In order to prevent drug trafficking, as of February 8, Costa Rica's General Directorate of Customs defined that all containers carrying fresh, organic pineapple and by-products of this fruit will be scanned by the Port Operator APM Terminals Moín.
Dried and frozen pineapple, canned preserves, compotes, jellies, jams, pineapple puree or paste, juices, concentrates and pasteurized products are the sub products that will also be subject to these revisions.
The Ministry of Communications of Guatemala tenders the supply of drug detectors and explosives for La Aurora International Airport.
Guatemala Government Purchase 9710760:
"Some specifications of the equipment required:
Types of Narcotics: Amphetamines, Buprenorphine, Carfentanil, Cocaine, Fentanyl, Methamphetamines, Morphine, THC (also known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), among others, in case a new explosive or narcotic arises that can be incorporated into the memory of the equipment through the conduit and at no additional cost.
An activity that generates nearly $1 billion a year in Costa Rica in exports is being seriously threatened by the infiltration of drug traffickers, who are taking advantage of loopholes left open by the government because it does not have an adequate system for checking containers and registering exporters.
The most recent seizure of 45 kilos of drugs that arrived in the United States in the corrugated bottom of 20 cardboard boxes of pineapples from San Carlos has once again set alarm bells ringing in the export sector, which has ceaselessly demanded that authorities to go back to the "in situ" review system of cargo, which used to be carried out before and stopped during the Solís administration.
The government of Spain may have included Costa Rica in the list of countries from which the greatest quantity of drugs enters the European continent via Spanish ports.
Brazil, Chile, Panama, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador were also included in the list prepared by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, according to Crhoy.com.
The latest discovery of drugs in a container of Costa Rican heart of palms which was destined for Europe, brings back to the table the problem of the lack of controls in customs offices.
The problem also centers around the fact that the different authorities contradict each other when it comes to explaining who carries out the processes for the inspecting containers entering and leaving the country and how.
The housing market, casinos, concert halls, and the livestock sector are all used to launder money in Central American countries.
Excerpted from the report "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, Volume II, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes" by the US State Department:
Costa Rica Transnational criminal organizations continue to favor Costa Rica as a base to commit financial crimes due to its location and limited enforcement capability. Costa Rica’s government has attempted to strengthen the legal framework for supervision and enforcement; however, challenges remain in mitigating money laundering risks. Costa Rica is a transit point that is also increasingly used as an operations base for narcotics trafficking; and significant laundering of proceeds from illicit activities continues. Costa Rica should continue to close financial crimes legislative gaps and allocate resources for investigation and prosecution.
Another case of drugs found in cargo which came from Costa Rica highlights the imperative need to improve controls and implement the use of scanners at export ports.
EDITORIAL
How many more drugs have to be found in commercial export cargo before the authorities in Costa Rica put into operation the scanners which were donated by the Chinese government eight years ago?
In a Coca Cola factory in France 370 kilos of cocaine were discovered hidden in a shipment of orange juice from Costa Rica.
The event has brought back to the table discussion in Costa Rica on the issue of implementation of controls to prevent export cargos from being used for drug smuggling to Europe and the United States, the main destinations of Costa Rica's foreign trade.
The figure is an estimate made by the Intelligence Directorate in Costa Rica released by the US State Department, along with information that indicates a rise in criminal organizations based in the country, and little capacity to combat them.
Money laundering is a criminal activity that handles amounts that are difficult to measure. For example, the report "Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2004-2013" by Global Financial Integrity says that during the aforementioned 10 year period, the flow of illicit money from Costa Rica exceeded $11 billion, that is about $1.1 billion a year.
The complexity of drug cartels' internal structures, their strategies of "marketing and customer service" and the way they operate increasingly resemble those of large global corporations.
How are the Coca-Cola and McDonald's corporations similar to drugs cartels? Of course the products they sell are completely different, but the way the three try to position their products and brands, increase their market share and increase profits to generate more dividends to their shareholders, is almost the same.
If emergency measures are not taken, Central America will soon collapse into failed states dominated by criminal organizations who are able to buy political power.
This is the dramatic but realistic conclusion reached by a study on the subject carried out by a coalition of Guatemalan institutions composed of the Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations (CACIF), the National Economic Research Center (CIEN) the Foundation for the Development of Guatemala (FUNDESA) and Fundación G.
Central America's fall into the hands of drug traffickers makes the following quote seem true: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
EDITORIAL
Although their rulers deny it, Central American countries are losing the war against drug traffickers. In some it is happening faster than in others, and in all of the nations on the isthmus violence associated with drug trafficking is growing, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that mafia power has infiltrated public institutions and private organizations, through bribery, and also through terror.
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.
We are all responsible for fighting against the culture of easy money through laundering which attracts investments of dubious legality and generates situations of corruption, insecurity, threats and extortion.
The main business association in Panama has joined various international and national organizations, noting the need for "... the private sector and citizens to adhere to the efforts of the public sector, since the responsibility for preventing and combating laundering, is a joint project. "
In Costa Rica scanners donated by China in 2008 remain unused, while exporting businesses are warning of the growing infiltration of drug trafficking in the sector.
Using scanners at the ports of Limon and reactivating inspection mechanisms that were used before to control cargo in containers, are part of the measures the agro-export sector is asking of the government in order to identify potential drugs hidden in shipments of merchandise.
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