The Central American country is on alert after the death of two tourists and the increase in crime

If someone calmly reviews the map of Central America, you will see a narrow strip of land that houses seven countries. All of them have spectacular landscapes to show, without forgetting their historical heritage. Among these countries is Costa Rica, a nation that is appreciated for its tranquility and security. However, in recent months various cases of violence have alarmed this country that is not used to crime and yes to pure life. In 2017, this small country broke its record of murders and does not seem to be on its way in 2018, according to information from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses of Costa Rica (INEC, by its acronym in Spanish).

Leer en español: ¿Costa Rica dejó de ser el paraíso de Centroamérica?

On August 5, Maria Trinidad Mathus Tenorio, a 25-year-old Mexican tourist, was murdered in what appears to be a robbery with sexual assault included. Just a few hours later, Arantxa Gutiérrez López, a Spanish tourist, was killed by suffocation on a beach in the Tortuguero National Park. Even though these days there have been more murders, the murder of these two tourists have questioned the security of the Central American country. According to the INEC and InSight Crime, Costa Rica has a rate of 12 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, approximately half that of Brazil, but double that of Argentina. Since 2004, the number of murders has doubled.

According to El País, even though Mathus and Gutiérrez are the only tourists that have been murdered this year, the international image of Costa Rica is in question. The same means explains that this is because this endangers the goal of three million visitors that this country of approximately five million inhabitants has been marked for 2018. The tourism sector accounts for 5% of the GDP of this state and is estimates that one in four Costa Ricans live directly or indirectly from tourism, according to the INEC.

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In both murders the hypothesis that there were sexual intentions takes force. In a press conference, the Minister of the Condición de la Mujer of Costa Rica, Patricia Mora Castellanos, did not hesitate to describe these cases of "feminicide". For its part, the Minister of Tourism, Maria Amalia Revelo, admitted the "sadness and concern" that these two events have generated in the country "at all levels" and assured that they are doing everything possible to clarify these crimes as soon as possible. In fact, the case of the Spanish tourist already seems resolved. An illegal immigrant from Nicaragua was arrested after finding his DNA when performing the body autopsy. This person was under suspicion from the beginning.

The Government also announced at a press conference that it will send many more policemen to the tourist areas. This is a reinforcement that adds to the strategy that has been carried out since the beginning of the year to reduce insecurity.

LatinAmerican Post | José María González Alonso

Translated from "¿Costa Rica dejó de ser el paraíso de Centroamérica?"