Costa Rica Wages War on
Drugs
By Blake Schmidt,
Special to the Miami
Herald
Known abroad mostly for
its political stability,
pristine beaches and
eco-tourism, this
country without an army
has suddenly found
itself in the middle of
the war on drugs.
During President Oscar
Arias' 14 months in
office, Costa Rican and
U.S. authorities have
set seizure records in
increasingly spectacular
drug busts -- nearly 50
tons of cocaine,
compared with 2003, when
seizures didn't reach
one ton.
In the latest case,
scuba divers are still
trying to recover a
suspected boatload of
cocaine that sank to the
bottom of the Pacific
after its crew set it on
fire last week as
authorities approached.
The four Colombian
crewmen were handed to
immigration authorities
due to a lack of
evidence.
''That's the third boat
in recent months drug
traffickers have burned
in attempts to hide
proof,'' said Security
Minister Fernando
Berrocal.
Chief Prosecutor
Francisco Dall'Anese
says he believes the
increase in seizures
here may be due to Costa
Rica's growing role as
an exchange center in
the flow of Colombian
drugs toward the Mexican
traffickers who smuggle
the drugs to U.S.
cities.
''The Colombian and
Mexican drug traffickers
are using Costa Rica as
an exchange centre,''
Dall'Anese wrote in an
e-mail to The Miami
Herald.
The increase has forced
Costa Rica, which
abolished its military
in 1948 and now has only
a national police force,
to rely more on the U.S.
Coast Guard. Berrocal
recently asked Congress
to allow Coast Guard
ships to roam Costa
Rican waters with less
oversight in order to
assist Costa Rica's
mostly U.S.-donated
fleet of smaller
counter-drug boats and
planes.
''We've become the eyes
and ears of Costa
Rica,'' said Dwight
Mathers, executive
officer of the 378-foot
Cutter Rush that has
been patrolling Costa
Rica's waters.
Late last year, Costa
Rican and U.S.
authorities nabbed eight
tons of cocaine abroad a
Costa Rican fishing boat
-- the biggest seizure
in Central America until
authorities in March
stopped a ship in
Panamanian waters with
20 tons on board.
And earlier this month,
authorities arrested
five Colombians who had
allegedly come to San
José to assassinate
Berrocal and Minister of
the Presidency Rodrigo
Arias, who also is the
president's brother, in
retaliation for drug
seizures.
The Colombians were sent
home because the Costa
Rican criminal code
doesn't include the
crime of conspiracy,
officials said. Berrocal
said he also feared an
armed attack by other
Colombians to liberate
the suspects. In
Colombia, the five faced
no charges and were set
free.
Costa Rica's drug
traffic also is
attracting locals.
Authorities say they
have caught many Costa
Rican fishermen
puttering out into the
Pacific to sell gasoline
to northbound smuggling
boats. And drugs have
never been so readily
available here.
''We were once a bridge
for drugs. Now we're
not. A lot of it's
staying,'' said Dr. Vera
Barahona, technical
coordinator at the
government's Alcoholism
and Drug Addiction
Institute.
Drug consumption of all
types has multiplied in
the past decade,
according to the
institute. The
percentage of youths
who've used marijuana
has tripled to 7.4
percent and cocaine use
has quadrupled to 2
percent.
Among Costa Rican
youths, 16 percent have
consumed an illegal drug
-- the highest recorded
rate in Central America,
though still less than
half the U.S. rate.
On a recent morning,
taxi driver Jorge
Bonilla bumped along San
José's potholeridden
streets, lamenting that
his son had become a
crack addict.
''There's drugs
everywhere,'' Bonilla
said. ``It's impossible
to eliminate them.'' |
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