Costa Rica Has Seized 74 Tons of Drugs This Year, a Total the US Calls Historic

Costa Rican police have seized more than 74 metric tons of drugs so far in 2026, according to the government, a total the United States Embassy described as historic and higher than in previous years. The figure was released Monday after President Laura Fernández held a security meeting at the US Embassy in Pavas, in western San José, with Ambassador Melinda Hildebrand, embassy political and counternarcotics officials, and representatives of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The session resumed the meetings of what the Presidency calls its “Fuerza Élite,” a group of senior security officials that the president convenes weekly to review the country’s security situation. According to the Presidency, the discussion covered drug seizures, coordinated operations against drug trafficking and strategies to dismantle transnational criminal groups. Photos released by the Presidency showed Foreign Minister Ana Elena Pinto, Public Security Minister Gerald Campos, Justice and Peace Minister Gabriel Aguilar and Communication Minister Arnold Zamora at the meeting. The government did not announce any new operations, agreements or funding. The US Embassy credited Costa Rican police and security forces for the seizures and said Washington would keep supporting the country, adding that neither side could afford to let its guard down. The government linked the results to Costa Rica’s participation in the Coalition Against Cartels of the Americas and the Shield of the Americas, two regional security frameworks it joined this year. Costa Rica backed a regional security declaration in March and a multilateral declaration in September that included migration restrictions and mechanisms to freeze criminal assets, according to the government. The meeting followed the interception of a fast boat in the South Pacific on Sunday night. The Ministry of Public Security said officers from its Special Operations Group and the Coast Guard, supported by a US aircraft, stopped the vessel about 41 nautical miles (76 kilometers or 47 miles) southwest of Sierpe de Osa. Two Colombian men, aged 55 and 52, and a 38-year-old Ecuadorian man were detained, according to the ministry. The unflagged boat, about 9.75 meters (32 feet) long with two outboard motors and satellite communications equipment, was taken to Golfito. The Drug Control Police will determine the type and quantity of the suspected cargo, and the ministry has not said what legal measures it will seek against the suspects. Days earlier, authorities seized marijuana off Punta Burica, near the Panama border, and detained two Ecuadorian nationals. The growing volume has also strained the country’s ability to dispose of what it seizes. In late September, the two governments announced that a US military plane would carry 45 tons of seized drugs to the United States for destruction because the country lacked the capacity to incinerate them. Security cooperation with Washington has deepened under the Fernández administration. The president has said that US ground operations would benefit national security. Hildebrand, who arrived in Costa Rica as ambassador in January, hosted Monday’s session. Officials have presented the record seizures as evidence that joint operations are working. The larger figure also reflects how much cocaine continues to move along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast toward North American and European markets, a flow authorities have tied to much of the country’s violence in recent years.