In a message to the population on the subject, the President of Costa Rica revealed this Monday that last Friday he asked Arias and Aguirre to “have a working coffee next Thursday to mark the path necessary to help you.” to return the security that is demanded and deserved.
He also invited both of them “to join him in mid-April to present urgent legislative reforms together and that we present them as a team without anyone taking ownership of the pressing issues: gun carrying, extradition, safeguards, pre-trial detention and prison benefits.”
He also spoke about wiretapping measures, juvenile criminal law and the minimum sentences for certain crimes. The President took the opportunity to tell MPs that “at the end of the day it will be their decision, in accordance with the political constitution and the rule of law that we all love, whether or not they will pass these laws and with which ones speed they will do it”.
In the first 73 days of this year, 164 homicides were recorded in Costa Rica, a 20 percent increase from the previous year, according to data from the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ).
That figure represents one violent death every 12 hours, while the 164 crimes are 27 more than the same period in 2022, when they totaled 654, at a rate of 12.6 per 100,000 people, both historic highs.
The predictions are that there will be more than 900 such incidents in the country by the end of December, most of them related to drug trafficking.
Due to the uncertainty and citizens’ demand for this situation, the President of the Legislative Assembly announced this Monday that he will have a meeting with senior officials from various state powers next week and hopes to expedite at least five bills to try to pass the wave control of crime.
“Among all of us we will seek consensus on these five priorities, once that is settled I commit to taking it to Group HQ so we can hopefully approve these projects within a timeframe of no more than a month,” Arias said .
In a bid to stem the crime tide, a presidential decree signed this Wednesday stipulates that those convicted of organized crime, crimes against life and sex crimes can go to an escrow system only if they serve half their sentences have served.
Chaves said the government respects the human rights of those deprived of their liberty and believes in proper social integration, but clarified that there is an awareness that the current situation warrants taking much tougher decisions on the matter .
jf/ale