Q COSTARICA — Aware that insecurity is the primary concern of Costa Ricans, President Laura Fernández announced that she will personally oversee weekly monitoring of actions against crime and homicides throughout her four-year term.
Fernández ambitiously stated that she will meet every Monday for the next four years with the country’s top security and justice officials, through the creation of a permanent working group, which she named the “Task Force”.
The objective is to evaluate results, define strategies, and monitor operational actions.
“I will meet once a week to ask: What have you done? What are you going to do? How are things progressing? What’s still needed? I will maintain this practice for the full four years to personally oversee and monitor progress in national security,” the president stated.
Fernández explained that the meetings will be held every Monday and will include the participation of the Minister of Security, the Minister of Justice (who oversees the prison system), as well as directors of police forces and specialized units such as the Drug Control Police (PCD), the Intelligence Unit, and the Border Police.
“I also invited Mr. Orlando Aguirre, President of the Supreme Court, and other officials of the Judiciary to join what I have named the Task Force. What is the Task Force? Every Monday during my term as President, I will personally meet with the Minister of Security, the Minister of Justice, and the directors of the PCD, the Intelligence Unit, the Border Police, and all the directors of the Fuerza Publica (national police),” she stated.
The announcement comes amid growing concern about violence and its impact on people uninvolved in criminal disputes. Of the 873 homicides recorded last year, at least 85 were collateral victims, according to data from the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), lower than the 93 in 2024 and up from 52 collateral victims recorded in 2023.
These victims died in the crossfire of shootouts or other violent incidents, despite having no connection whatsoever to the criminal activities that triggered the attacks.
This number is the second-highest since 2023—the year after Rodrigo Chaves was elected and when the country started hitting record highs in homicides.
The homicide rate in 2026 could push the year’s total to over 730, more than any year before Rodrigo Chaves’s administration, though it will certainly be the lowest figure since 2023, when a record 906 murders were recorded.
One of the last homicides recorded during Chaves’s administration occurred on May 7 at 2 p.m. on Paseo Colón, when an alleged sicario (hired killer) gunned down a young man and wounded two women, including one who was a passenger on a bus at the time.
The number of homicides recorded up to May 7 (137 days), on the eve of Fernández’s presidential inauguration, was 268, 14% less than the number recorded for the same date in 2025.
If the current pace of two murders a day average keeps up, 2026 could end up with yet another record high in homicides — and, sadly, more innocent victims caught in the crossfire.