Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security, alarmed at rising drug use among Costa Rican teenagers, now conducts unannounced random drug searches in high schools. Since March, the ministry’s Regional Anti-Drug Program (PRAD in Spanish) has found illegal drugs – usually marijuana – in 65% of its raids, said program coordinator Fernando Córdoba Brenes. Nine percent of Costa Rican teens admit to ...

Herbal Greetings from AmaTierra: We're getting ready to harvest our fresh, organic Turmeric (curcuma longa) that, once we solar-dry and grind it, we sell in our gift shop and use in the kitchen and in custom herbal formulas. If you don’t know about this spice which adds color to curries, you may be missing out on one of the most helpful herbs in existence. Turmeric has fabulous anti-infla...

We have commented in the past about reasons for the poor state of streets and highways in this country. Yes, lack of maintenance, poor materials, climate and lack of drainage play their part. But the tendency of truckers to overload their vehicles until the frame sags under the weight plays a big part in beating to death of innocent stretches of local pavement. The highway people, Conavi, have ...

President Laura Chinchilla has long been a fan of natural gas due to its low carbon emissions, so it came as no shock when she signed a decree this week declaring importation of the fuel "in the public interest." She said that the fuel would be an "transition" measure until the country develops alternative fuels. No doubt she has her eye on the 2021 deadline for the country to become carbon neu...

Complaints from Costa Rican tourism businesses have been constant since the crisis of 2008-2009, but now a survey shows that business is not so bad. A statement from the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) reads: Study reveals industry perception in terms of profitability, employment and demand for tourist services - 69% of respondents maintained their staffing levels. - 70% of employe...

A police under-lieutenant at Los Chiles was recalled from his post by Deputy Security Minister Celso Gamboa for allegedly giving a most un-Costa Rican order -- "Shoot to kill." Supposedly, the order was given by the officer identified as Efrain Sanabria in an eviction of squatters from farmland. The operation was carried out Friday without a hitch and with the arrest of four squatters. This ...

So-called "Black Friday," an import from the United States in the offering of bargains after the Thanksgiving holiday, brought out hordes of shoppers who exhibited none of the rudeness and ill-temper of U.S. counterparts recorded on CNN and other international media. Local shoppers appear less territorial and desperate than up north. Still, the national newspaper La Nacion recorded some complai...

A poll of households by the National Statistics and Census Institute seems to indicate that poverty stubbornly refuses to go away in the country in crushing the hopes of one fifth of the population. Although the data looks good on paper, 20.6% in 2012 as opposed to 21.6% last year, the statisticians are quick to point out that the seeming change for the better is within the margin for error of ...

The logo and mascot of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2014 have been unveiled at the official presentation to launch the fourth edition of the tournament. Costa Rica’s political and sporting leaders were present at the event, which took place on Wednesday 21 November in the capital San Jose. Costa Rica is the first Central American country to host a FIFA women’s tournament of any ag...

Costa Rican authorities inaugurated the country’s first large-scale solar energy plant, built with a $10 million Japanese donation. President Laura Chinchilla and the head of the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity, or ICE, Teofilo de la Torre, inaugurated the Miravalles solar park in Bagaces, a small town in the northwestern province of Guanacaste. “Today we not only took another step in t...

While motorcyclists continued to mount protests against the stiff rise in insurance premiums for next year, the National Insurance Institute (INS) revealed that accident claims by the government-owned company costs them eight billion colones per year in medical costs. In 2011, INS shelled out 53% of its medical expenses to treat motorcyclists of injuries connected with their means of transport....

Yesterday The Costa Rica Star reported on $1 million destined for poverty housing in Costa Rica disappearing. As prosecutors open bank accounts of the Arias Foundtion for Peace in search of a missing million dollar donation from Taiwan, the Central American Bank for Economic Development issued a statement Thursday that may clear up the mystery. The Bank says the money, the second half of a d...

The abortive firing of Constitutional Judge Fernando Cruz by a vote of the Legislative Assembly still simmers in some highly academic circles. The session that contained that vote by representatives was declared invalid by the president of the Assembly. But the move still resulted in a demonstration Thursday morning in front of the Supreme Court building -- not a march but a gathering of magist...

Brace yourselves: It may be merely a political ploy or it may be a mega-scandal brewing. But prosecutors are investigating whether a million dollars of building funds for poverty housing may have been hijacked by the Arias Foundation. The original $2,488,500 donation was earmarked for the Housing Ministry by Taiwan to fund housing in Pavas. In 2007, the money was supposed to have been deposited...

The privatization of telecommunications in Costa Rica is still hampered by bureaucracy and lack of agreements in favor of consumers. They are still 13 Costa Rican municipalities who are not authorizing the installation of “so called” cell towers because of lack of regulations in this respect, or because the regulations, where they do exist, contains disproportionate demands which make it "virtu...

Once again, the local creativity will have an original venue to showcase art! Fresh ideas, creativity and emergent artistic proposals will showcase at the coming “Pecha Kucha Night, San José Costa Rica 2012” this coming Wednesday November 28th on the 6th floor and the rooftop of the new parking building of Avenida Escazú (one block to the right from Starbucks). 15 artistic voices will talk to u...

They were made from structural steel found in the walls of La Reforma prison cells -- 600 knives, not innocent kitchen knives, mind you but lethal weapons, all of them were laboriously made by the convicts. This is what a special force of 800 policemen found this week when they conducted an exhaustive search. What is chilling is how the prisoners got the raw material. The director of the cou...

Analysis: The recent spike in poll figures for Mayor of San Jose, Johnny Araya, in the race for presidential nomination of National Liberation Party leave challengers Fernando Berrocal and Rodrigo Arias with battles they appear to be meeting in vastly different ways. Berrocal has launched, more or less, the specifics of his program, directly challenging his rivals to do the same. Arias, by cont...

The Bailey bridges are all dismantled on the General Cañas Highway and all is right with the world. After five months, the giant crater that opened up in July and had to be bridged by temporary portable structures is finally fixed. The bridges were dismantled last Thursday night and the 12-centimeter-thick covering of asphalt laid on over the weekend, finally ending the traffic snarls made wors...

Police say they nabbed two ringleaders capable of forging nearly anything: driver's licenses, permits to carry guns, residency identification cards, (cedulas de residencia) for foreigners, even Riteve auto inspection certification papers. Friday cops raided a San Sebastian apartment equipped with all the machinery necessary to document falsification. And the easy stuff, like those cited above, ...

The area related to the Port of Limon now has its own Promotion Agency, with private and public operators, and an investment guide to promote its development. The Agency for the Development of Limon is presented as "a nonprofit joint entity of public utility made up of entrepreneurs, chambers, universities, government agencies and civil society to develop the potential of the economy of Limon a...

The long wait for surgical services at La Anexion Hospital in Nicoya will soon end. The two operating rooms will be ready on November 26th, when they have approval from the Ministry of Healthy. This was confirmed by Juan Jose Li Kam, director of the medical center, who indicated that the work done to the structures included repairing the ventilation ducts, which are necessary for the air cond...

Nicoyans came out by the dozens to celebrate, together with teachers, students and stakeholders, the inauguration of a new library for the city this past Thursday November 15th. Song and speech kicked off the plan to create a new library, steps away from the municipality office in Nicoya, and to bring new tools, resources, and information-gathering capabilities to the people of Nicoya and the s...

If you're contemplating building a new home next year, prepare yourself to pay higher taxes than before, reports the national newspaper La Nacion. But you'll have to pay higher construction costs on which the taxes are predicated, say officials. The paper reported that you'll pay 29.7% to 41% more in taxes next year than this year. In the case of a home with the outside wall of concrete bloc...

Analysis: A recent Unimer survey commissioned by the national newspaper La Nacion reveals that the average Costa Rican is disgusted with his government and his revulsion and impatience is taking a drastic turn. The danger of this dim view is expressed most strongly in the question asked, "In some circumstances, an authoritarian government can be preferable to a democratic one." In 2006, only...

In what is generally regarded as a change of position, the Catholic Episcopal Conference of bishops have decided to leave it up to parents whether to allow their children to attend sex education classes. The pronouncement comes four months before the Education Ministry mandated classes are to start in the nation's public schools. The Constitutional Court (Sala IV) has already ruled that parents...

San José, Costa Rica - Nov. 17th - The First Regional Forum for youths from the Costarican Caribbean coast “Climate Change and youth leadership: actions for the future”, was held on November 10th and 11th 2012, executed by Manos a la Costa Project, with the support of the European Union. This forum was organized by the Foundation for Peace and Democracy (FUNPADEM), the National Biodiversity Ins...

Costa Rica will launch an initiative to replace older, inefficient refrigerators that emit ozone-depleting HFCs, with newer and cleaner models. The program, which will start next year, is led by the Ministry of Environment and Energy in collaboration with the Costa Rican Electricity Institute. The goal is to replace 300,000 refrigerators per year for a total of 2.7 million. Initially the progr...

In the past The Costa Rica Star had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Franklin Chang. You don't have to be a professional investor like Warren Buffet or a rocket scientist to regard the news with excitement: a European firm has announced its intention to buy stock in Ad Astra Rocket. Ad Astra is the company of Costa Rican physicist and former astronaut Dr. Franklin Chang working on the plasm...

In what the national newspaper La Nacion termed "an historic vote," 38 lawmakers opted to remove Judge Fernando Cruz from his post on the Supreme Court's Constitutional Chamber (Sala IV). Then, Gloria Valerin, an expert in parliamentary procedure, dropped the bomb--the vote should have come before Oct. 19 if they really wanted to get rid of the judge. It appears that Cruz's appointment expir...

A new loan from the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad will allow its subsidiary Racsa to stay afloat despite its finances continuing to deteriorate. This is how things are reflected in its assets, which decreased between 28% and 29% over a period of one year, from October 2011 to October 2012. Racsa (Radiographic Costarricense) will close in the red, although with slightly better figur...

The tricks and acrobatics on a bicycle or a skateboard are being transmitted by radio through the bilingual program “Cultura Alternativa” (Alternative Culture). The program is dedicated to sharing experiences about these extreme sports, interviewing the big national and international stars of skateboarding and BMX and listening to the best hip-hop. The programming is being overseen by Nicoyan L...

New eye care technology at the universal health care system (Caja) means that patients unable to produce tears to bathe the eye have relief from this painful condition, reports the national newspaper La Nacion. And cornea transplants today have an unprecedentedly low chance of being rejected due to new techniques. The paper cited the case of Amalia Alfaro, a Tica who endured three years of a...

The international airport in the capital of Costa Rica, will be too small to meet the air traffic needs of Costa Rica in the next 10 years. In 1996 the U.S. consultancy firm TAMS Inc. "recommended the Civil Aviation authority to move the administration of Juan Santamaria Airport into private hands, while a new terminal was being built", which should be operational in 2020. Nacion.com reports...

CONCACAF SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (Nov. 14, 2012) - Costa Rica surrendered a goal in the first minute of second-half injury time and had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Bolivia in an international friendly on Wednesday. Carlos Saucedo tallied his fourth goal in a month for Bolivia to equalize after Joel Campbell had given the Ticos the lead in the 72nd minute. The 20-year-old Campbell, who is in hi...

SUGESE, the insurance industry regulatory agency in Costa Rica, announced this week the rates for the obligatory automobile insurance for 2013. These are a portion of the Marchamo tax due by December 31st of each year. The Marchamo, also called "derecho de circulación" is tax raising measure that includes several programs and institutions. In every category the premiums rose when compared to la...

Washington, D.C., November 15, 2012 (PAHO/WHO) — Diabetes has become a leading cause of death and disability in the Region of the Americas, and if current trends continue, the burden of the disease will increase substantially over the next two decades, according to experts at the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). On November 14, PAHO/WHO will celebrate World...

Down at WLTG 97 and a bit a zany cast of characters are coming together to put on a traditional Live Radio Christmas Show. Unfortunately times are hard and their sponsors, Claus and Kringle, makers of an organic green “high octane” fuel called Reindeer Nuggets, --- ” … They’re bigger than diamonds, better than coal!” ---- are threatening to close the account if the show does not meet th...

For many people, no creature evokes the kind of disgust and horror that snakes do, and Costa Rica has an abundance of slithering serpents known to have deadly dentures. But the reality is that snakebites are few and far-between. On average, 504 people are bit per year in all of Costa Rica, according to a review of medical facility data by Mahmood Sasa from the University of Costa Rica. And than...

This is a great sign for the future of English news media here in Costa Rica. Nearly two decades after ex-President Jose Maria Figueres took the forward step of initiating English classes for grade school students, the program is finally gaining headway. The program got off to a slow start in Figueres' term (1994-98) but by 2005 nearly three-quarters of primary students were receiving some E...