The new president Juan Orlando Hernandez has ordered the full and immediate intervention of the customs system, by the National Anti-Evasion Force and Revenue Office.
The President of the country, with support from the Defense and Security Council, has ordered the intervention of 17 customs offices in the country in order to reduce smuggling and increase tax revenues. At three of them intervention is already underway.
Producers in the sector are warning about a growth in contraband of agricultural products encouraged by a price differential and lack of border controls.
The border between Costa Rica and Panama, according to producers in the area, has become a corridor for the smuggling of agricultural goods. The large number of border posts (about 80) and the considerable distances, make it very difficult to control the movement of goods.
Warnings have been issued that a projected health license suspension for transport in border areas could encourage smuggling of pigs from Nicaragua.
The Costa Rican Chamber of Pork Producers believes that the proposal to remove the sanitary license for the movement of pigs in the north will encourage smuggling from Nicaragua. This measure was included in the negotiations between producers, particularly of cattle, in the north and authorities from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG).
The government has extended for three months intervention activities in customs offices, measure that has increased the collection of customs duties by 30%.
The Guatemalan government extended until next March the operative intervention that has been carried out since October last year in some customs in the country in order to control illegal activities.
Entrepreneurs are warning that illegal payments are still being made for getting goods through because the intervention operation has not worked.
The business community believes that the operation for intervention in customs offices has not worked properly and users have to make illicit payments in order to get their goods through.
"... Because of the long lines caused by the slow procedures and inspection of goods, carriers must pay between $13 and $64 to avoid being punished," said Carolina Castellanos, executive director of the Guatemalan American Chamber of Commerce ( AmCham).
Businessmen are warning that this season illegal movements have increased by more than a million bags.
The manager of the Coffee Exporters Association of Honduras (Adecafeh), Miguel Pon, requested the intervention of the Border Police and the Executive Directorate of Revenue (DEI) to curb illicit exports. "It could represent an impact of $100 million in foreign exchange earnings from exports ...".
Costa Rica has the largest share of illegal liquor in the market of all the countries in Central America with 22%, while the average in other countries in the region is 8%.
Costa Rica also ranks among the top five countries in Latin America for having the most bootleg liquor in their markets, according to a study prepared by Euromonitor International for the Association of Producers and Importers of Alcoholic Beverages in Costa Rica (Apibaco).
During the first month of the intervention in customs offices improvements have been noted in customs revenue.
According to Claudia Méndez, Intendent of Customs, customs revenue rose from a daily average of $7.7 million to $8.5 million. He added that last November nearly 20,000 operational actions at the customs offices in Tecum Uman, port of Quetzal, Santo Tomas de Castilla Port and Pedro de Alvarado were carried out.
Employers indicate that smuggling is unfair competition for industry and commerce, and a source of funding for organized crime.
From an opinion piece by CACIF:
"Smuggling has become a national security problem, because it is a source of funding for organized crime, unfair competition for industry and commerce, threatens consumer health, affects tax revenues for the State and also reduces the opportunities for formal employment in our country.
Traders require the intervention of the governments of both countries to curb the smuggling of weapons, drugs, migrants and goods.
According to Juan Arnoldo Diaz, president of the Association of Mexican Organized Traders, monthly smuggling between the two countries is worth $800 million.
According to the business leader, on the border there are eight legal crossings but there are also another 53 crossings where illegal contraband circulates freely.
Products such as coffee, bananas, tomatoes and cucumbers are illegally entering Panama with authorities being unable to stop them.
It is farmers of these products who are complaining about the situation, claiming that there is unfair competition because the merchandise is being sold on the market at much lower prices than the local products.
Coming from Costa Rica is "everything we sow and cultivate both in Baru as well as Renacimiento, and it is sold without any controls on the Panamanian side," said producer Pedro Rodríguez.
In order to curb smuggling and corruption President Perez Molina has announced that there will be interventions in five of the twelve customs offices in the country .
The customs offices will be taken over by the Executive through the Superintendency of Tax Administration (SAT), a task which will be undertaken by the Guatemalan military. The intervention will focus on Puerto Quetzal , Santo Tomas de Castilla, Aduana Central, San Marcos, and Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado.
Of this total some 200 patrol cars will go to Peten, a region which is heavily afflicted by smuggling.
This was announced by the chief of the Interior, Mauricio Lopez during a security cabinet held in the Guatemalan department.
During the activity actions that have been carried out in the area were reviewed, such as the eradication of smuggling. According to the authorities seizures were made of 2.6 million packs of cigarettes, 550 pounds of sugar, and 15,000 pieces of clothing, among other things.
Guatemala's Conacon estimates that the state loses no less than $1.6 billion a year in unpaid taxes due to contraband.
The information was released by Manuel Chocano, Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the Prevention and Combating of Customs Fraud and Smuggling (Conacon).
The official said that the problem is getting worse as in previous years the illegal trade amounted to about $1.25 billion.
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