la Vieja National Park this Thursday, August 9th at around 11:30 a.m.
The tourists were intercepted by men carrying knifes who took all their belongings, cell phones, binoculars, cash, backpacks, among other things.
The Public Police Force of Guanacaste with the assistance of the Touristic Police and workers of the National System of Areas of Conservation immediately patrolled the area and at around 4 p.m. they arrested two suspects and recovered most of the items stolen, as well as the knife used in the robbery, one of the suspects is a minor and both are of Costa Rican Nationality.
Michael Soto, Minister of Public Security, and President Carlos Alvarado spoke today in relation to the recent crimes against tourists in the country including murder, “To the families of Maria (Maria Matus, Mexican Tourist killed in Santa Teresa and Arantxa (Arantxa Lopez, Spanish tourists, murdered in Tortuguero), I say, we will not rest until we clear up what happened”, stated Alvarado, who also announced that the current Government will be assigning a budget of $1 million a year from the Costa Rica Tourism Board to Tourist Security that will be used in a solid plan of security and prevention; this plan will include other institutions, among them of course, the Minister of Tourism.