Larger U.S. Role Sought in Drug War
By Rod Hughes, from a report in The Tico Times
Costa Rican Security Minister Fernando Berrocal is seeking a larger U.S. role in the War against drugs. Since May of last year when the current administration took office, a record 27 metric tons of cocaine have been captured in Costa Rican territorial waters, six times the total from the year before.
Many of those interceptions were made with the aid of U.S. patrols. But Costa Rica, strategically astride some of the busiest drug trafficking routes in the world, has 11 times the area in its territorial waters than it has in its land mass. Moreover, the country must reconnoiter two coastlines (Caribbean and Pacific) with relatively few modern Coast Guard patrol vessels. Costa Rica unilaterally disbanded its military in 1949, so it has no navy.
Among the measures Berrocal would like to see are longer-term permits for the docking of U.S. patrol vessels and the training of Costa Rican law enforcement by members of the New Mexico National Guard in drug detection methods. But some some Costa Rican legislators object that basing foreign military units in their country may conflict with laws that ensure the non-military nature of their nation.