President Laura Fernández said U.S. government agencies already carry out operations on Costa Rican territory, describing them as the continuation of existing security arrangements rather than a new proposal. She made the remarks in an interview with Fox News when asked whether she would support U.S. forces operating here.
Fernández said a strict collaboration protocol with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began under the previous administration. She also pointed to joint patrols in Costa Rican waters and a shared strategy against what she called narcoterrorism.
She did not say how large the operations are, where they take place or how many U.S. personnel are involved. The Presidency has not released further details on their scope. Fernández stressed that Costa Rica has no army and relies on civilian police for its security. She said she will push hard-line legislative reforms against criminal groups and described the country as being on the threshold of a major transformation in security.
The comments go further than her remarks in September, when she said that U.S. ground operations would benefit national security if they targeted shared goals such as drug trafficking. At the time she said no such process was under way and that any step of that kind would require legislative approval.
Costa Rica abolished its army in 1948 and cooperation with the United States has largely run through a maritime counternarcotics agreement and through permits that the Legislative Assembly must approve before U.S. ships, aircraft and personnel can enter national territory.
The interview came during a week dominated by security policy. Fernández opened a prison modeled on El Salvador’s CECOT in Alajuela and announced that six Mexican cartels and three Colombian groups will be added to Costa Rica’s list of terrorist organizations.
Today she traveled to El Salvador to meet President Nayib Bukele and tour CECOT, accompanied by Justice Minister Gabriel Aguilar. Costa Rican also moved three Mexican nationals linked to the Sinaloa Cartel to Juan Santamaría International Airport to be handed over to the DEA for extradition. The three were arrested in April 2025 aboard a yacht off Quepos carrying about 840 kilograms (1,850 pounds) of suspected cocaine.
