Panama seeks to replicate Costa Rica's CACCO model following a visit by its Security Minister

Panama's Minister of Public Security, Frank Ábrego, visited the CACCO together with Costa Rica's Minister of Justice and Peace, Gabriel Aguilar Vargas. Credit: Ministry of Justice and Peace Panama's Minister of Public Security, Frank Ábrego, visited the Center for High Containment of Organized Crime (CACCO) in Costa Rica together with the Minister of Justice and Peace, Gabriel Aguilar, with the aim of learning about its operation and evaluating the possibility of replicating the penitentiary model in Panamanian territory. The visit takes place as the Costa Rican government is in the final stage of preparing the new maximum containment center, located in San Rafael de Alajuela, whose inauguration is scheduled for October. The Presidency of the Republic will announce the exact opening date in the coming days. Ábrego's tour marks a new chapter in regional cooperation on penitentiary matters. Costa Rica developed the CACCO taking as one of its references the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) in El Salvador, a facility that was visited in May by the Costa Rican ministers of Public Security and Justice and Peace to study its operation. Now it is Panama that is observing the Costa Rican model. According to the information released after the visit, the Panamanian minister showed interest in the characteristics of the center and in the possibility of replicating the experience in his country, although so far no details have been made public about a possible concrete project, its location, capacity, or timeline. The CACCO was conceived to house persons deprived of liberty linked to criminal structures and considered highly dangerous. The model is part of a penitentiary strategy that the Ministry of Justice has presented under four pillars: order, control, discipline, and zero tolerance for corruption. Panama showed interest in learning about the operation of the new Costa Rican penitentiary center and evaluating a possible adaptation of the model in its territory. Credit: Ministry of Justice and Peace The project has been linked since its origin to the search for models of greater containment to confront the growth of organized crime. In May of this year, Gabriel Aguilar and the Costa Rican minister of Public Security visited the CECOT in El Salvador to learn about the procedures applied in that prison and analyze which ones could be adapted to the Costa Rican system. During that visit, Aguilar explained that part of the knowledge acquired would be used in the CACCO, which was already under construction in San Rafael de Alajuela. The Minister of Justice later confirmed that the new facility would have a specific orientation toward members of groups linked to organized crime. Among the measures announced is the mandatory use of orange uniforms for persons held in that center, as well as restrictions on receiving clothing from outside. The Ministry of Justice has also promoted changes in other penitentiary centers during 2026, including the removal of 187 television screens from cells in seven prisons, new security provisions for persons with extradition proceedings, and a strengthening of controls on visiting days. Costa Rican authorities visited the CECOT in El Salvador in May to learn about its operation and study measures applicable to the new national penitentiary center. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas The opening of the CACCO has undergone changes compared to the initially announced schedule. During the presentation of the project, the previous government had indicated a period of 195 days to complete construction. However, that period expired without the facility being ready to begin operations. More recently, on September 14, Aguilar announced during a Government Council held in Cartago that the works would be completed in approximately 15 days and that the prison would begin operating during October. The Executive Branch has not yet announced the exact day on which the first persons deprived of liberty will enter, but it indicated that the Presidency will communicate the official inauguration date in the coming days. The Presidency of the Republic will announce in the coming days the date of the CACCO's inauguration, whose entry into operation is scheduled for October 2026. Credit: Ministry of Justice and Peace Frank Ábrego's visit also makes the CACCO a point of interest for another Central American country even before its formal opening. Ábrego is Panama's Minister of Public Security and had previously maintained contacts with Costa Rican authorities on regional security matters. In 2025, for example, he participated in bilateral meetings in Costa Rica related to border cooperation and migration flows.