QCOSTARICA — The Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) – Judicial Police, reported that on Wednesday, June 11, Costa Rica matched the same number of homicides recorded during the same period in 2024.
Thus, between January 1 and June 11, both last year and this year, there have been 394 murders.
As such, Costa Rica is on the verge of reaching 400 homicides, the number recorded on average in an entire year more than a decade ago. For example, in 2012 and 2013, both periods closed with 407 homicides.
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Almost 10 years later, in 2024, Costa Rica closed with 880 homicides, and now for the current year, projections estimate the number to be even higher, close to 1,000 homicides.
The most violent year so far was 2023, with 905 homicides.
The Estado de la Justicia (State of Justice) Report published on Wednesday highlights that homicides are the crime that has grown the most in the wave of violence in the country, reaching a rate of 17 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024.
“The incidence of crime has a direct impact on the judicial institution, as it would increase workload due to the increase and complexity of cases,” the document states.
Costa Rica managed, to at least, contain the curve in 2024. At one point, projections estimated surpassing the 1,000-crime barrier in a year, which did not happen.
Why not decreasing?
There are conflicting positions among authorities and experts on the causes and how to address this wave of homicides.
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For Mario Zamora, ministro de Seguridad Pública (Minister of Public Security), the homicide figures are not decreasing “because the sicarios (hitmen) are still on the streets and not in jail.”
According to Zamora, whose ministry is in charge of the Fuerza Publica (national police) the task of apprehending hitmen is the responsibility of the OIJ and the Ministerio Publico (Public Prosecutor’s Office).
“Because in addition to the number of homicides, the number of unpunished homicides has increased when the perpetrator is not identified; that didn’t happen before,” Zamora indicated.
Zamora added that, given the difficulty in determining who committed the crime, the possibility of bringing a specific murder case to trial, a process that can take more than three years due to judicial delays, decreases.
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“… In the meantime, the hitman remains a hitman,” Zamora asserted.
For other security experts, the immediate measures should include providing more equipment, personnel, and resources to the various police forces, including the OIJ, the Fuerza Publica, and the Prosecutor’s Office.
Criminologist and former OIJ agent, Gerardo Castaing, has emphasized in various conversations with the media the need for more police control on the streets. He believes that changes in legislation would have long-term, but not immediate, results.
The most recent
Among the most recent cases is a triple homicide that occurred in Guararí de Heredia on Tuesday night. The alert was raised before 10 pm by neighbors who heard gunfire.
When Fuerza Publica officers arrived at the scene, they located three men with gunshot wounds. However, Costa Rican Red Cross personnel declared two of them dead, a 38-year-old man with the last name Dávila and a 17-year-old minor. The third, an 18-year-old man, was taken to San Vicente de Paúl Hospital, where he died later.
According to the OIJ’s preliminary report.
It is presumed that the victims were in public when they were approached by several individuals who shot them, and then fled the scene in a vehicle.
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