The COVID-19 pandemic provoked a series of measures aimed at avoiding contagion such as vehicle restrictions, teleworking, virtual schooling, limited capacity in commercial establishments, and the closing of parks and recreation sites, among others.
With fewer people on the streets, criminals saw their opportunities limited. According to statistics from the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ), in 2020 there was a 23% decrease in criminal complaints.
According to Walter Espinoza, general director of the OIJ, Costa Rica projects to close the year with 80,000 complaints, a lower number than that registered in 2019, which accounted for more than 100,000.
“The offender realized that he no longer had the facility to commit traditional crimes that involve some contact or encounter, which generally affected passersby or people who left their property in a certain place and led to a situation of neglect that favored the criminal act,” Espinoza said.
At least 47 people have died since October in Costa Rica from the consumption of alcoholic beverages adulterated with methanol, the Health Ministry reported.
The agency indicated that it registered 89 cases of suspected methanol poisoning of which 47 died, comprising 40 men and seven women all since the month of October.
The poisonings stem the consumption of a sugarcane distillate called
guaro that has illegally been adulterated with methanol. Police and health authorities have mobilized in San José and nearby cities in the Greater Metropolitan Area where the cases have been detected.
The Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) inspected 706 commercial establishments and seized more than 16,000 products on suspicion of being used in methanol poisoning, the Health Ministry said in a statement.