While Mexico’s bloody war against the drug cartels is making headlines worldwide, there is a little-known fact that is sounding alarm bells among U.S. and Latin American officials: Central America’s drug-related violence is far worse than Mexico’s.
Even Costa Rica, a country known as “the Switzerland of Latin America” for being an island of peace and prosperity in its region, is feeling anxious about the rising tide of drug-related murders.
I was surprised to learn during my visit here that crime has suddenly become the No. 1 concern among Costa Ricans. Despite the fact that Costa Rica was proclaimed by a recent global poll as the country with the happiest people on earth —something that almost everyone here reminds visitors with a mixture of pride and self-depreciating humor — there is nervousness in paradise.
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