Lack of investment and development has triggered the establishment of criminal gangs in the border areas of Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
This was one of the findings of a study by the Institute of Strategic Studies and Public Policies (IEEPP). Javier Meléndez, advisor of the Institute, commented that “Organized crime has profited from these vulnerabilities, by providing ‘job’ opportunities for the local population, which ends up contributing to the logistics and operations of trafficking drug between Colombia and United States”.