Costa Rica, laidback land of ‘pura vida’, is facing up to drug violence

Paradise may not be lost, but a lot of the people living there are, writes Mary Beth Sheridan

In vulnerable areas of Costa Rica drugs have become an escape (Reuters)

All was quiet that night on the Promenade of the Tourists, the famed boulevard overlooking this coastal city’s white-sand beach and softly lapping waves. But just a few miles from the bars and seafood cafes, Maribel Sandi was startled awake by rapid-fire, metallic bursts.

The 59-year-old grandmother emerged from her corrugated metal shack. It was dark, past 11pm, a muggy January night. Here, in the Bella Vista area, where young people sell scrap metal to buy crack, neighbours had gathered on the dirt road.

“There was a dead man,” Sandi says. The 21-year-old’s body had been “ripped apart” by a barrage from AK-47 assault rifles.