Following is a cut and past of a letter to the editor of AM Costa Rica. I wrote it over a year ago.
Since then, the house I lived in was broken into by armed bandits, my neighbor was shot at in a Mas o Menos while waiting to pay his cable bill and a couple of friends report getting mugged. No arrests!
FWIW
Quote:
It's too late to fix country,
so he moved to Colombia
Dear A.M. Costa Rica:
Regarding crime in Costa Rica:
It's too late. The horse is out of the barn. The sucking sound you hear is the black hole of crime and danger that is rapidly consuming the individual's right to live in peace and safety.
The "teeter totter" has tipped and no one is on the high side to restore balance to the society. It's supposed to be about human rights, not criminal's rights!
Any middle school civics student knows what happens when the government fails to act responsibly and in it's citizens best and basic interest:
Impunity prevails in Costa Rica:
Impunity means "exemption from punishment or loss". It refers to the failure to bring perpetrators to justice. It constitutes a denial of the victims' right to justice and redress. Impunity is especially common in countries that lack a tradition of the rule of law, suffer from corruption or that have entrenched systems of patronage, or where the judiciary is weak or members of the security forces are protected by special jurisdictions or immunities.
"Impunity arises from a failure by states to meet their obligations to investigate violations; to take appropriate measures in respect of the perpetrators, particularly in the area of justice, by ensuring that those suspected of criminal responsibility are prosecuted, tried and duly punished; to provide victims with effective remedies and to ensure that they receive reparation for the injuries suffered; to ensure the inalienable right to know the truth about violations; and to take other necessary steps to prevent a recurrence of violations."
When Don Oscar and his fellow peaceniks finish studying Civics 101 they should stay after school and google "Anarchy," because that's the next social disorder in store for Costa Rica.
A ninth grade history course might be of value too. Nero fiddled while Rome burned. The Costa Rican government passed new and "not worth the paper they are written on" laws.
The Nobel Prize people should add an asterisk next to Senor Arias' prize with a footnote,"he later went on to sit on his hands while his country destroyed itself from within." Don't bother closing the barn door. It's too late! Anyone with any sense is already gone or making plans to flee.
The vigilantes have already entered the void created by government failure. San José now has handicap access to it's pensiones, everyone has nice clean T shirts and the marching bands have new found purpose. Good work, Señor Presidente.
Robert Rutgers Venhuizen
Former resident of Lourdes, Montes de Oca, where everyone lived in fear.
Currently residing in Medellin, Colombia, where the words "law and order" mean something!