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Costa Rica Open to US Ground Role Against Cartels, President Says
(MENAFN) Costa Rican President Laura Fernandez said Friday that potential US ground operations on Costa Rican soil could bolster national security — provided they target transnational crime, drug trafficking and terrorism.
"It would obviously be very good for national security if it were about pursuing a common objective against transnational crime, transnational drug trafficking, transnational terrorism," Fernandez said, while emphasizing no concrete plan for such operations currently exists.
Fernandez took office in May after running on a tough anti-crime platform as Costa Rica confronts a surge in trafficking-fueled violence. The country has become a growing transit hub for cocaine bound for the US and Europe from South America.
Costa Rica logged a record homicide rate of 17.2 per 100,000 residents in 2023, according to Reuters — roughly double the figure from a decade prior. Combating organized crime has become a defining priority of Fernandez's administration as trafficking groups apply mounting pressure.
Despite the violence, Fernandez said she is not weighing a request to Congress for a state of emergency or suspension of constitutional protections. Costa Rica abolished its military in 1948 and maintains no standing army, relying on civilian security forces instead — while still cooperating with Washington on anti-trafficking efforts.
The Trump administration has been expanding security cooperation across the region as part of a broader push to dismantle drug-trafficking networks. Fernandez's comments signal her government's openness to a larger US security footprint, though she gave no indication that Washington has formally proposed deploying ground forces.
"It would obviously be very good for national security if it were about pursuing a common objective against transnational crime, transnational drug trafficking, transnational terrorism," Fernandez said, while emphasizing no concrete plan for such operations currently exists.
Fernandez took office in May after running on a tough anti-crime platform as Costa Rica confronts a surge in trafficking-fueled violence. The country has become a growing transit hub for cocaine bound for the US and Europe from South America.
Costa Rica logged a record homicide rate of 17.2 per 100,000 residents in 2023, according to Reuters — roughly double the figure from a decade prior. Combating organized crime has become a defining priority of Fernandez's administration as trafficking groups apply mounting pressure.
Despite the violence, Fernandez said she is not weighing a request to Congress for a state of emergency or suspension of constitutional protections. Costa Rica abolished its military in 1948 and maintains no standing army, relying on civilian security forces instead — while still cooperating with Washington on anti-trafficking efforts.
The Trump administration has been expanding security cooperation across the region as part of a broader push to dismantle drug-trafficking networks. Fernandez's comments signal her government's openness to a larger US security footprint, though she gave no indication that Washington has formally proposed deploying ground forces.
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