World News: Once tranquil Costa Rica eyes Salvadoran-inspired response to crime surge gdnonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gdnonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Long a byword for laidback environmental tourism, Costa Rica is now wrestling with a surge in violence so striking that its government is borrowing a page from nearby El Salvador, which took draconian steps to tackle its own crime problems. In an effort to cut a homicide rate that has soared 40% in the last year alone, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves has introduced tough new legislation to combat crime, dubbing El Salvador a "reference" point. "Chaves is planning a crackdown. He's a security hardliner pushing for a course correction," said Chris Dalby, director of the World of Crime think tank.
QCOSTARICA The wave of unparalleled violence in Costa Rica, with the majority murders being for hire or 'Sicariato' in Spanish, has prompted lawmakers to take action. One legislator, David Segura, of the Nueva Republica, presented a bill to harden prison sentences against the Sicariato. Specifically, Segura proposes to create the figure of 'Sicariato' in…