Costa Rica will get only $4.2 million of the $65 million appropriated by the U.S. Congress to fight drug trafficking in Central America.
That money is part of a larger Iraq War appropriations bill Congress passed in early July. Within that appropriations package is Plan Merida, which includes $400 million for the drug war in Mexico and $65 million to be shared among Central American countries, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Public Security Minister Janina del Vecchio called the amount “insufficient.” “It’s less than what a boat costs,” she said in a story published Wednesday by the daily La Nación.
The $4.2 million will roughly quadruple the drug interdiction aid Costa Rica currently receives annually from the United States.
