SUMMARY
Costa Rica is one of the most stable and peaceful countries in Latin America and stands in notable contrast to several of its Central American neighbors in terms of the scale and intensity of organized violence it has experienced. The country has no standing army, having permanently abolished its armed forces following the intrastate armed conflict of 1948. While violence levels remained comparatively low for much of this period, recent years have seen a marked increase in criminal violence driven by the consolidation of local gang structures and the growing influence of transnational drug trafficking networks.
Since 1989, Costa Rica has experienced the non-state category of organized violence, as defined by UCDP.
2025
Non-state violence in Costa Rica reached its highest recorded level in 2025, continuing the upward trend observed in recent years. San José remained the province with the highest levels of criminal violence, where clashes between Forces of Churro and Los Gemelos constituted the predominant dyad. Limón registered the second highest levels of violence, with confrontations between Forces of Tony Peña and Los Hondureños as the main driver. These dyads were driven by armed confrontations between criminal groups competing for territorial control. Elevated levels of criminal violence were also recorded in the provinces of Puntarenas, Alajuela, and Guanacaste, though at lower intensities than those observed in San José and Limón.
Rising criminal violence
Although relative to other Central American countries, Costa Rica had experienced low levels of organized violence in the period following 1989, non-state violence grew considerably in intensity in recent years, driven by the emergence and consolidation of criminal gang structures across the country. Unlike in neighboring Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, where transnational gangs such as MS-13 and M18 established dominant and nationwide criminal structures, the gang landscape in Costa Rica remained predominantly local in character, with criminal groups operating at a more fragmented, subnational level.
Nevertheless, domestic criminal organizations increasingly established operational ties with transnational drug trafficking networks, including Mexican cartels such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which used Costa Rica as a hub in the transit of cocaine. Violence in this context was driven primarily by armed confrontations between criminal groups competing for territorial control.
In addition, predatory informal lending networks, known locally as "gota a gota," constituted an additional source of violence against civilians, as these criminal structures resorted to extortion, intimidation, and physical coercion in the collection of loans.
Pre-1989 conflicts
Costa Rica was one of several Central American provinces that jointly declared independence from Spain in 1821. Two years later, the country joined the Central American Federal Republic, but this federation disintegrated in 1838, at which point Costa Rica proclaimed its full sovereignty and independence.
During the twentieth century, Costa Rica enjoyed largely peaceful democratic governance, with two notable exceptions. The first was the dictatorship of Federico Tinoco Granados, who in January 1917 overthrew the constitutionally appointed president, Alfredo González Flores, under whom he had served as Minister of War. Tinoco established a one-party regime and ruled as a dictator until 1919, marking the last military dictatorship in Costa Rican history.
The second and more consequential rupture came in 1948, when an intrastate armed conflict broke out following a disputed presidential election. The pro-government representatives who dominated the Legislative Assembly alleged that opposition candidate Otilio Ulate's victory was fraudulent and voted to annul the results, triggering an armed uprising led by José Figueres Ferrer against the government. The conflict, which erupted on 12 March 1948, was brief but intense, lasting approximately six weeks, with key battles at San Isidro and Ochomogo. By 24 April 1948, Figueres and his National Liberation Army had emerged victorious, effectively overthrowing the ruling government. A new constitution was proclaimed in 1949, which formally abolished the standing army, making Costa Rica one of the few countries in the world to have permanently eliminated its armed forces.
In January 1955, Costa Rica faced an additional armed challenge when former president Rafael Calderón Guardia led a band of rebels from Nicaragua into Costa Rican territory, seizing the northern border town of Villa Quesada. Figueres appealed to the Organization of American States for assistance and, with material support from the United States, Costa Rica successfully repelled the invasion.
