QCOSTARICA — During his visit to the La Reforma Penitentiary Center, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele warned that Costa Rica is showing the same signs of violence that El Salvador had 40 years ago.
After touring different modules, such as closed median and maximum security, he indicated that the State must apply all its efforts to reduce crime in order to preserve the rights of Costa Ricans.
A measure that, in his opinion, should be fulfilled by changing certain judicial and public security policies.
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“They must take action in accordance with that reality. I told them yesterday that Costa Rica is a jewel, you have a jewel in Latin America in every sense and you have to take care of it. You are having the symptoms that El Salvador had in the 1990s.
“You have time to have done what we could have done at that time, which was not as hard as what we had to do in 2022, but it must be done,” said Bukele.
According to statistics, although homicide rates are different, if we compare Costa Rica with El Salvador at the time, it was in the 1990s that Salvadorans experienced a sharp increase in violence.
In 2023, the homicide rate in Costa Rica was 17.38 per 100,000 inhabitants, that is, 906 homicides. These numbers have been increasing since 2019, when the rate was just 11.07 (563 homicides).
Now, if we compare it with El Salvador, the murder rate in 1990 was 38 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, however, this figure doubled in the following five years. With a homicide rate of 141.72 per 100,000 inhabitants, 1995 became the most violent year in El Salvador.
El Salvador’s homicide rate currently stands at 7.83.
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During his speech, Bukele pointed out that in Costa Rica, people deprived of liberty have more benefits than in his country, reiterating his message that the human rights of victims must be placed above those of criminals.
“It confuses me, perhaps there are very good people who care about the food of prisoners. It is good that someone has that heart with someone who is a criminal, who has murdered, raped, robbed, assaulted and been violent.
“We should ask ourselves how many times those people have worried about the food of Costa Ricans or how many of those people who criticize us have worried about good Salvadorans, control of prisons is vital,” he alleged.
According to Bukele, the strict measures that must be applied in prisons have to be developed in such a way that it prevents penitentiary centers from becoming a control point for crime.
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From conjugal visits to restricting communication with people outside, these are part of the measures that Bukele considers necessary to reduce violence.
This thesis was supported by Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves, who criticized that prisoners can have intimate visits with anyone without it being their partner or wife.
Chaves alluded to the fact that some people in prison with financial means could be paying for sexual services and “they don’t even have to pay for a room.”
Another criticism that the Salvadoran leader made about prison policies in Costa Rica was the cost that each inmate represents for the State.
He questioned that the expense of maintaining prisoners is greater than what on average, according to him, is the cost of living for each Costa Rican, added to the payment of taxes.
Soon, Bukele said that he will deliver a formal document as a diagnosis, which would include suggestions on how Costa Rica could improve penitentiary centers.
“We are going to continue with this diagnosis of the penal system, we are going to do something formal to deliver it to the Government of Costa Rica, on behalf of us, your friends or younger brothers, as you want to see us.
“We hope that you take the measures and listen to people who have already suffered not what you are suffering, but what you are not suffering yet, but we saw how this disease grew until it became uncontrollable, believe me, you do not want to get to that point,” he concluded.
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