Climate of Insecurity: A Rise in Crime Threatens Costa Rican Stability
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Climate of Insecurity: A Rise in Crime Threatens Costa Rican Stability
COSTA RICA
In what many call a remarkable decision, Supreme Court justices in Costa Rica recently asked lawmakers to revoke legal immunity from President Rodrigo Chaves so he can face corruption charges in court.
Prosecutors allege that Chaves steered public contracts to his adviser. Since the opposition controls the legislature, there’s a good chance Chaves, who has denied wrongdoing, will be forced to stand trial, reported the Associated Press.
Lawmakers have already summoned former presidents Laura Chinchilla, who served from 2010 to 2014, and Luis Guillermo Solís, president from 2014 through 2018, to testify about their alleged connections to former Vice Minister of Security Celso Gamboa, who is now in jail due to suspected drug trafficking, the Tico Times noted. The US has asked Costa Rican officials to extradite Gamboa to face charges in the US.
These developments have added to the problems currently bedeviling Costa Rica, a beautiful, peaceful country that has long been an island of stability in Central America but now faces serious challenges, observers say.
Costa Rica, a democracy, prospered greatly for years as tourists flocked to its safe and clean beaches and tropical forests: In 2023, 2.5 million tourists visited the country of 5.1 million people. But, in recent years, drug cartels have expanded to cater to those tourists’ illicit demands, explained Cronkite News.
The homicide rate in the country rose from 11.56 in 2015 to 16.6 in 2024, for example, wrote Nearshore Americas, noting that the port city of Limón on the Caribbean Sea has become a major transfer point for cocaine headed north to the US and Europe. Today, a “climate of insecurity” decreased tourism by 3 percent in the first quarter of the year, added Q Costa Rica.
International affairs are further complicating the country’s situation. Recently, a disguised assassin shot and killed Robert Samcam, a prominent Nicaraguan dissident who was living in exile in Costa Rica, according to Al Jazeera. Samcam opposed the dictatorial rule of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, participating in anti-government demonstrations in 2018 that Ortega has portrayed as part of an attempted coup.
“The murder of Major Samcam adds to the completely out-of-control homicides Costa Rica has faced in recent years,” Francisco Dall’Anese, a Costa Rican lawyer who has served in numerous positions in the country’s judicial system, told Confidencial, a Nicaraguan-focused news outlet.
If Nicaragua’s government sent the assassin, then Costa Rica’s sovereignty would have been violated, creating a potential international crisis, added Dall’Anese.
Still, Costa Rica is making changes to grapple with spiking crime at all levels.
Last year, Costa Rica moved to amend its constitution to be able to extradite Costa Rican drug traffickers and terrorists wanted by foreign authorities, highlighting growing concerns that organized crime is corrupting the judiciary’s ability to confront it.
As organized crime groups become increasingly well-armed and well-funded, it is easier for them to corrupt officials using threats or bribery, InSight Crime wrote.
Security Minister Mario Zamora called the measure an “important step” in the fight against crime that should be extended to other crimes: “We must not stop here.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Ultra-Orthodox Party Quits Israeli Coalition, Threatening Government
ISRAEL
A key Israeli ultra-Orthodox party announced it would leave the governing coalition this week, dealing a major blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaving the government with a thin majority in parliament amid the ongoing conflicts in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere in the region, Bloomberg reported.
The United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party said late Monday it would exit the right-wing coalition in protest of a bill seeking to remove long-standing exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service on religious grounds.
Israel’s military draft requires all able-bodied members of the Jewish majority to serve in the army for at least two years after turning 18.
However, ultra-Orthodox Jewish men have historically avoided conscription by continuing to study at yeshivas, religious institutions focused on traditional Jewish texts, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The bill became a point of contention within Netanyahu’s cabinet and gained national attention, particularly after the conflict with Hamas began in October 2023.
The UTJ’s exit is set to take effect on Wednesday. If it goes forward, it would leave Netanyahu’s coalition with only 61 out of the 120 seats in parliament – making him vulnerable to potential no-confidence motions.
Analysts said the Israeli prime minister could still bring the party back into the government.
At the same time, the party’s departure could influence another ultra-Orthodox coalition partner, Shas, to quit and leave the government without a legislative majority, Reuters noted.
Such a scenario would likely lead to early elections, with some analysts suggesting that any new vote would take place early next year.
Israel has held five elections since 2019, the most recent in November 2022.
The exit could also complicate Netanyahu’s efforts to finalize a ceasefire agreement with Hamas that would pause hostilities in Gaza for two months. This would allow the release of roughly half of the remaining 50 hostages, and pave the way for end-of-war negotiations.
But far-right members of the coalition have signaled they would oppose any deal they view as too lenient.
Amid the political turmoil, Netanyahu this week dismissed accusations that he was responsible for Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel.
The attack saw the Iran-backed group and its allies kill around 1,200 people and take more than 250 hostages, the Times of Israel reported.
The conservative leader reiterated that the country’s security establishment – not political leaders – failed to prevent the attack, adding that defense officials misled him and downplayed the risk.
He also rejected accusations that he has prolonged the conflict for his political benefit, as he is often accused of doing.
However, official reports from Israeli security agencies have indicated that political leaders received warnings about a potential Hamas strike well ahead of the Oct. 7 attack.
Japan Unveils New Agency to Ease Concerns About Foreigners as Elections Approach
JAPAN
Japan established a new administrative body Tuesday in response to public concerns over the sharp increase in foreigners in the country in recent years, a move that comes less than a week before elections in which immigration features prominently, Reuters reported.
Government officials said the new organization will serve as a cross-agency “control tower” responsible for addressing issues linked to foreigners, such as crime and overtourism.
The body was formed last month after a group of lawmakers belonging to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) proposed initiatives for a “society of orderly and harmonious coexistence with foreign nationals.”
Some of those initiatives included stricter requirements for foreigners seeking to buy real estate or switch their license to a Japanese one.
Japan has generally tried to keep a homogeneous population through strict immigration laws. However, due to low birth rates and an ageing labor force, the country began easing migration policies.
While the number of foreign nationals in Japan reached about 3.8 million last year, they still accounted for only 3 percent of the total population.
Still, the Japanese have become increasingly worried over the influx of foreigners.
Opinion polls show increasing support for a currently tiny populist party, Sanseito, which wants a “Japanese First” agenda and migration halted.
Polls also indicate that the LDP and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, risk losing their majority in the upper house in the July 20 election, where half of the 248 upper house seats are up for grabs.
The LDP has governed Japan almost uninterrupted since 1955, and analysts say the opposition is too fractured to seriously challenge its power, according to Agence France-Presse.
However, Ishiba is already struggling with low approval ratings due to public frustration over inflation.
The LDP coalition currently holds 141 upper house seats and needs to win at least 50 to maintain a simple majority.
92-Year-Old Cameroonian President Will Run for Eighth Term
CAMEROON
Cameroon President Paul Biya, 92, who has held the position for more than 40 years, announced this week he would run for an eighth term in October’s election, ending uncertainty about his political future and that of the troubled country, Semafor Africa reported.
Biya became president in 1982 and scrapped term limits in 2008. He is now the second-longest-serving president in Africa, behind only Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
Biya cited “numerous and insistent” calls from across Cameroon as the reason behind his decision to run again.
Opposition figures and human rights advocates criticized Biya’s decision, saying the announcement underscored how the country is stuck politically and needed democratic change and accountable leadership, Africanews wrote.
Meanwhile, Biya’s age is often contrasted with the population of the country – the median age is 19.
Among the opposition leaders who plan to run in the election is Maurice Kamto, 71, who came in second in the last presidential election in 2018. Two former allies of Biya’s have also announced they will run, noted Reuters.
In the 2018 election, Biya obtained over 70 percent of the vote in a race marked by allegations of fraud and violence.
During his time in office, Biya has been accused of corruption and of failing to tackle public discontent. Moreover, he has often traveled outside the country for medical treatment, raising concerns about his health status and whether he can still govern effectively as the country grapples with a civil conflict and jihadist groups.
Cameroon, a major cocoa and oil producer, has been shaken by a separatist conflict, originating in the Anglophone regions – the majority of the country is Francophone – which has left thousands dead and thousands more displaced. Cameroon is also fighting the jihadist group Boko Haram in the north of the country.
DISCOVERIES
Sharing Is Caring
Orcas have been spotted sharing their prey with humans. While they haven’t exactly confirmed it, researchers believe that it is their way of building relationships with people.
“Orcas often share food with each other – it’s a prosocial activity and a way that they build relationships with each other,” said lead study author Jared Towers in a statement. “That they also share with humans may show their interest in relating to us as well.”
Moreover, orcas often hunt large prey that can result in leftovers to share.
This behavior has been observed in many oceans, ranging from California to New Zealand, Norway, and Patagonia.
In a new study, scientists from Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico considered 34 documented episodes spanning two decades where orcas, also known as killer whales, offered their food to humans.
To select what incidents to analyze in the study, the researchers established some criteria: The orcas needed to approach humans on their own, and not vice versa, and they needed to drop the hunted prey in front of the people they approached.
On 11 instances, orcas approached humans who were already in the water, while in 21 other cases, they neared people on boats. In the two other examples observed, killer whales brought food to people on the shore.
In every case but one, the whales waited to see the humans’ reaction after they offered their prey. In seven instances, they even tried to offer the food more than once after the people initially refused it.
One clip shows orcas offering an ancient murrelet bird that the researchers say they hunted and left floating in the water. People collected it but then put it back in the water, where a whale found it and brought it back to the humans.
Domesticated animals, like cats and dogs, have long been observed occasionally offering food to humans. The events analyzed in this study, however, represent the first evidence of a similar behavior being observed in wild creatures.
“Offering items to humans could simultaneously include opportunities for killer whales to practice learned cultural behavior, explore, or play and in so doing learn about, manipulate, or develop relationships with us,” the researchers wrote. “Given the advanced cognitive abilities and social, cooperative nature of this species, we assume that any or all of these explanations for, and outcomes of such behavior are possible.”