Pura Vida in Peril? Understanding Organized Crime and Violence in Costa Rica

Long viewed as exceptional among Central American countries for its peaceful history, democratic legacy, institutional stability, and high standards of living, Costa Rica has experienced surging violence in recent years as international and domestic drug trafficking dynamics have shifted. This report aimed to understand the factors driving this shift and contribute to the emerging literature on violence and trafficking in the country. It employed mixed-methods research grounded in pre-existing literature on violence in Costa Rica and Latin America, interviews with key interlocutors across government, media, and civil society, and data analysis of homicide rates and drug seizures.

The report found that violence is largely driven by competition between local criminal groups over an increasingly saturated local drug market and their nascent efforts to expand into international trafficking. The emergence of this local market has been enabled by a downturn in social investment in recent decades and a growing network of criminal groups paid in weapons and drugs for providing logistics to transnational trafficking operations. Moreover, the report demonstrated that while the Costa Rican government has increased efforts to combat trafficking and violence through new legislation and international partnerships, political polarization, corruption, and controversial policy decisions have stymied the emergence of a robust whole-of-government response to the crisis. Finally, the report provided a set of recommendations for the Costa Rican government and its international partners, which emphasized the importance of political rapprochement in service of a more unified state response to violence and re-investment in social programs and prevention initiatives.