The Wednesday Letter #210 - 3/6/2024

THIS WEEK: Costa Rica and Central America Metrics; Bitcoin and Reverse Repo; Inflation; Super Tuesday and Supreme Court Decision.

COSTA RICA AND CENTRAL AMERICA METRICS

For decades, Costa Rica was a haven of peace and better governance in Central America. Neighbors Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador struggled with poverty, insurgency, dictatorship and other problems. But Costa Rica seemed to have found the formula for harmony and prosperity. Excluding island nations and principalities such as Monaco and Andorra, it is one of only two countries in the world that do not have a standing army (the other is Panama). Costa Rica has not had an army since 1949, but it does have some military capabilities, the Public Force of Costa Rica, for domestic law enforcement and border control.

These capabilities are now tested more than ever because the internal security situation has deteriorated rapidly. A recent article in the Costa Rican weekly El Faro begins this way:

“In the last year and a half, a wave of homicides spurred by drug trafficking has brought Costa Rica to the international headlines that for …