Caribbean & Central America - March 2015 (ISSN 1741-4458)
COSTA RICA-PANAMA: Security cooperation to be strengthened
Panamanian and Costa Rican officials met in the Panamanian city of Bocas del Toro in mid-February to discuss ways to strengthen security cooperation between the two countries, which share a 330km border. Neither has a standing army, relying instead on their police forces to counter threats to national security. Both are also vulnerable to the problems posed by the trafficking of drugs, weapons and people in the Central American isthmus.
Panama’s security minister, Rodolfo Aguilera, agreed with his Costa Rican counterpart, Gustavo Mata, to launch a joint training programme, border surveillance cooperation and an enhanced exchange of information and security technology. The two men also discussed setting up a joint task force of police officers from both countries. The Honduran security minister, Julián Pacheco, also attended the meeting. A meeting between all three men to discuss further related issues will take place later this year.
Gun-running raids
A few days prior to the meeting in Bocas del Toro, Costa Rica’s judicial investigations agency (Organismo de Investigación Judicial, OIJ) raided 12 locations, including some public security ministry offices, as part of an investigation into gun-running connected to the Colombia guerrilla group, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc). Panamanian officials had alerted OIJ agents that AR-15 assault rifles and other guns which appeared to have been imported into Costa Rica had turned up on the streets of Panama.
Five private security firms are now being investigated over the weapons. One of the businesses raided in February was Grupo Chiribogo, the same company targeted in a 2013 OIJ raid that resulted in the arrest of five Colombians and a Nicaraguan. At that time, it was the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that gave the Costa Ricans the information to act.
- Successful bond sale
Costa Rica managed to sell US$1bn worth of 30-year bonds on 5 March, according to the finance ministry. The bonds offered a yield of 7.158%, or 445 base points above US treasuries. It was Costa Rica’s first successful bond auction since it was stripped of its investment grade status last year. The Central American country has now reached its own legally-approved limit of debt issuance, which allows for a maximum of US$4bn over four years.