Rica

President Laura Fernandez says mega-prison is part of ‘tough-on-crime model’ embraced by her government.

Costa Rica has announced the opening of a new mega-prison amid near-record homicide levels and growing organised crime, as countries across the region embrace police crackdowns that have proven popular but often weaken key civil liberties.

President Laura Fernandez opened the High-Containment Centre Against Organised Crime, or CACCO, on Wednesday. The prison will have capacity for 5,100 people, equivalent to about 20 percent of the country’s current prison population.

“The CACCO will force criminals to face a new model – a tough-on-crime model. Costa Rica will become a global benchmark for prison security,” Fernandez said during an inauguration ceremony.

Candidates across Latin America have embraced mega-prisons, seeking to replicate the policies of Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, who has won widespread popularity through a campaign of mass arrests and the suspension of basic rights in the name of combating crime.

Costa Rica, long spared from high levels of violent crime compared with its neighbours, saw a record-setting 905 homicides in 2023, followed by 876 in 2024 and 873 in 2025.

Analysts say that is partly due to increased fighting between criminal groups over lucrative drug routes.

The first transfers to Costa Rica’s new mega-prison will take place at the end of October, with Justice Minister Gabriel Aguilar saying the facility will help the government reassert control over the prison system and diminish infiltration by organised crime.

Right-wing leaders in other Latin American countries have also sought to replicate the mega-prison model.

Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori, inaugurated in July, has announced plans to tour El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT), in anticipation of creating a similar facility in her country. CECOT can hold about 40,000 people.

In Colombia, meanwhile, newly elected leader Abelardo de la Espriella campaigned for the presidency, in part, on a pledge to build 10 mega-prisons. He took office in August.

Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, is currently in the midst of its own presidential election, and right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has advanced to the final round of the vote. His platform also includes building five mega-prisons, citing the Salvadoran model.

El Salvador first imposed a “state of exception” under Bukele in 2022, expanding police and military powers.

That emergency declaration has been credited with a sharp drop in that country’s homicides, but rights groups say it has led to severe rights abuses and has been weaponised against critics of the government.

The “state of exception” has also resulted in mass arrests and mass trials, with rulings delivered against hundreds of defendants at a time. Some defendants have been detained without charge.

While the Bukele administration frequently touts its success in dismantling the gangs, the government has continuously extended the state of exception since it was first imposed.

Critics have warned that conditions inside mega-prisons are often poor, with imprisoned people facing overcrowding, due process violations and alleged torture in facilities like CECOT.

Laura Fernandez dismissed the foreign minister over his attendance at “Shield of the Americas” meeting in New York.

Costa Rican President Laura Fernandez has fired Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar after he attended a US-led regional security summit with United States President Donald Trump without notifying her, an omission the government has said blocked her own participation and caused major strategic harm to the country’s interests.

Fernandez said that she should have been the one to attend the meeting of Trump’s anti-cartel “Shield of the Americas” alliance in New York. The coalition says its mission is to combat drug trafficking and organised crime across the region.

Tovar attended “without giving prior notice or informing” the president, a conservative Trump ally, of his participation, Costa Rica’s government said.

Several right-wing Latin American presidents also participated in the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Fifteen coalition members issued a joint statement declaring their intent to impose asset freezes and visa restrictions and seek criminal liability for members and supporters of 24 criminal organisations.

The gathering was the administration’s latest effort to rally the region behind a more aggressive approach to drug trafficking. Since returning to office last year, Trump has designated cartels as foreign “terrorist” organisations and ordered dozens of strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that US officials say were carrying narcotics bound for the US.

Costa Rica, a tourist haven that has long been seen as a beacon of stability in Latin America, is grappling with a surge in drug-related violence.

Tovar avoided commenting on his dismissal and simply thanked Fernandez, in power since last May, for including him in her cabinet.

Indiana Trejos, Costa Rica’s current Minister of Foreign Trade, has been named acting foreign minister and will assume the role upon returning from her mission at the UNGA.