Friday 02
March
2012
|
Costa
Rica News. News on
Costa Rica continually updated.
Presidenta
Chinchilla
Wants
Drug
Legalization
Debate
Drug
legalization
in
Central
America
merits
a
“serious”
debate
as a
solution
to
the
crime
and
violence
coursing
through
the
region
even
if
it
runs
up
against
U.S.
opposition,
said
Costa
Rican
President
Laura
Chinchilla.
“If
we
keep
doing
what
we
have
been
when
the
results
today
are
worse
than
10
years
ago,
we’ll
never
get
anywhere
and
could
wind
up
like
Mexico
or
Colombia,”
Chinchilla
said
yesterday
in
an
interview
in
San
Jose.
While
U.S.
opposition
to
legalization
is
well-known,
Central
Americans
“have
the
right
to
discuss
it”
because
“we
are
paying
a
very
high
price,”
said
Chinchilla,
52.
She
isn’t
the
only
leader
to
part
company
with
the
U.S.
by
calling
for
consideration
of
alternatives
to
military
action
to
counter
Mexican
drug
cartels.
These
traffickers
have
unleashed
a
fresh
bout
of
violence
in
the
region
as
they
establish
new
routes
to
smuggle
cocaine
to
the
U.S.,
the
world’s
largest
consumer
of
narcotics,
according
to a
United
Nations
report.
Guatemala’s
President
Otto
Perez,
a
former
army
general,
said
Feb.
13
that
“if
drug
consumption
isn’t
reduced,
the
problem
will
continue,”
and
suggested
legalizing
the
use
and
transport
of
drugs
even
while
proposing
a
military
crackdown.
Seeking
to
win
over
other
nations
to
give
the
legalization
proposal
more
heft,
he
was
turned
down
by
Panama
and
El
Salvador.
Blaming
the
U.S.
In
his
Jan.
10
inauguration
speech,
Nicaraguan
President
Daniel
Ortega
said
that
while
the
U.S.
“continues
to
fail
to
control
the
consumption
of
drugs,
it
continues
to
contaminate
and
poison
this
region.”
Ortega
has
not
taken
a
public
position
on
legalization.
Trafficking
in
Central
America
has
reached
“alarming
and
unprecedented”
levels
as
cocaine
passing
through
the
region
may
equal
about
5
percent
of
the
countries’
gross
domestic
product,
the
UN
International
Narcotics
Control
Board
said
in a
Feb.
27
report.
“Despite
efforts
to
counter
drug
trafficking
in
Costa
Rica,
Honduras
and
Nicaragua,
in
2010,
those
countries
were,
for
the
first
time,
identified
as
major
transit
countries,”
according
to
the
UN
board.
In
Costa
Rica,
murders
jumped
to
11
per
100,000
inhabitants
in
2010
from
7 in
2006,
according
to
the
UN
Office
on
Drugs
and
Crime.
That
rate
compares
with
13
per
100,000
in
Nicaragua,
41
in
Guatemala
and
82
in
Honduras.
Having
dismantled
its
army
in
1948,
Costa
Rica
has
had
to
tackle
drug-related
violence
differently
from
its
neighbors,
Chinchilla
said.
For
example,
last
year
the
country
ratified
a
law
to
decriminalize
drug
possession
in
recreational
quantities.
More
Police
In
response
a
surge
in
crime,
Chinchilla
has
added
1,500
police
officers
since
taking
office
in
May
2010.
This
year
her
government
plans
to
add
at
least
400
more
patrol
cars
to
reduce
response
time
for
reported
crimes,
Security
Minister
Mario
Zamora
said
in
December.
When
she
won
the
2010
elections,
Costa
Rica’s
first
female
president
became
leader
of a
country
with
Central
America’s
lowest
murder
rate
and
whose
4.3
million
citizens
are
on
average
the
region’s
wealthiest.
Still,
crime
was
on
the
rise
and
the
previous
administration’s
spending
saddled
her
with
a
2010
budget
deficit
of
5.2
percent,
highest
in
the
region.
With
two
years
remaining
in
power,
the
former
security
minister
is
struggling
to
preserve
Costa
Rica’s
self-image,
enshrined
in a
popular
song
entitled
“The
Switzerland
of
Central
America.”
Her
approval
rating
slumped
to a
record
low
of
23
percent
in
January,
according
to a
quarterly
poll
published
by
San
Jose-based
research
firm
Unimer,
which
had
a
margin
of
error
of
2.8
percent.
Chinchilla
is
barred
by
the
constitution
from
seeking
a
second,
successive
term.
No
Oasis
“Costa
Rica
is
far
from
the
Central
American
oasis
that
it
used
to
be,”
said
Michael
Shifter,
president
of
Washington-
based
research
group
Inter-American
Dialogue,
in
an
e-mailed
message.
“Its
vulnerability
is
real
and
it
has
little
experience
in
dealing
with
the
drug
problem.”
The
U.S.
would
be
“smart”
to
engage
with
Costa
Rica
“right
now
before
more
violence
and
intense
drug
trafficking
gets
there,”
said
Vanda
Felbab-Brown,
a
fellow
at
the
Brookings
Institution
in
Washington
and
author
of
“Shooting
Up:
Counterinsurgency
and
the
War
on
Drugs.”
For
its
part,
Costa
Rica
needs
“to
try
to
make
law
enforcement
more
efficient.”
Chinchilla
met
with
U.S.
Homeland
Security
Secretary
Janet
Napolitano
two
days
ago
and
Guatemala’s
deputy
president,
Roxanna
Baldetti
de
Paz,
yesterday.
Napolitano,
who
this
week
has
been
meeting
with
the
region’s
leaders,
reiterated
on
Feb.
28
the
U.S.
position
that
legalization
“is
not
the
way”
to
stop
drug
traffic.
In
Washington,
the
spokesman
for
White
House
Drug
Policy
Director
Gil
Kerlikowske,
Rafael
Lemaitre,
said
President
Barack
Obama’s
goal
is
to
reduce
the
demand
for
drugs
in
the
U.S.
Even
so,
Lemaitre
said,
“Neither
a
law-enforcement
only
‘war
on
drugs’
approach
or
outright
drug
legalization
are
policies
that
are
realistic,
humane,
or
grounded
in
research.”
Rising
Violence
Despite
the
rising
drug
violence,
Costa
Rica’s
economy
is
proving
resilient.
Foreign
direct
investment
rose
52
percent
to a
record
$1.56
billion
in
the
first
nine
months
of
2011.
Gross
domestic
product
expanded
4.2
percent
last
year,
compared
with
4.7
percent
in
2010,
reaching
$7,691,
the
highest
in
Central
America.
Still,
fiscal
woes
have
cast
a
shadow
on
the
country’s
growth
outlook.
With
the
economy
weighed
down
by a
deficit
of
more
than
$2
billion,
central
bank
President
Rodrigo
Bolanos
predicted
in
January
that
growth
will
slow
to
3.8
percent
this
year.
Increased
government
spending
and
stalled
tax
legislation
prompted
Standard
&
Poor
to
cut
Costa
Rica’s
local-currency
credit
rating
on
Feb.
13
by
one
notch
to
BB,
two
levels
below
investment
grade
and
on
par
with
Guatemala.
Bond
Yields
The
yield
on
Costa
Rica
6.548
percent
bonds
due
in
2014
fell
25
basis
points,
or
0.25
percentage
point,
to
2.908
percent
this
year,
according
to
data
compiled
by
Bloomberg.
The
yield
on
Guatemala
2013
bonds
dropped
38
basis
points
to
3.117
percent
in
the
same
period.
The
colon
weakened
0.3
percent
to
513
per
U.S.
dollar
today
and
has
depreciated
0.2
percent
this
year
as
of
11:25
a.m.
New
York
time.
That
compares
with
a
9.2
percent
appreciation
of
Mexico’s
peso
in
the
same
period.
In
Panama,
the
balboa
is
pegged
to
the
dollar.
Married
and
mother
of a
15-year-old
son,
Chinchilla
studied
public
policy
at
Georgetown
University
in
Washington
and
is
among
a
recent
crop
of
first-time
Latin
American
female
leaders.
Dilma
Rousseff
became
president
of
Brazil
in
2010,
Cristina
Fernandez
de
Kirchner
was
re-elected
president
of
Argentina
last
year
and
Michelle
Bachelet
governed
Chile
for
four
years
between
2006
and
2010.
Nobel
Prize
Winner
Chinchilla
is a
member
of
the
National
Liberation
Party,
which
demilitarized
the
country
and
has
produced
some
of
the
nation’s
most
influential
politicians,
including
her
predecessor
and
mentor,
Nobel
Peace
Prize
winner
Oscar
Arias.
Costa
Rica
and
its
northern
neighbor,
Nicaragua,
have
engaged
in
frequent
border
disputes.
Chinchilla
said
that
even
though
her
country
has
“suffered
many
aggressive
incursions”
from
Nicaragua,
she
is
willing
to
overlook
those
hostilities
and
has
the
“utmost
confidence”
both
countries
can
work
together
on
the
drug
problem.
“No
Central
American
leader
is
more
knowledgeable
about
the
security
issue
than
President
Chinchilla:
her
expertise
in
this
area
is
unquestioned,”
said
Shifter.
Still,
“her
country’s
politics
are
complicated
and
have
put
her
leadership
skills
to a
severe
test.”
