Q COSTARICA — In the first months of the year, homicides have decreased by over 20%, according to figures from the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ).
The work of the police at all levels and joint operations with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are yielding results, according to security chief Mario Zamora.
As of Wednesday, April 1, the country reported 177 murders, while 233 were recorded during the same period last year.
The minister attributed this decrease to a strengthened police presence and intensified coordinated actions against organized crime, especially drug trafficking.
“The security forces are working at the maximum of their operational capacity. We have tripled police patrols by air, sea, and land. This year, we broke the record for arrests with almost 215,000 arrests made by the security forces,” the minister stated.
Zamora emphasized that international cooperation has been key to the results achieved.
“All this great work by the police and the Policía de Control de Droga (PCD)—Drug Control Police, which has also seen a 300% increase in joint operations with the DEA and the FBI, has resulted in a significant reduction in homicides in our country,” he stated.
The ultimate goal
Despite the progress, Zamora acknowledged that the indicators are still far from ideal.
“We have achieved very significant numbers, but they are not yet satisfactory. We still have a lot to do to pull Costa Rica out of the homicide pandemic and achieve fewer than 10 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants,” he warned.
Currently, the country has a rate of 16 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, a figure that, although high, shows signs of improvement.
“The reduction of more than 50 homicides in these first months of the year indicates that we are on the right track,” Zamora concluded.