Graphic Truth: Costa Rica’s severe murder rate

Costa Rica was once known as one of the most tranquil and stable countries in Latin America. A dollarized, tourism-oriented democracy so peaceful and picturesque that it didn’t even have an army.

That idyll has been blown apart in recent years as murder rates – particularly among young men – have shot up to new highs. The culprit? Drug cartels. Control over Costa Rica’s ports is a lucrative prize for traffickers looking to ship South American cocaine, mainly from Colombia and Peru, to the rest of the world.

With the global production and consumption of cocaine both at record highs, tiny Costa Rica has been caught in the middle – a bloody new battleground in the transnational drug trade.