Costa Ricans’ perception of the influence of drug trafficking in public institutions was captured in the 2016 Actualidades survey that is has been carried out annually by the School of Statistics of the University of Costa Rica (UCR).
The data collected by Andrés Arguedas, Alejandro Sandí and Alejandro Zúñiga are really interesting for the specialist Johnny Madrigal Pana, professor and coordinator of the survey.
Regarding the influence of drug trafficking and the penetration of these groups in security, judicial and presidential institutions, the respondents’ information gives details of what almost 70% of Costa Ricans from different social strata think.
Almost seven out of ten Costa Ricans believe drug trafficking influences the decisions and public policies of the Public Security Ministry (MSP).
The list of the most influenced entities features the MSP, the Executive Power, the OIJ and he Courts of Justice. The Ombudsman’s office also appears to be influenced by drug trafficking, since almost four out of ten citizens believe so.
Moreover, 70.6% of respondents from different strata indicated that they would file a complaint if they learned of a nearby drug-related activity.
Nevertheless, the confidence of the people in the institutions is fundamental to file the complaint: 79.6% of the respondents who assured to trust in governmental entities stated they would alert the security institutions; but only 53.7% of those who believe that cartels have penetrated the government would dare to report.
However, the interviewers noticed that most people just wanted to be say he right thing, but would not actually file a complaint.
The survey covered aspects of perception of the future and evolution of drug trafficking at a national level in the last decade.
In this area, 92.9% of respondents said they believed the activity and influence of drug cartels have increased in the last 10 years. Faced with the question about the future, 85.9% admitted that they believe drug trafficking will continue to grow.
Within this opinion group, 62% said that the country has little or no reaction capacity to end the scourge, but 36.8% said that the State is able to solve this problem.
diarioextra.com