Interview with Costa Rica's president Laura Chinchilla

• published: 28 Jul 2015
• views: 0

SHOTLIST 1. Establishing shot of Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla 2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rican President: "We also need that, as we share with them (the US) information about gangs that operate in their countries, we need them to trust to share information with us. We are going to demand to be treated as mature partners and we don't want them to keep treating us as appendixes of the plan Merida, we want a plan for Central America, a plan that is fit for the conditions of the problems with the organised crime in the region." 3. Chinchilla during interview 4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rican President: "As long as the instruments of justice are in the hands of civilian personnel and the rules of law are respected as they are in Costa Rica the fight against crime cannot be called a militarised fight. I will be among the first that is going to guarantee that the fight against drug crime will not be militarised." 5. Chinchilla after interview STORYLINE Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla has said she wants the United States to offer an anti-drug aid programme just for Central America. The region currently gets some aid to fight organised crime through the Merida Initiative, a 1.4 (b) billion US dollars aid program pledged by then US President George W. Bush in 2007, but the bulk of the help goes to Mexico. Chinchilla said in an interview with The Associated Press that she wanted Washington to review Costa Rica's cooperation in anti-drug efforts and heed its concerns. She said she had a proposal asking for more funds and for the US to view Costa Rica as a "more mature partner" in the fight against drugs. "We don't want them to keep treating us as appendixes of the plan Merida, we want a plan for Central America, a plan that is fit for the conditions of the problems with the organised crime in the region," she said. Last year, the U.S. Congress approved 300 (m) million US dollars for Mexico under the Merida program, and 110 (m) million US dollars for all of Central America as well as the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the Caribbean. Costa Rican officials say powerful Mexican drug cartels are increasingly using the Central American country as a trans-shipment point for cocaine heading north from Colombia. Last February, Costa Rican police seized more than a ton of cocaine at a house in a rural area outside the capital and detained two Mexican men allegedly working for the Juarez cartel. Chinchilla acknowledged Costa Rica doesn't have the capacity to patrol its waters. She said the country's only alternative is cooperation with friendly countries but he added that the United States should work in tandem with Costa Rica, not replace it. Costa Rica recently renewed a bilateral agreement with the US to jointly patrol the country's coastline for drug shipments. The accord, which has been in place for a decade, was sharply criticised this year by the opposition because for the first time it would allow US troops to enter Costa Rica, which doesn't have an army. Chinchilla said she will always insist the anti-drug cooperation be "civil but not military." "I'm the first one to guarantee that the fight against drug trafficking in Costa Rica will not be militarised," she said. She said she is pushing for Costa Rica's Congress to approve new taxes on businesses and casinos that would generate about 200 (m) million US dollars a year for anti-drug efforts. The money would be used to hire more police officers, build jails and upgrade police equipment, she said. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/c24486e6e0f7382a76f53dc915517586 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork