Because of factors such as business closures and lack of opportunities, it is estimated that criminal activity costs Honduras and El Salvador 16% of GDP, and in the case of Guatemala, its losses could amount to 7% of its production.
In Central America, the human costs of crime remain one of the highest in the world. El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—referred to as the Northern Triangle— account for about four-and-a-half percent of homicides worldwide despite only having about one-half-percent of the world's population.
A raíz del robo de un contenedor que transportaba productos lácteos, la cámara del sector hizo un llamado a todos los gremios vinculados al comercio internacional y local, para que refuercen sus medidas de precaución.
In a statement, the Nicaraguan Chamber of the Dairy Sector (CANISLAC) reported that on Friday, December 13, 2019, the first container of Quesillo was stolen in the history of Nicaragua.
The unprecedented increase in violence in Costa Rica, once an oasis of peace in the region, is another sign of the failure of the traditional methods of fighting drugs.
EDITORIAL
More powerful than the Central American states, drug trafficking is on the rise not only in terms of an increased supply of drugs in the countries in the region, but through its permeation of institutions using the power of money and generating a growing culture of violence that is making Central America´s lack of a death penalty seem risible. Yes it does exist, but the worst part about it is that it is not institutionalized justice systems that implement it, but the mob bosses, pointing out -to ever younger executioners- the people who should be executed.
Product distribution companies in the North of Central America are paying monthly installments of $100 per truck to organized criminal groups.
Far from declining, the cost and problems caused by extortion for companies in Central America, continue to rise and is harming regional trade. In Honduras alone, Eleconomista.net reported, "... between 2012 and 2013 some 18,000 businesses closed because of pressures from gang members and consequently some 72,000 direct jobs were lost."
In the view of entrepreneurs, insecurity is still the main factor preventing the arrival of larger flows of foreign direct investment to the region.
Despite the benefits and incentives of all kinds offered by governments to encourage the establishment of foreign companies in Central America, as long as violence and insecurity is not tackled in a more effective manner, investment flows will continue to dwindle.
Role model: In the Brazilian state of Pernambuco the "Pact for Life" has, in five years, lowered the homicide rate by 42%.
In 2007 Pernambuco had the tragic privilege of being at the top of the list for crime among the Brazil’s states. Due to the ‘Pact for Life’, a safety plan established by Governor Eduardo Henrique Campos at the beginning of his term in that year, the murder rate (59 violent deaths per 100,000 people) fell by 42%.
At a meeting in Honduras, the region's heads of state agreed to discuss the decriminalization of drugs.
The initiative was proposed by Otto Perez Molina, president of Guatemala, who emphasized the need to seek "alternative mechanisms" to combat drug trafficking.
The leaders of Panama, El Salvador and Honduras said they were against decriminalization, but were open to discussing the issue.
On average, in Latin America every private security agent has 10 times more weapons than those in Europe.
According to The Small Arms Survey 2011: States of Security, created by The Graduate Institute of Genoa, the private security industry recorded a significant development, with about 20 million employees reported worldwide, a figure doubling that of the police.
Paying for armed custody, satellite tracking and “tolls” to armed gangs are some of the additional costs that must be paid when transporting goods in Central America.
Some transportation companies state that $14.000 must be paid each year in security related costs for a single truck carrying goods within the Central American region.
An executive from a Costa Rican company with regional operations confirmed that they pay an $80 toll to Guatemalan gangs to ensure safe circulation within that country’s capital city.
The need to protect assets and operations from the growing wave of violence and crime is pushing up the costs of security companies.
Costa Rica suffered losses of more than 13 million in the commercial sector due to criminal acts, and it spent $110 million during the same year on private security.
Among the options that companies are considering to diminish or improve the efficiency of expenditures on security, the implementation of technology through surveillance cameras and electronic detection is highlighted.
Upon growing insecurity and violent crime in the region, the protection offered by bullet-proof cars is sought more and more.
According to the report by Fernando Quiñónez in Siglo XXI, "The insecurity that Guatemalans perceive and that of some foreigners in their countries of origin has caused an increase in the demand for cars with the bullet-proof option."