The Executive Director of the National System of Conservation Areas, Grettel Vega, confirms the donation of 300 bulletproof vests by the U.S. Embassy that will be arriving in the country a couple of weeks.

This donation is part of the support that park rangers are receiving due to the increase in drug trafficking in the protected areas of the country.

The acting Minister of Environment, Rolando Castro, requested an emergency meeting with the Ministry of Public Security, Michael Soto, in order to strengthen joint strategies, coordination and delimitation of the responsibilities and participation of both institutions in operations of protection in protected wild areas.

In addition to establishing the responsibilities and powers of both institutions in such operations, what is or is not applicable to the park rangers when other situations arise, such as, attention to crimes against drug trafficking was discussed.

"The Minister of Environment regrets the increase in trafficking and transfer of drugs in Protected Wildlife Areas and insists on the urgency of redoubling efforts that both from security and from the environmental protection area must be carried out," said the Ministry in its statement.

Given the recent events, where a park ranger was shot in the Corcovado National Park* while he was at his checkpoint, the Minister of the Environment is doing a revision review of the existing internal protocols to clarify the functions of a park ranger when acting in operations proper to their function, or in others in which the participation of the police is available.

According to the Ministry of Environment, facilities have been provided for joint work with the Ministry of Public Security however, more support from the police specialists in dealing with drug trafficking cases is necessary.

"Especially an increase of police in land and maritime operations to fight against drug trafficking in Protected Wild Areas," said the ministry in its statement.

Among the actions agreed to between the ministries are:

- Coordination with the Ministry of Public Security for the purpose of preparing an emergency care protocol.

- A joint investment plan in operational centers in protected wild areas.

- Provide a permanent safety training program for park rangers who perform control and protection functions.

The previous weekend, as A.M. Costa Rica reported, a park ranger was attended to by an emergency medical team when he was shot by a suspected drug trafficker who was running away from the police near the Llorona Beach* area.

The criminal judge of the Golfito* court, accepted the request of the Prosecutor's Office, and imposed six months of pre-trial jail against three men, two Colombian men, one surnamed Estupiñán García and the other surnamed Angulo Mosquera, and a Costa Rican man surnamed Caballero Espinoza, as suspects in the crime of international drug trafficking in a narco-submarine.

The three suspects were arrested Sunday and linked to transporting more than 2.3 tons of cocaine inside the narco-submarine. A narco-submarine, also called drug sub and bigfoot submarine, is a type of custom-made ocean-going self-propelled submersible vessel built by drug traffickers to smuggle drugs. They are used by Colombian drug cartel members to export cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, which is often transported overland to the United States.

According to the police report, the narco-submarine had run aground on Llorona Beach* and the three crew members had fled to the jungle area inside.

"Upon arrival, the agents of the Drug Control Police, checked the submarine, founding a total of 2,377 packets of cocaine of one kilo each," said the police in its report.

After the submarine was found, the park rangers reported finding three men walking through the brush, "when the officers asked the stop, they started firing, wounding an officer," said police in its report.

Two of the suspects were arrested by the rangers and the third suspect was arrested hours later. In addition, the police seized the drugs, several global positioning devices, known as GPS, as well as some devices for navigation.

The national park authorities reported that they will increase the number of park rangers in the Llorona Beach* post permanently.