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Security & Strategic Review - April 2016 (ISSN 1741-4202)
COSTA RICA: Costa Rica hosts security summit as homicides reach record high
This month the Costa Rican government led by President Luis Guillermo Solís together with the US Southern Command (Southcom) co-hosted the Central American Security Conference (Centsec) in San José. Held to discuss cooperation targeting threats to the sub-region (see sidebar), the 6-8 April event was attended by more than 140 participants representing 13 nations, from Central America, North America, South America, and the Caribbean. It comes as Costa Rica’s own security efforts are under particular scrutiny as homicides reached a record high of 558 in 2015 – up 17% on 2014. Costa Rica has a relatively low homicide rate compared with its Northern Triangle neighbours (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras). However the increase has been attributed in part to organised crime stemming from the country’s strategic location, porous borders, limited security forces, and thinly-patrolled waters, making it a major transit and temporary storage country for illicit drugs.
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