Crime Wave in Costa Rica: A Convenient Narrative
📰 THE STORY: Bloomberg Politics reports that Costa Rica, once a tourist haven, is now plagued by drug trafficking due to a new port, making it a central issue in upcoming elections. The piece implies the issue is largely internal, a 'dilemma' for the nation to solve. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The narrative completely omits the US's decades-long 'War on Drugs' which,
since the 1980s, has consistently destabilized Latin American nations, pushed drug routes further south, and militarized local police forces without addressing the root causes of demand in major consumption markets like the US. The CIA's involvement in drug trafficking during the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s, for example, directly fueled narcotrafficking networks and weapons flows throughout
Central America, including Costa Rica. The US's own Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been repeatedly implicated in questionable operations that have, at times, exacerbated corruption rather than curtailed it. Double Standard: The media frames the rise in drug trafficking in Costa Rica as a unique 'dilemma' for a 'paradise.' Yet, when the US military, or its proxies in countries like
Colombia (which receives billions in aid and military equipment from the US annually for anti-drug efforts) engage in actions that fail to stop the flow of drugs - or, as in the case of Afghanistan, lead to record opium production under occupation - the blame is never placed squarely on the foreign policy architects or the complicity of Western financial institutions that launder drug money. The