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    The police base will house six park rangers and twelve border police officers. - Photo via U.S. Embassy -
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Published on Monday, February 26, 2024
By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The U.S. government donated to Costa Rica a police facility base, eight small center console Yamaha-type fishing boats and four ATV Kodiak-Yamaha-type vehicles via its embassy. The grant was valued at $2 million.
According to the Ministry of Security, the new police base near the Sierpe River, as well as the ATVs and boats, will be operated by border police officers and park rangers to patrol the Terraba Sierpe National Wetland located in the Osa Peninsula, Puntarenas Province.
The police base, which was inaugurated by Ambassador Cynthia Ann Telles and Costa Rican authorities, will house six park rangers and twelve border police officers who will conduct surveillance and arrest suspects of drug trafficking or environmental crimes such as illegal fishing or logging within the protected area.
"Sierpe has become a place of crime, we realized it and we wanted to cooperate with the Government of Costa Rica to protect this region because it is a fight that we all have to do united," said Ambassador Telles.
The
building of the police facility
and equipment donation were funded
by the U.S. Embassy's Bureau of
International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement (INL) budget. According
to the National System of
Conservation Areas, the
governmental institution in charge
of Costa Rica's national parks and
wildlife reserves, the
Térraba-Sierpe National Wetland
protected zone covers 24 thousand
hectares. Of these, 14 thousand
hectares are covered by mangroves,
including five types endemic to
Costa Rica. The
wetland is well recognized for its
archeological discovery of stone
spheres in Diquís Valley. In
2014, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
designated the Diquís pre-Hispanic
chief villages as a World Heritage
site. Recently,
the U.S. announced a $2.4
million donation to public
schools in Guanacaste Province. ---------------
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