By Amanda Roberson, Tico Times Staff

Thanks to donations from the Taiwanese Embassy and the Costa Rican Anti-Drug Institute (ICD), the country’s Coast Guard Saturday acquired six new motors for high-speed boats, doubling its capacity to patrol the Pacific coast, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry. During a ceremony in the Pacific port town of Puntarenas attended by Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal, Taiwanese Ambassador Teu-Dan Wu and Coast Guard Director Carlos Alvarado, the Taiwanese embassy donated the six motors, which will replace broken motors in six previously unusable Coast Guard patrol boats. Additionally, ICD donated a boat and motor seized from drug traffickers that the Coast Guard will use to fight drug trafficking. Combating illegal fishing and rescuing swimmers in danger of drowning are other tasks the boats will be used for, said Public Security Ministry spokesman Guillermo Solano. At the Central Pacific beach of Manuel Antonio alone, 20 swimmers, all of whom were foreign tourists, have been rescued by the Coast Guard so far this year, Solano said. “From Golfito (southern Pacific port city) up to Guanacaste (northwestern Pacific province), these boats will help the Coast Guard tremendously,” Solano said. During the ceremony, Berrocal also announced a $ 2 million donation from Taiwan to the Public Security Ministry in the works, the statement said. The Taiwanese government is likely to approve the donation this week, and it would be used to buy patrol cars and motorcycles, among other “urgently needed” equipment, he said.