Costa Rica With Lowest
Spending For The Price
of Crime and Violence in
Central America
The Salvadoran Public
Security Council (CNSP)
recently released a
report that quantified
violence, drug
trafficking, and
organized crime by
placing a number on the
amount Central American
countries spend on
security.
In an effort to curb
violence, Central
American governments
spent some US$6.5
billion in 2006,
according to the CNSP
study, or nearly 7.7% of
the sub-region’s GDP.
The highest spending
rates are for Guatemala,
with a bill of US$2.29
billion, followed by El
Salvador with US$2.10
billion. Costa Rica and
Nicaragua registered
significantly less with
US$ 791 million and
US$529 million
respectively.
When compared to the GDP
of each country, these
numbers represent a
surprisingly high
portion of GDP, with
some 11% for El
Salvador, with 10% in
Nicaragua, and 3.6% for
Costa Rica.
Measured against this
backdrop, international
aid focused on
increasing security
seems woefully lacking.
As part of Plan Merida,
the United States’ most
recent anti-drug
trafficking legislation,
Central America may
receive up to US$150
million in the next two
years.
Yet compared to US$2.29
billion spent in
Guatemala on security in
2006 alone, the money
slotted for Central
America in the Merida
Plan, if allowed to
pass, will likely fall
far short of making any
real impact in the
region.
El Salvador had one of
the world's highest
death rates at 150 per
100,000 in 1991 at the
end of that country's
civil war. Some 15 years
later, in 2006,
Salvador's CNSP
registered a death rate
of 67.8 per 100,000,
still one of the
region's highest death
rates, measured at three
times Mexico's death
rate, where the drug
trade ensures the death
of over 2,500 annually.
According to the CNSP
study El Salvador spends
some 11% of its GDP on
security, yet spends
only 2.7% on education. |
