There was a killing of a cruiser during a ransack on the Rio Dulce a little over a year ago. As I understand, a couple had some work done on their boat in the yard, when they paid the bill it was in cash. Rumor has it that one of the yard workers saw the cash, thought there was a lot of money on the couples boat and told someone. A while later and the incident took place.

2 weeks after the killing, 3 people were found shot dead. As I understand, it was a woman, her son and a third who were known to be the fence for stolen goods in the area. The story I read lead me to believe that the police that took care of the problem but later I found out that it was in fact the local drug cartel that found justice. In talking to an x-pat that has been there for a while, I was told that the cartel is the only real law in the area and they don't want any problems so, if you cause a real problem you're removed.

From what I was been told, the cartel even helped the widow through her difficult time after the killing.

Sad story.