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Special Report - Drugs in Latin America: Part 2 (ISSN 17414474)
Costa Rica and Panama
The increasing use of the Central American transit corridor together
with spreading influence of Mexican cartels has been noted in particular in
Costa Rica, with drug seizures quadrupling during 2007, the second year of the
Oscar Arias administration. In 2007, authorities seized a record 27t of
cocaine; 119,687 doses of crack cocaine; 17.6 kg of heroin; eradicated
over 2.3 million marijuana plants; and seized 4.5t of processed marijuana. Over
US$7.7m in US and local currency (more than twice as much as 2006), as well as
â‚ ¬7.4m were confiscated by authorities while the 22,727 drug-related arrests made
in 2007 are more than four times the amount made two years ago under the
previous administration.
