Tough-on-Crime Rhetoric: A Recurring Script for Geopolitical Influence
When Costa Rica elects Laura Fernández on a 'tough-on-crime' platform, pledging increased cooperation with the U.S. DEA, it is presented as a natural democratic evolution driven by local concerns. However, this framing overlooks the systemic external pressures that have historically conditioned such political shifts. CASE A: Costa Rica - A 'Swing Right' Amid 'Surging Violence' In 2024, Fox News
reports Costa Rica 'swings right' as voters embrace a leader promising a 'hard-line security strategy' against 'rising crime.' The narrative emphasizes an internal crisis justifying an external solution through increased cooperation with the U.S. DEA. The suggestion is that local populations are simply reacting to a problem that emerged organically. CASE B: Colombia - The 'War on Drugs' and
Paramilitary Linkages In the 1980s and 90s, Colombia was routinely described as a nation consumed by 'surging drug violence,' leading to massive U.S. military and economic aid under the guise of the 'War on Drugs.' This intervention, formalized in programs like Plan Colombia in 2000, was ostensibly about combating narco-trafficking. However, as documented by organizations like Human Rights Watch
(2001), significant portions of U.S. aid were funneled to military units implicated in human rights abuses and tacitly allied with right-wing paramilitaries who, far from curbing drug production, often controlled drug routes themselves. The 'tough-on-crime' rhetoric in Colombia directly facilitated the militarization of the state and the suppression of political dissent, under the banner of