Costa Rica Hopes to Combat Increasing Crime with a Larger Police Force.

Even in sunny Costa Rica, the evening news always seems to be laden with bad news, death, and stories of corruption. Yes, despite Costa Rica’s international reputation for monkeys thats swing through the trees and the obvious absence of an army, the country is facing an increase in violent crime.

Early Sunday morning, May 18, two people in Limón were murdered. The suspect, who was later caught, had shot them from a very short distance and escaped in a red pickup truck. Two others, who had been walking with the deceased, only escaped death because they fled when they heard the first shots from the deadly 12-caliber gun. Jeffry Arnold Lawrence Dunkley, 28 years, and Jeudi Asbel Mata Sarmiento, 21 years, did not have the same luck.

On Saturday night, a man by the name of Camacho had lost his cell phone at a local bar in Matama, Limón. After accusing several people around him of stealing it — each denying the accusation — Camacho left the bar, visibly angry. According to the Judicial Investigative Authority (OIJ), Camacho left the bar to go get a gun, with the intention of returning and forcing those he suspected to be thieves to return his phone to him.

Just 600 meters from the bar, Camacho came face-to-face with Mata and Lawrence, with whom he had fought earlier at the bar. Without a word, Camacho allegedly got out of his pickup and fired off some shots. Mata died on site from a wound to his chest, and Lawrence died in a Limón emergency room, unable to recover from his fatal wounds.

This news is sadly unsurprising, says Guillermo Benavides, chief of OIJ, who says that problems too often are resolved like this in Limón. Indeed, though, Limón is not the only region in Costa Rica to suffer from high crime and fear thereof - in much of the country, people are very wary of walking alone at night, careful to carry only what’s needed and draw little attention to themselves.

Certain areas of the country’s capital have become home to deadly conflicts between rival gangs while regular citizens are arming themselves at an alarming rate in a last chance approach to self defense against muggings and assaults.

In fact, according to recent OIJ statistics, there have been 117 violent deaths between January 2008 and the end of April 2008. In 2007, the same number of people were killed in eight months, not four. Approximately 37 murders were to “settle a score,” 24 resulted from domestic violence, 12 people were murdered during assault/robbery, at least 8 murders were hired assassinations, and a reported 7 were committed in self defense. Despite the statistics, the government says that people should feel safer. There are more police officers on the streets, and an increased number of judicial investigators. Still, numbers rarely lie, and people are worried.

In order to combat violence, the country is working on several programs and striving to increase security. In recent news, in the same area of Limón, children were encouraged to trade toy guns for school supplies, and were taught the damage that guns can do.

Sadly, student comments echoed the reality of Limón’s streets, and while many pledged to never play with guns again, others simply stated that guns are a way of life where they live. Hopefully, comments like those and events like this past weekend’s will slowly fade into a safer future, as government programs kick in and Costa Rica improves its gun and non-violence education.

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Filed under: Costa Rica News on May 20th, 2008