Speech: Organ Trafficking in Costa Rica during the last ten years.

Have you ever wondered how much a part of you is worth? According to Dr. Bertalan
Mesko, a doctor who works for the magazine “The Medical Futurist”, a human heart may cost
around 1 million dollars, a liver may cost around 550 000 dollars, and a kidney around 260 000
dollars. My name is Luis, and during the next minutes I’m going to focus on Costa Rica and its
relationship with organ trafficking during the last years. This information comes from exhaustive
research I did, being the main reason my interest on the topic and its reflexive nature. I want to
show you some of the reasons that propitiate organ trafficking in Costa Rica, the most remarkable
case during the last years, and the governmental response to this situation.

But before mentioning these points, lets learn how experts define organ trafficking.
According to Katarina O´Regan, who works for the activist organization “Human Trafficking
Search”, “the term organ trafficking is commonly used to refer to a range of criminal activities,
including illegal organ harvesting from a living or dead individual and the illegal sale and
transplantation of human organs.”

Now that we know the definition, the first point I want to mention is some of the reasons
that propitiate organ trafficking in Costa Rica. First, human trafficking is an issue that has
always affected Latin America, there have been tons of cases along the continent. Many of these
cases resulted to have a direct connection to organ trafficking. Since it is a clandestine crime, it is
too difficult to obtain official data and numbers about the cases, however, according to Alicia
Verdú, a criminologist who specializes in human and organ trafficking, this issue may be more
severe in Latin America than in other parts of the world due to the high levels of corruption,
poverty, and a weaker judicial system. Also, it is important to acknowledge that Costa Rica is a
medical tourism center, there are even companies that offer guided tours for foreign people who
are willing to come and pay cheaper prices for medical services. According to Carol Vaughan
from The Costa Rica Star, “Patients come from all over the world to take advantage of the highly
trained medical teams operating in Costa Rican hospitals, at prices often lower than in other
countries.” For that reason, it´s estimated that the country attracts around 20,000 people that
access medical services every year. This may put Costa Rica in the spotlight of criminal
organizations and they could aim to start illegal operations in the
country, such as organ trafficking by making deals with corrupt doctors. Besides, during the last
years, the internet and social media have taken an important role in illegal activities of this type.
Now it is easier for criminals to contact a possible victim. By using online forums or fake
profiles on social media, traffickers may anonymously persuade vulnerable people to sell their
organs in exchange for any amount of money.

Now that we know some of the reasons organ trafficking takes place in Costa Rica, I
want to mention the most remarkable case in Costa Rica of the last 10 years. The case came out
in 2013, but the activity started since 2009. Four doctors and a Greek businessman were
arrested for being part of an international organ trafficking ring. One of the arrested doctors,
Francisco Mora, who worked at the Calderón Guardia hospital, was considered the leader of the
group, and the businessman acted as a recruiter.
These people were part of a group based in Israel, who used Costa Rica as its base to seek out
victims. Back in 2013, a costarrican couple travelled to Israel to sell one of their kidneys for
20,000 dollars, but they were detained at the airport since they could not convince Israeli
authorities that they had a legit reason to enter the country. Afterwards, they gave a sworn
statement, revealing their real intention.
They said that they met the doctor Francisco Mora in 2012 through other people who had sold
one of their kidneys. Doctor Mora was also accused of using facilities of the Calderón Guardia
Hospital to examinate the possible donors, and the surgeries would take place at two private
clinics in San José. According to subsequent investigation of Organismo de Investigación
Judicial, at least 20 donors were lured in by the group due to their difficult financial situations.
The group would pay between 3000 and 20 000 dollars to the donor, and then they would sell the
organ for 100 000 dollars.
After 4 years, in 2017 Dr.Mora was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and the Greek businessman
was sentenced to 8 years. The other doctors were acquitted for lack of evidence. It was until this
case came out that costarrican authorities, as well as citizens, started to be more aware and
conscious of this issue.

Keeping this in mind, let’s talk about the governmental response. In Costa Rica it is
illegal to sell an organ. A person can donate their organs but without monetary
compensation and under the legal guidelines. According to the article 384 of the penal code of
costa Rica, selling or buying an organ is punishable with between 8 and 16 years of prison. Also,
Costa Rica has the law of donation and organ transplant and human tissues, which regulates and
stablishes all the guidelines. The most remarkable response of the Costa Rican government was
the addition to the European Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs in 2018, being the
first non-European country to be part of the organization. The objective of the organization is to
prevent and fight organ trafficking, protect the victims, and cooperate in an international level.
However, for Latin American countries like Costa Rica it can be more difficult to fight organ
trafficking in spite of the efforts the government makes. Corruption, violence, and ineffective
justice may have a huge influence over the governmental responses against organ trafficking.

To summarize, Costa Rica has always been a place of interest for organ traffickers because
of the vulnerability of the country. By taking advantage of poor people, they get to expand the
traffic ring and involve more and more people, including corrupt doctors. However, it was not
until 2013 that the best-known case came out and people started to be more aware of this issue.
Even though the government has taken some actions to prevent organ trafficking, they still have
many challenges to face.
To conclude, after learning aout the implications of organ trafficking, I want to ask you
again, how much is a part of you worth? Thank you.

/ˈtræf.ɪ.kɪŋ/
/ˈɔːr.gən/
/ˈvɪk.təms/
/ɪˈli.gəl/
/keɪs/
/ˈgʌv.ɚn.mənt/
/ˈɪʃ.ju/
/ˈhju.mən/
/ækˈtɪv.ə.t̬ i/
/ˈpi.pəl/