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.
The bill being discussed in Costa Rica basically seeks to extinguish the assets of organized crime, but there are those who claim that as proposed, it puts at risk the presumption of innocence of individuals.
The extinction of domain is a concept that in practice refers to seizing or confiscating assets linked to criminal activities, and then transferring them in favor of the State.
A report by InSight Crime highlights the homicide rate registered in Costa Rica in 2017, which was 12.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest number in its history.
The report indicates that Costa Rica is a country that has traditionally been considered "peaceful," and in respect to the escalation of the homicide rate, an increase that local authorities attribute to organized crime, the report indicates that "... lack of retrospective and a vague methodology is weakening the authorities' attempts to attribute blame to organized crime."
The Canadian government is warning tourists that levels of violence and crime in the country are growing and has recommended exercising a high degree of caution when travelling there.
Unfortunately Costa Rica is no longer the exception in the region in terms of violence and insecurity, which is already directly affecting tourism, one of the most important productive sectors in the economy.
Diagram showing the people and companies identified by actions related to money laundering, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury´s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
It has been announced that deposits up to $9,200 (L200,000) per person will be returned, and then payments to employees, depositors and others, noting that "... there are sufficient resources to address them all."
The cause is the inclusion of the institution in the list of the U.S Office of Foreign Assets Control, and the freezing of its assets abroad.
Drug trafficking and gangs are the main factors responsible for intentional murders in the most violent countries in the world: Honduras, Belize, El Salvador and Guatemala.
According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime at the United Nations (UNODC), in 2012 Honduras recorded 90.4 killings per 100,000 inhabitants.
World Bank statistics show that every day, about $1.3 billion are paid in bribes related to state contracts.
The figures were mentioned by Michael Kramer, a consultant at the entity, who is taking part in the forum "Preventing and combating corruption and collusion in public procurements", taking place in Panama.
The phenomenon affects much of Latin America, whose countries spend on average 8% of their GDP on security costs.
That was the conclusion reached during the forum "Connecting businesses as partners for prosperity with security in the Americas", organized by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the private sector, under the framework of the Guatemala Investment Summit.
In only one year, seizures of cocaine have doubled, totaling over 15 tons with a U.S. market value of $2 billion.
Costa Rica, the Central American country noted for its economic development, its institutions, and social peace, is part of the land corridor where there is an increase in the operations of Mexican and Colombian cartels to transport drugs to the United States, the largest consumer of drugs in the world.
Criminal activities in Central America cause a loss of $900 million for regional trade, said the Federation of the Chambers of Commerce of Central America.
In El Salvador, $600 million was lost due to armed robberies, and in Honduras, the figure is $150 million a year, reported merchants from the isthmus .
While other Central American countries are preparing taxes to combat insecurity, Nicaragua declares that it is not an appropriate option.
The president of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom, proposed to his peers in the isthmus region the creation of specific tax to combat organized crime and the violence it generates.
The lack of government capacity and economic power disadvantage compared to the drug industry, has lead to an increase in violence and corruption.
"Using systematic violence and corruption, intimidation and extortion of public officials, the wealthy and powerful criminal groups have been able to weaken police and judicial systems. They often use violence to threaten or punish anonymous complainants. Witnesses in drug-related cases often risk their life and those of their family members. Unless we break the vicious circle of smuggling and corruption, international drug control will never fully succeed."
The tourism sector is one of the most sensitive regarding security, so taking care of it is a priority.
The crime and violence problem in Central America permeates Central American Travel Market 2010, encouraging initiatives such as regional approval of specialized police forces dedicated to the protection of tourism.
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