Garabito Mayor Francisco González has opened a heated debate over the future of Jacó’s nightlife, proposing that the canton use its regulatory plan to move bars, 24-hour businesses and adult-oriented activity away from the center of town and into a designated zone.
The proposal, discussed during a Garabito Municipal Council session, comes after renewed scrutiny of Jacó’s reputation as one of Costa Rica’s most visible beach destinations for nightlife, sex tourism and drug activity. González said the issue is not unique to Jacó, but argued that the town needs a clearer land-use strategy to separate late-night activity from family-oriented businesses and public spaces.
The mayor said the future plan regulador would include a 24/7 “permissive area” of roughly 70 hectares. The idea, he said, is to concentrate certain nightlife and commercial activity in one part of the canton rather than keeping bars, prostitution, suspected drug distribution, restaurants, cafés and ice cream shops mixed together in Jacó’s downtown core.
Diario Extra reported that the proposed zone would be located in the northern part of Garabito, between El Lagar and the F y M residential area, in the sector known as Hacienda Jacó. The mayor described the area as a place where hotels, restaurants, cafés, bookstores and other businesses could operate in a more organized setting, while leaving the center of Jacó cleaner and more family-friendly.
The proposal immediately triggered criticism inside the Municipal Council. Some council members warned that the mayor’s comments could be interpreted as support for legalizing prostitution or drug sales. One councilor argued that the priority should be more police presence and stronger security, not creating a special zone for activities already associated with crime and public disorder.
González later insisted that his proposal had been misunderstood. He said the municipality cannot legalize drugs or prostitution and that any national discussion on those issues would have to involve the central government, prosecutors and lawmakers. His municipal proposal, he argued, is about zoning, licensing and urban order, not changing criminal law.
The legal context is complicated. Costa Rica’s Criminal Code punishes proxenetismo, including promoting, inducing, maintaining or recruiting people for prostitution, with prison terms of two to five years, and imposes higher penalties in aggravated cases. Human trafficking and sexual exploitation are also criminal offenses.
Drug policy is also not something a municipality can rewrite. Costa Rican legal analysis distinguishes between conduct that is not penalized for personal possession in certain contexts and full legalization of recreational use or commercial sale. The Procuraduría General de la República has noted that decriminalization should not be confused with legalization.
For Jacó, the debate touches a larger question: what kind of beach town does it want to be? The Pacific coast destination remains one of Costa Rica’s best-known tourism hubs, popular with surfers, weekend visitors, foreign residents and North American tourists. But its nightlife economy has long existed alongside concerns about organized crime, sex tourism, public safety and the town’s image abroad.
The discussion also has real implications for investors and business owners. A zoning shift could affect where bars, hotels and late-night venues are allowed to operate, how licenses are granted, and whether downtown Jacó is pushed toward a more family-oriented tourism model. Garabito’s current municipal rules already set different alcohol-service hours depending on business category, with bars and cantinas generally limited to midnight, dance clubs and restaurants to 2:30 a.m., and tourism-declared establishments not subject to the same time limit.
The proposal would not immediately change the experience for visitors or foreign residents. No new zoning rule has been approved, and the idea remains part of a broader public debate over Garabito’s future regulatory plan. Still, the mayor’s comments have pushed Jacó’s nightlife economy into the national spotlight, raising questions about public safety, tourism branding and how Costa Rica should manage activities that already operate openly in some of its busiest beach destinations.
