Since the start of his four-year term in February 2006, Costa Rican President and Noble Peace Prize Laureate Oscar Arias has focused on education, trade and improving his country's infrastructure. He is known for his belief that Central America needs more books, not bullets.
Under Arias, Costa Rican authorities have worked closely with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the US Coast Guard and InterPol. They have also worked hand-in-hand with other countries in extradition cases.
Yet immigration issues and rising crime top the list of hurdles Arias faces as he works to strengthen security in his country. There are signs of improvement and increased government activity focused on security, but observers believe that Costa Rica must work harder to ensure the security necessary for domestic growth and tourists' peace of mind.
Immigration and crime
Of Costa Rica's 4.2 million inhabitants, over a million are immigrants. According to Costa Rican authorities most are these are Nicaraguan, which has led to the belief that the latter is exporting its poor. But Colombians, Panamanians, Americans and Italians also populate the list of immigrants. There is little evidence to suggest that most of Costa Rica's crime stems from this community, but the day-to-day relationship between Costa Ricans and foreigners can be tenuous.
Citing a case when Costa Rican authorities reportedly failed to stop a Costa Rican store owner from letting his dogs kill a Nicaraguan citizen, the Nicaraguan government asked in July 2006 for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to accept an international legal case against Costa Rica for "xenophobia and discrimination," according to an 18 July report from the Spanish news agency EFE.
Even though many Costa Ricans are quick to blame Nicaraguans for petty theft and other crimes, especially in the country's populated central valley, others believe that crime is crime and the Costa Rican government should focus more on stopping it and not on the origins of the criminal.
"It's true that crime perpetrated by immigrants happens and they are mostly on the news, but it's not accurate to say that they are the ones responsible for the increase or the cause of it all," Say Leon Gamboa, a Costa Rican business owner in San Pedro, told ISN Security Watch.
"The immigrants I know are not folks out to scam, kill, kidnap or sell drugs […] and yes a few idiots always muddy the pool for the rest," he added.
Tourism police and reform
Costa Rica attracts nearly two million tourists per year, bringing in some US$ 1.6 billion with them, according to Security Minister Fernando Berrocal, who on 20 December attended the graduation of Costa Rica's first class of tourism police.
According to a 21 December EFE news report, Arias spoke to the graduating cadets, telling them that "security to tourists is vital to generating confidence." The country's first graduating class studied criminal analysis, forgery detection, interpersonal communications and map reading among other skills. Each cadet also participated in a six-month intensive English-language program.
According to Berrocal, another 120 officers will graduate by the middle of 2007, bringing the total number to 242 tourism police. That is roughly one cop per 10,000 tourists.
Different from normal police, Costa Rica's tourism police focus on protecting and serving Costa Rica's tourists, assisting with directions, information, and most importantly, beefing up security in cities and towns where large numbers of tourists attract a concentration of would-be criminals.
Tourism police and immigration reform are two tools Arias has implemented to ensure a future of security in Costa Rica, but the specter of an insecure future is still there. Some fear that Costa Rica may be losing its edge. Internationally, Costa Rica has been labeled as the Switzerland of Centr
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