A trial is underway in the United States to determine if the former president of Honduras is the anti-drug crusader he framed himself as while in power or a cartel puppet whose influence was used to traffic millions of dollars worth of drugs and firearms into the U.S.

Ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez began his trial in New York Wednesday as prosecutors outlined the charges, alleging that Hernandez’s rise to power was financed and fueled by powerful cartel syndicates while the defense argued the former president was being framed by cartel operatives for his tough stance on drug crimes.

Hernandez pleaded not guilty to drugs and weapons charges in May, 2022. During his time in office he was awarded over $50 million in anti-narcotics assistance from the United States and many million more in security aid, according to Reuters. Three months after leaving his office, Hernandez was charged with criminal weapons possession and three counts of drug trafficking conspiracy. Attorney General Merrick Garland accused Hernandez of using his power as president to run Honduras as a narco-state.

Prosecutor David Robles said Wednesday that Hernandez was working “hand in hand” with the cartels to import multiple tons of cocaine into the U.S. at the same time he was cooperating with the U.S. federal government from 2014 to 2022. 

“Behind the scenes he made sure that drug traffickers who remained loyal to him were protected,” Robles said in court. “He abused the power of his country – the military, the police, the justice system – to protect and support those traffickers.”

Hernandez’s defense attorney Renato Stabile argued in court that testimony from convicted criminals affected by anti-drug trafficking legislation that Hernandez signed into law while in office should be disregarded by the jury. Some of these laws gave the government increased power to seize assets from convicted traffickers as well as extradite them to the United States. Stabile argued that any witnesses testifying against Hernandez were clearly seeking personal revenge or being paid by the cartels to do so.

“It’s Mr. Hernandez who signed into law all those things that put them out of business,” Stabile said. “Putting murderers and drug dealers on the witness stand who have cut deals and having them point the finger at Mr. Hernandez is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

President Trump praised Hernandez’s efforts to curb drug trafficking and illegal immigration during his administration. A caravan of Hondurans seeking asylum in the United States after back to back hurricanes was thwarted by a coordinated military operation Hernandez was closely involved in, winning him favor with President Trump while already under suspicion of having ties to drug cartels but angering the people of Honduras who accused him of making the country simultaneously unlivable and unescapable. 

“President Hernandez is working with the United States very closely,” Trump said in a Dec. 7, 2019 speech. “You know what’s going on on our southern border. And we’re winning after years and years of losing. We’re stopping drugs at a level that has never happened.”

Hernandez was extradited to the United States in April of 2022, accused of accepting millions of dollars from drug cartels on the promise that they would not be arrested. Upon his arrival in the U.S. Hernandez’s defense attorney Raymond Colon told the court that Hernandez was being mistreated in prison, testifying that he had been held in solitary confinement and not permitted to contact his family.

“He’s being treated like a prisoner of war,” Colon said. “We’re not asking for him to get special treatment because he’s a former head of state, but these conditions are psychologically debilitating.”

According to Reuters, Hernandez brother Mauricio Hernandez and former Honduras national police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla, both of whom were originally supposed to be tried simultaneously with Hernandez, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges earlier this month. Hernandez faces 40 years to life in prison if convicted on all charges. His trial should last the next two or three weeks.

“This rampant corruption and massive cocaine trafficking came at a cost to the people of Honduras,” Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said shortly after Hernandez was extradited.

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Three people are dead including a three-year-old girl and her father after they were caught in a gunfight Monday near a beach in Belize famous for having bricks of cocaine wash up onshore.

Amari Rodriguez, her father Delmar and a man named Carlos Chi were all killed while driving in a golf cart on a dimly-lit road near a lagoon in the San Pedrito neighborhood of San Pedro, Belize, according to a Vice article and reports in local media outlets. Delmar Rodriguez and Chi were both pronounced dead at the scene and Amari’s mother rushed her to a nearby hospital in the golf cart. She was pronounced dead when they got there.

The lagoon in question, Ambergris Caye, has been dubbed as the “Sea Lotto” in the past due to a rash of violent incidents surrounding kilograms of cocaine which authorities say regularly wash up on the shoreline. This has led to ongoing gang wars between local factions of the Bloods and Crips, according to the Vice article.

Ambergris Caye is believed to be such a hotspot for cocaine because of cartel activity further out at sea, wherein bricks of cocaine are believed to be “wet dropped” into the range of particular ocean currents off the coast of Central America which carry the bricks into Mexico. The ocean is not the most predictable mode of transportation, however, and small changes in weather can often send the cocaine off course. An inordinate amount of these lost kilos reportedly end up on a remote northern section of the Caye just south of Mexico’s southern border.

Belizean authorities announced that they had identified two suspects they believed to have been associated with the triple-homicide, both of whom had been arrested on unrelated matters just a week prior to the incident. 

“At this time, we’re looking for two individuals, that is, Michael Brown and Christian Espat,” said Police Commissioner Chester Williams. Those two persons are currently being sought by the police and we are appealing to the public that if they have any information pertinent to their whereabouts, please feel free to call us so that we can go and remove these two dangerous criminals off our streets.”

Commissioner Williams indicated that Espat had a lengthy criminal reputation with local law enforcement. According to the Vice article, Espat was investigated in 2019 after an American doctor and his fly fishing guide were murdered, though Espat was never officially charged with the crime. Commissioner WIlliams said he believed Espat had a relationship with Delmar Rodriguez and that some narcotics-related business may have soured between the two, which presumably led to the killings.

“You would know the name Christian Espat is not new. It has been called on numerous occasions for allegedly committing crimes of this nature. What we have gathered in terms of a motive is that there may have been some drugs found by one of the deceased person[s]. As you would know that he, one of the deceased person[s] was a close affiliate of Christian Espat. And apparently after drugs were found, there was a division between them, due to the fact that […] there was not an equitable share of the drugs, and based on that he was targeted by the Espats. So, it is a motive that we’re looking at. We believe the motive is credible, based on what we have gotten from other sources. And so the police continue to look at that investigation.”

According to Vice, Brown turned himself in on Tuesday after Commissioner WIlliam’s remarks but Espat was still considered at large at the time this article was written. Oddly enough, a video was also released to a Belizean news outlets called Breaking Belize News, in which a man claiming to be Espat denied any involvement in the crimes and also claimed to have been tortured while in police custody.

“Му nаmе іѕ Сhrіѕtіаn Еѕраt. І аm ѕеndіng thіѕ vіdео tо thе mеdіа tо сlеаr mу nаmе, bесаuѕе thе роlісе аrе ассuѕіng mе оf а trірlе murdеr thаt І dіd nоt соmmіt,” Espat said. “ І аm nоt runnіng аnd І аm nоt hіdіng frоm thе lаw. І јuѕt саmе tо thе dосtоr tо ѕее іf thе роlісе dіdn’t dо аnу реrmаnеnt dаmаgе tо mу hеаd. І dоn’t knоw whу thеу аrе ассuѕіng mе оf thіѕ trірlе murdеr, bесаuѕе І knоw І dіdn’t hаvе [аnу] mіѕundеrѕtаndіng аnd nо рrоblеm wіth Dеlmаr Rоdrіguеz. І nеvеr thrеаtеnеd hіm nоr hіѕ fаmіlу, wоrѕе hаvе аnу drug-rеlаtеd соnflісt wіth hіm.”

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“You know who lives there?” Charlie, the man driving our boat, asks me as I jump into the deep blue water of Lake Coatepeque in northwestern El Salvador. He points to a minimalist-style villa on the freshly-mowed slopes of an island at the center of the lake. “That’s President Bukele’s. Ocho million dollares!”

In any other Latin American country, people would talk about their leader’s private wealth with scorn. But Charlie’s tone is one of praise, excitement, even pride. It’s a sentiment I encountered again and again while traveling through El Salvador, and for a good reason. Until recently, the country was known and feared as the “murder capital” of planet Earth, with 1 in every 10,000 residents falling victim to homicide. Today, four years after Nayib Bukele assumed office, the number of annual killings has dropped from 5,000 to just 495: a statistic that has earned him the lifelong gratitude of his constituents. “I can finally go outside without worrying,” a student from Universidad Don Bosco in Soyapango, previously the most dangerous suburb in the capital city of San Salvador, told me. “It still doesn’t feel real.” 

Born to a Muslim family that emigrated from Palestine, Bukele served as the mayor of San Salvador before setting his eyes on the presidency. A dark horse candidate, his anti-establishment, anti-corruption agenda allowed him to score a surprise victory against El Salvador’s entrenched elite. Many presidential candidates in Latin America promise to “drain the swamp” and put an end to the corruption that keeps their countries impoverished and oppressed, only to become a part of the establishment they vowed to tear down. Bukele is the rare example of a politician that not just kept his word, but managed to hold onto power while doing so. 

One of Bukele’s top priorities was to hunt down El Salvador’s biggest gangs, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and 18^th Street, which earn money through prostitution, drug smuggling, human trafficking, and transporting aliens across the U.S.-Mexican border. The government’s pursuit of the gangs resembles less of a crackdown than it does an all-out war. To this day, tens of thousands of heavily-armed soldiers are regularly mobilized to besiege and infiltrate criminal strongholds. 

Drastic problems require drastic measures, and Bukele’s was to arrest and imprison anybody who had even the slightest affiliation with the criminal underworld. As of 2023, more than 72,000 Salvadorians have been taken off the streets and stuffed into the country’s already overcrowded prisons. 

Bukele’s policies on crime, while effective, come at a cost. While the state has managed to round up many dangerous offenders, it also detained a significant number of individuals who – after close examination – turned out to be completely innocent. Gabriela, a lifelong resident of San Salvador and tech entrepreneur I met at a Miami-esque beach party in the surfer town of El Tunco, told me how, one day, her private driver stopped answering his phone. After contacting his sister, she learned he had been taken by the police while standing on the street drinking Pilsner – El Salvador’s national beer – with former gang members.

Accusing Bukele of human rights abuse, journalists and activists argue mass imprisonment won’t solve El Salvador’s problems but only make them worse. His proponents beg to differ: by cleaning up the streets, the president is able to develop public works that will improve the country’s economy and infrastructure. While highways and libraries can’t justify the injustice suffered by Gabriela’s driver, traveling through this new and improved, and above all, safer, version of El Salvador is making me kind of agree with the average citizen that these are, to an extent, necessary sacrifices. “I do not agree with everything Bukele does,” was the standard response I kept hearing from people, “but we are doing better than we were in the past – and that makes me feel hopeful about tomorrow.”

Where so many corruption-stricken Latin American countries live in an inescapable present, El Salvador is able to look towards the future. In addition to his war on crime, Bukele is best known for his embracement of cryptocurrency. Shortly after setting up shop in San Salvador’s casa blanca, the 42-year-old leader surprised the world by investing a sizeable portion of government funding in Bitcoin. In hindsight, the decision wasn’t all that surprising. The crypto craze was at an all-time high back then, and with Bitcoin’s value on the rise, Bukele saw an opportunity and must have thought he was about to triple the country’s coffers, even quadruple the amount of money he’d put in. Unfortunately, his announcement came moments before the crash of FTX and the federal investigation of its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried: events that set the crypto world on a downward spiral it has yet to escape from. While exact numbers are hard to come by, El Salvador is rumored to have lost upwards of $70 million.

You’d think such a blunder would damage the country’s economy, not to mention Bukele’s credibility, but that does not seem to be the case. In contrast to neighboring Guatemala, where a despotic Attorney General is currently attempting to undo the ascension of a democratically elected, left-leaning president with an agenda not unlike that of his Salvadorian counterpart, El Salvador remains stable, peaceful, even prosperous. One of the biggest benefits of Bukele’s war on crime is that the resulting safety opened the country up to an industry that had hitherto been all but non-existent there: tourism. At Coatepeque, construction workers are building a litany of hotels, hostels, and clubs to accommodate growing numbers of travelers. Still more projects are in the works at Lake Llopango, located outside San Salvador. 

“This place used to be extremely dangerous,” Gabriela told me as we walked up to a breathtaking mirador, or viewpoint, looking over a thick and seemingly endless canopy. “It’s where all the gangs from Soyapango went to hide.” 

More confused than concerned, I glance over at two soldiers standing guard, their fingers on the triggers of their loaded shotguns. Laughing, Gabriela informs me that their presence is purely ceremonial: Bukele, needing to maintain the standing army he’s amassed for his war, sends troops across the country to act as glorified bodyguards. Not to protect visitors from kidnappers – those odds, she says, are low – but so they have something to do until they are called to lay siege to the next criminal hideout. 

Though not as large as Guatemala and Honduras to the north, or as environmentally diverse as Nicaragua and Costa Rica to the south, El Salvador has much to offer the curious traveler. There’s Santa Ana, a colonial city near the Guatemalan border from where you can visit Coatepeque and climb the Santa Ana volcano, filled not with lava but with pools of boiling water. There’s El Tunco, the aforementioned surf town where you can test your skills on some of the largest, longest, roughest waves you’ve ever seen – or watch others do it from the beach. 

Aside from the grueling traffic, San Salvador is a surprisingly organized capital where neon-lit hipster cafes share parking spaces with hole-in-the-wall pupuserias – barebone cafeterias serving El Salvador’s signature dish: thick tortillas made from corn or rice, stuffed with cheese, pumpkin, spinach, or chicharron, to name only a handful of ingredients. 

While exploring El Salvador is no longer life-threatening, it’s still very adventurous. If you want to get from one place to another, you usually cannot book a private shuttle. Instead, you will have to hop on a public “chicken” bus, retired American school buses the U.S. government deemed too old and broken to transport children, but were given a second life in Central America. In many towns, you also have the opportunity to rent motorcycles. If you have never ridden one before, don’t worry – they neither require a license nor experience, and the roads of El Salvador are so chaotic that you’ll become a pro by the time you make it to your destination. That is, so long as you weren’t sent flying by some knee-deep pothole or camouflaged speed bump. 

The biggest adrenaline rush (or panic attack) I had in El Salvador was a group tour of the Siete Cascadas or Seven Waterfalls near the town of Juayua, a 1 hour motorbike ride south of Santa Ana, where what I had expected to be a calm and peaceful stroll quickly turned into something out of the survival novel Robinson Crusoe. Walking barefoot through a jungle infested with spiders, snakes, and crabs – yes, crabs – I was so taken aback by the absurdity of my predicament that I didn’t even think to object when my tour guide (a 9-year-old, crab-catching boy called Cristian) told us to climb up the waterfalls rather than go around them. “I don’t think this tour was approved by the Salvadorian Health and Safety Department,” I half-joked, latching on to the slippery, moss-covered rocks and praying I would live another day. 

As much as I ended up enjoying my stay, I originally didn’t plan on visiting El Salvador. Although I had heard of what Bukele was doing, I still pictured the country as it was in the past, the way it looked when I saw it on the news, or in an episode of World’s Toughest Prisons. Instead, I thought that I would spend more time in what the media portrayed as its safer, friendlier neighbor: Guatemala. Ironically, it was Guatemala that proved to be more unpredictable as, mere days after I entered El Salvador, rightfully-outraged Guatemalans clashed with law enforcement and barricaded the borders. Weeks later, they still haven’t managed to stop the old government from persecuting their president-elect. But that’s a different story. 

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Just over a year after legalizing hemp and medical cannabis, Costa Rica’s Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Victor Carvajal signed a resolution to grant authorization to Azul Wellness S.A. to cultivate and process medical cannabis, The Tico Times reports. 

It marks the first medical cannabis license granted in the Central American country.

Azul Wellness S.A. is Costa Rican owned and backed by the family of José Álvaro Jenkins, president of the Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of the Private Business Sector. Azul reportedly is planning to establish an 800-square-meter production and processing facility, located in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province.

The firm also partnered with U.S. private equity firm Merida Capital Holdings, which specializes in medical cannabis. According to the Times, the collaboration is meant to help Azul cultivate two varieties of psychoactive cannabis to start, with a focus on exporting the produced material.

Jenkins himself expressed optimism about the endeavor and said he envisions eventually establishing a medical cannabis laboratory in Costa Rica. He has also publicly supported the government’s efforts to legalize recreational cannabis in the past.

While Azul received the first medical cannabis license, Carvajal has issued eight authorizations for hemp cultivation. There are still two applications for hemp cultivation and processing and one medical cannabis license under evaluation.

Costa Rica legalized hemp and medical cannabis in March 2022. President Rodrigo Chaves unveiled a draft law several months later to lay the legal foundation for the country’s medical cannabis and hemp markets, specifically looking at production and sales. The Costa Rican government controls the cannabis industry — including granting permits related to industrial hemp and medical cannabis — under regulation of the Ministry of Health and the minister of agriculture and livestock.

Around that same time, Chaves also presented a bill to the Legislative assembly to legalize the recreational use of cannabis in Costa Rica. He promised the initiative shortly after taking his role, nodding to the fact that recreational use of cannabis is a reality we cannot turn away from.

“It is no secret to anyone that marijuana is consumed in Costa Rica, more and more openly in the streets and parks. It is a reality,” Chaves said in a translation during a press conference.

He’s admitted that he personally does not agree with the consumption of cannabis, though he believes that it’s best to regulate the market so Costa Rica can reap the benefits.

“That they pay taxes, that generates formal employment; It is very clear that it is not an easy issue, many people of good faith have doubts,” he said.

As of January 2023, the government was set to present a substitute text to the recreational legalization bill after receiving feedback from different institutions, according to The Tico Times. Originally, the plan would have allowed recreational cannabis companies to operate under the Free Trade Zone regime, meaning consumers could feasibly go to clubs, coffee shops and other businesses to buy cannabis products. 

A number of institutions, including The Judicial Investigation Organism (OIJ), the Medical Association, the College of Psychiatrists, the Institute of Alcoholism and Drug Addiction (IAFA), the Evangelical Alliance Federation and some municipalities, shared their opposition and requested the proposal’s dismissal.

And even though a number of other institutions and businesses in the country support the proposal, citing similar benefits as Chaves like economic growth and opportunity, citizens aren’t quite on board. According to a survey conducted by the School of Statistics of the University of Costa Rica, 76.5% of Costa Ricans approve of medical cannabis, but only 35.4% support recreational legalization.

Costa Rica joins a number of other Latin American countries with legal medical cannabis, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru. Uruguay is the only Latin American country with legalized recreational cannabis.

Regarding hemp, Costa Rican law defines industrial hemp as the plant or part or the plant and its derivatives, with extracting to contain no more than 1% THC by dry weight. The U.S. currently defines hemp as 0.3% THC or less, though farmers have advocated to change the limit to 1% as well with the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill.

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If this were the 1980s, an attack and then parry in response between two countries in Central America—specifically Nicaragua and Honduras—would be nothing of note. The aforementioned plus neighbouring country, El Salvador, was the site of a bloody battle known as Iran Contra back in the day.

The “elevator high pitch” for those that missed it was that it was, from a North American perspective anyway, kind of like Vietnam, The Eighties version, with a few hemispheric twists. It also gave rise to loads of action movies set slightly south of Mexico’s border and featuring actors who appeared in such immortal titles, half clothed, with ripped bodies of all genders, endless ammunition, and a great deal of violence in and to a lot of delicate and hard to replace vegetation. Not to mention human lives.

As with most such skirmishes, as well as Cold Wars that turn hot, it was bloody, and there were issues on all sides, although “atrocity” of the human rights kind happened less on the Nicaraguan one. Internationally, the conflict came to represent which political side you were on. The Contras were supported, including illegally and covertly, under the Reagan Administration, in part by highly “creative” and illegal deals for drugs. Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua’s current president, led the resistance in his country and survived to have grown children and to lead the country by winning a democratic election.

Here is the modern update. In this unique and unprecedented piece of cannabis legalization history, one of Ortega’s sons has now announced that the normalization of cannabis should be “discussed” at the federal level.

There are many ironies to this story beyond the father-son theme. Both sides in the war in El Salvador and Nicaragua were accused of illegal drug running to raise cash to fund what was in effect a regional civil war. The Russians may have not so covertly funded Ortega, but nobody in Soviet nosebleed political levels got called on a congressional carpet for corrupt and criminal behaviour of the drugs, or swapping drugs for arms. On the “other” side, see Oliver North. Case closed.

For cannabis legalization to now erupt not only in Honduras, as it did this week, but Nicaragua as well, speaks volumes about where the international direction of the old Drug War, if not the new one, is headed.

Race To the Bottom

As has been widely predicted since Uruguay’s recreational step nine years ago, it was only a matter of time before cannabis reform began to drastically change economies (for good and for bad). While yes, the climate in this region of the world is “perfect” for cannabis, it is also equally if not more important for rapidly disappearing, highly biodiverse places called rainforests.

Outdoor cultivation, as has been discussed as an option in Honduras, would, in almost all probability, lead to a new rash of deforestation. 

The same is true in Nicaragua—although there is one stark contrast to what is going on across the border in the other “left-leaning” government now in power in Honduras. Here, the country’s first female president, with a last name of Castro, is currently hearing conflicting advice on the issue from her husband (also a former president) and her vice president, a former CEO of Honduras Pepsi also known endearingly (or not) as El señor de la Television, aka the more traditional media version of Elon Musk, at least in his immediate, localized geography.

In Nicaragua, Juan Carlos Ortega Murillo, plus the son of Vice president Rosario Murillo, have publicly claimed that their version of legalization would have to include provisions for the welfare of citizens. This would mean that the government believes that a fully regulated industry is possible in the first place. 

Agricultural Self-Sufficiency

The other interesting point raised was whether production of cannabis would overtake more important crops for the sake of the security of the country—namely self-sufficient food cultivation. Food sovereignty is an important mantra of the government here—as it may well become in other places as the war in Ukraine raises global prices on grain and certain kinds of cooking oil.

These are exceedingly difficult questions in a part of the world where such deeply-seated economic problems cannot be answered lightly. And while the discussion has taken other forms in North America, not entirely absent from the debate in the U.S. or Canada either. That starts with the level of energy required to keep indoor pot farms going, as well as water in certain states, starting with California.

Of course, there is almost no way that anyone could completely control a small farmer who grows a micro garden of cannabis for personal, family use (anywhere for that matter). Medical (or recreational) cannabis use is not something that should be forbidden to the poor as it is in many western economies right now.

However, this is a slightly different discussion. Large scale illegal cultivations in the rainforests do more damage in both the short and long term than almost anywhere else in the world. There are rapidly shrinking patches of rainforest on the earth, and cannabis, for all its amazing qualities, should not be responsible for wiping out biodiversity. Even of itself.

That such questions are being raised in the middle of a global mega crisis, and by nations in this part of the world with a tragic track record so far, is notable—and rather historically apropos.

Perhaps there are ruderalis species in both countries that might dissuade the disenfranchised and the criminal to use virgin land and other precious resources to support either a legal or illegal trade. But that argument, sadly, has repeatedly lost before.

Towards A Globally, Environmentally Sustainable Footprint?

Unlike any other place on the planet right now, the battle over reform in Central and Latin America has now begun to place tough questions in a stronger and more central limelight that the global industry so far has largely avoided.

Cannabis legalization, of course, is an overdue, global emergency. But no matter how urgent, it is critical, particularly at this juncture, that whole countries do not ruin their environments or economies for the production of a plant that is becoming rapidly commoditized all over the world.

Plenty of trade and much hotter kinds of wars (Ukraine anyone?) have been fought over equally precious resources. Cannabis, no matter its other healing properties, should not be one of them.

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In Belize, a Central American country of about 412,000 people, recreational cannabis reform is on the brink of happening—but with one small wrinkle. Today is the day the Cannabis and Industrial Hemp Control and Licensing Act is due to enter into force.

The only problem? Fierce opposition from the National Evangelical Association, the Belize Association of Evangelical Churches and the Belize Council of Churches. They all oppose the bill and want to hold a referendum to block the measure from being implemented.

This means that about 20,000 people must sign a church-backed and sponsored petition to that effect—or 10% of registered voters—by the end of the day.

It is not clear that this effort will succeed. As of a week ago, the referendum still was 4,000 signatures short. However, it was also about a week ago that the United Democratic Party (UDP), or main political opposition, and the National Trade Union Congress also issued statements backing the call for a referendum, although these groups have not specified what exactly should be on the referendum itself. This support also occurred rather suddenly despite the fact that the leader of the UDP, Moses “Shyne” Barrow has previously voiced support for cannabis legalization—even supporting a Constitutional Amendment for the same. For this reason, it looks like political opposition is based on opportunism and nothing else.

Such moves come after the democratically elected prime minister, John Briceño, has been promising cannabis reform for the last four years. The House of Representatives passed an amendment decriminalizing personal possession of up to 10 grams in 2017. 

Since then, the bill to regulate the industry moved through the legislative process, passing both the House of Representatives and the Senate. However as soon as it did, the church groups then called for a referendum to oppose the final enactment of the law.

This stance has also been met with frustration from lawmakers who have repeatedly included provisions in the legislation that the church groups had called for—including providing funds for extra policing, cannabis education, and a taxation regime.

If the Church does not reach its goal of obtaining enough signatures, the bill will become law—making the country the first in Central America to implement full recreational reform. Licensed shops will legally be able to sell cannabis, although consumers will first have to obtain a “cannabis card” to shop in them.

The History of Cannabis Reform in Belize

Until the early 1980s, Belize was the fourth largest exporter of illicit cannabis to the U.S., behind Columbia, Mexico, and Jamaica. However, Drug War efforts almost eliminated the export of illicit cannabis here by the mid-1990s. That did not stop cultivation for personal use. Indeed, according to a 2016 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, almost 8.5% of Belizeans use cannabis, making the country the 18th highest in the world in terms of personal use—even ahead of Holland and Jamaica.

The current campaign to undermine forward progress has mostly been supported by the evangelical groups here. Interestingly, while individual Catholic priests like Father John Robinson, have opposed cannabis reform initiatives, calling legalization akin to illicit cultivation and trafficking, the Catholic church as an institution has not been as vocal in opposing the legalization legislation although the Pope has repeatedly expressed his opposition to recreational cannabis use.

So far, the religious opposition has drawn from data and studies that have been widely discredited when the moral argument fails—including from the United States.

Tourism and Agriculture Verticals Will Benefit from Legalization

Tourism and agriculture are the main sources of income and employment. These sectors employ roughly 40% of the population. The per capita income here is about $5,000. 

Belize has the smallest economy in Central America and is currently suffering from a large trade deficit which amounts to about 23% of GDP. Its agricultural sector is also vulnerable to climate change, its manufacturing sector is underdeveloped, and both low educational opportunities combined with high unemployment have spurred criminal activities in the country.

It is clear that developing the legitimate cannabis industry here will help with all of that—which is one of the reasons that stiff opposition from evangelical groups and the political opportunism of the political opposition is so disturbing.

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Costa Rica has finally done it! On Wednesday of this week, the medical marijuana bill that was passed the day before was signed by the country’s President, Carlos Alvarado. The bill has been in limbo since Alvarado vetoed it earlier this year, arguing that limits needed to be placed on individual cultivation and consumption. Lawmakers sent it back to him with the requested changes this week.

Supporters praise the legislation, saying that it will provide a much-needed boost to the country’s agricultural sector, not to mention create jobs.

Alvarado has finally conceded that reform is inevitable in the waning days of his administration. The two candidates who hope to replace him, José Maria Figueres and Rodrigo Chavez, do not seem to share his reservations. Both are publicly in favor of recreational reform. They face off against each other next month in a runoff election. As a result, further progress appears imminent.

Given what is going on in the region, there is no real surprise here. Neighboring countries such as Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Paraguay, and Peru have all moved forward on the same path even if their transition to recreational reform may not happen as quickly or smoothly. Ecuador just moved forward this week. Brazil is now teetering on the edge. 

Only Uruguay however, of all the countries in the region, has implemented full recreational reform — indeed becoming the first country in the world to do so — although Mexico is now close to becoming the second country in the region to follow suit. Given the statements of the men who are now vying for the country’s top political spot, however, it may be that Costa Rica becomes the second (or third) country in Central or South America to fully legalize the plant, as well as its production and consumption.

Why Costa Rica’s Recreational Market Is So Appealing

Before this week, cannabis was essentially decriminalized here. Personal consumption did not carry any criminal penalties. Indeed there has been a long history, tradition, and culture of use (no matter how much this was misunderstood or mischaracterized). This was upheld by a court decision in 2016. Because the old law carried no limits for cultivation or possession, this appears to be why the issue of limits was such a hot political topic for an outgoing president.

The current push towards legalization got underway in 2019. Currently there is only one company in the country which has been granted permission to study the plant and has been growing 12 cultivars at two different locations.

However, it does not take a rocket scientist to realize that Costa Rica’s domestic industry in the offing is going to be a boon to the country — and far from exports. There is a strong medical tourist and expat sector that stands to get an almost immediate boost from the current legislation. The country has for the past several decades been one of the tropical locations for aging American and Canadian Boomers who have relocated, in part because of the far cheaper standard of living, the high quality of existing healthcare, and of course, the weather and jaw-dropping scenery.

Beyond the more or less permanent snowbirds, Costa Rica received, pre-COVID, about 1.7 million tourists a year, mostly from North America. About 80% of tourists come for ecological tourism. Earnings from this sector of the economy amount to over $1.7 billion — or did. It is also the most important source of foreign currency. Until COVID at least, it had also grown, on average, just over 7% a year.

This new announcement will definitely be welcome not only by those who wish to create temptations for tourists, but by tourists as well. The intersection of the two is bound to be lucrative and highly popular.

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