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."
In 2014 the economic cost of violence in El Salvador exceeded $4 billion, while the opportunity cost of production and unmade investment was 4.8% of GDP.
From a press release issued by the Research Network at the Central Bank (REDIBACEN):
Today the Research Network at the Central Bank (REDIBACEN) presented the results of the research report entitled "Estimating the Economic Cost of Violence in El Salvador", carried out by the researcher economists Margarita Penate, Kenny de Escobar, Arnulfo Quintanilla and Cesar Alvarado.
Businessmen have stated their categorical opposition to statements made by a government official that confuse extortion with the funding of organized crime.
The statements by the Technical Secretary of the Presidency of El Salvador, Roberto Lorenzana, against companies in the country that suffer from extortion caused a strong reaction from the private sector, four days after Industrias La Constancia publicly announced that it was suspending operation of its plants because of increasing insecurity and violence.
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.
President Sanchez Ceren has passed a Special Law Against Crime Extortion, which aims to improve the fight against the unfortunate practice which primarily affects the business sector.
From a statement issued by the presidency of El Salvador:
The president, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, has sanctioned Legislative Decree No. 953 containing the Special Law Against Crime Extortion, proposed by the government to streamline the prosecution of this crime.
The Legislature has passed a law authorizing the Attorney General to carry out investigations on its own initiative, without the need for a formal complaint.
From a statement issued by the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador:
The National Assembly unanimously passed the Special Law Against Crime Extortion, which will toughen criminal and procedural sanctions, as well as administrative measures for the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of the crime of extortion.
The State Department of the United States has renewed its travel alert warning that the levels of violence and crime are critically high.
From a statement issued by the State Department of the United States:
The Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens that crime and violence levels in El Salvador remain critically high. This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning dated April 25, 2014, and includes updated information on crime and security in El Salvador.
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.
In Belize, the homicide rate is 44.7 per 100 thousand inhabitants, in El Salvador it is 41.2, and in Guatemala is 39.9.
President Funes signed the Law Against Money and Asset Laundering without noticing the lack of special controls for Politically Exposed Persons.
The special controls for Politically Exposed Persons (PEP), was one of the reforms that was left out because the deputies did not approve it and the President, Mauricio Funes did not suggest it despite this being a recommendation by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force Group (CFATF by its initials in Spanish).
Amendments to the recently approved law are still deficient because they do not include regulations such as special controls for Politically Exposed Persons.
From a press release issued by the Salvadoran Social Economic Development Foundation (Fusades):
Background
Money laundering consists of making it seem that wealth acquired through illegal activities, such as political corruption and drug trafficking, comes from legal activities.
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 El Salvador, the state budget allocated to security is $500 million a year, while the total amount invested by private enterprises for self-protection is $600 million.
"The combined budgets (National Civil Police, the Attorney General's Office and the Armed Forces of El Salvador) total about $500 million and the private sector invests over $600 million annually on security issues," said Jorge Daboub, president of the National Association of Private Enterprise (ANEP).