Costa Rica will adopt part of Bukele’s model to combat organized crime

The new president of the country stated that her priority will be to prevent prisons from continuing to be centers of criminal operation

Costa Rica.- The president-elect of Costa Rica, Laura Fernández, announced that her government will partially adopt the security model implemented in El Salvador by President Nayib Bukele, with the aim of confronting the advance of organized crime.

During an interview with DW Noticias, the future head of state explained that “her administration will focus on replicating strategies related to prison control”, especially those that have allowed El Salvador to cut off communication between incarcerated criminal leaders and their structures abroad. Fernández pointed out that one of the main problems in Costa Rica is that inmates linked to drug trafficking and criminal organizations continue to operate from prison due to the lack of effective controls. In that sense, he expressed his interest in adapting mechanisms similar to those used in the Salvadoran mega-prison, known as CECOT.

“I want to copy that part of how they managed to cut the link of those criminals with the outside,” he stated, while highlighting the results obtained by El Salvador in the reduction of violence.

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However, the elected leader made it clear that her government will maintain respect for constitutional guarantees and ruled out measures such as detentions without judicial backing, one of the main criticisms that the Salvadoran model has received from international organizations. “In Costa Rica, the human rights of all people will continue to be respected,” Fernández assured, although he questioned what he considers an imbalance in the protection of rights between victims and the accused. According to his explanation, many families affected by violence must pay for their legal defense, while the accused receive state assistance. The president-elect, who will assume power on May 8th, insisted that her priority will be to prevent prisons from continuing to be centers of criminal operation, in a context in which Costa Rica faces an increase in security challenges. The debate over Nayib Bukele’s strategy has gained relevance in the region, due to the significant reduction in homicides in El Salvador under hard-line policies, widely supported by the population, but also questioned for their impact on human rights.