Climate of Insecurity: A Rise in Crime Threatens Costa Rican Stability

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.”