The key to winning backing for environmental action from finance ministers is to present a solid economic case to back your argument, according to a former Costa Rican Environment and Energy Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, pushed hard for support from the Costa Rican treasury during his tenure with many positive results including the development of renewable energy and huge reforestation. “We f...

Costa Rica, among most other Latin American countries, celebrates the deceased on November 2nd every year. This day has several names, including Día de Todos Santos (All Saints Day), Día de Todos Almas (All Souls Day) and the more common Día De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Although this holiday is celebrated more in other Latin American countries, Costa Ricans remember the deceased by visitin...

Ever thought of writing a complaint to the police after being held up waiting for them to clear up a traffic accident? In a rare occurrence, Public Works and Traffic Minister Pedro Castro did just that Tuesday. A collision between a semi-trailer rig and a truck at 8:50 a.m. Tuesday left one person dead and snarled traffic on the San Jose-Santa Ana road in front of the Pequeño Mundo discount...

The mega concert by singer Lady Gaga in Costa Rica has provoked discussion on the profitability of such ventures. The many different forms of business models that exist for performances of this type by internationally renowned artists in markets such as Costa Rica, demonstrate that the cost benefit analysis of this activity is not easy. The risks become clear when you add up the number of ca...

Costa Rica's Ombudsman, (known in Spanish as the Defensoria de La Habitantes) Ofelia Taitelbaum is suspicious of the objectivity of a Chinese study of the local petroleum refinery RECOPE. She feels that the company, KBC, charged with conducting the marketing study, and HQCBC, tasked with a feasibility study, just may be more than a little friendly with the Chinese state petroleum giant, CNPC. ...

Costa Rica has, for years, been a top vacation destination for honeymooners, families, backpackers and those who just need a break. There's a special vibration that resonates throughout this Central American country that most can attribute to the Pura Vida or “pure life” attitude that the locals infuse into just about everything they do. Not only to fit in, but to make a trip to this country a spe...

Costa Rica's Call Center (CCC) is a state of the art telemarketing outsourcing call center located in the capital city of San Jose, Costa Rica in Central America. Our bilingual call centers primary objective is to personally fulfill your need of key BPO call center telemarketing services. The main focus of every BPO outsourcing campaign will always be to personally educated and enhance the skills ...

CONCACAF champion Costa Rica surrendered a goal two minutes before halftime and lost 3-1 to host Thailand on Thursday in its opening match at the Futsal World Cup. Suphawut Thueanklang scored one goal and set up another to lead Thailand, which claimed the early Group A lead over Urkaine and Paraguay, which drew 3-3 in an earlier match. Thueanklang fed Keattiyot Chalaemkhet to put Thailand ah...

The President of the Republic of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, will be one of the thousands who will be at the Lady Gaga concert offered this Saturday at the National Stadium. The information was confirmed this afternoon by Viva Don Stockwell, representative of the production company for the concert RPMTV. Stockwell said the president will be in the area of the Presidential box. Chinchil...

Judicial police found in 2010 that an employee at the Alajuela Criminal Court was allegedly informing a "friend" of the status of an investigation for his alleged involvement with a car theft ring known as Los Gallos. But it has taken two years to reach a point of her dismissal, although she appears to have been transfered to a less sensitive section of the court, according to a report in the n...

Bertilio Quiros, 72, died at a farm in San Isidro de El General in the southern part of the country, trampled under the hooves of his own oxen in an accident unique even in the days when oxen were common farm animals here. Quiros used the team every working day to gather up and haul sugar cane. Apparently, he slipped and fell Tuesday, the slow moving and docile, but weighty beasts continuing to...

In the past The Costa Rica Star has reported numerous times on Coco's Island Costa Rica. There are few places left where you can predictably encounter tiger sharks without luring them in with bait, and to the surprise of many, Costa Rica's Cocos Island is now one of them. Cocos, a national park 340 miles off the Central American nation's Pacific coast, is best-known for its large schools...

From November 1st to November 3rd 2012, The Costa Rica Star will be receiving press releases about local businesses here in Costa Rica. If you own or manage a local business and would like us to publish an article about it in our press release section, please read carefully below, normally this service costs $100 USD per press release. However, we are giving away free press releases to those of yo...

Both Costa Rica and Botswana stand above their regional neighbors in the 2012 Prosperity Index. One reason for this lies in the strength of their institutions, which have undoubtedly benefited from advantageous historical moments where political leaders have made difficult choices to commit to developing democratic institutions. As their neighboring countries seek their own paths to prosperity,...

In the past The Costa Rica Star has published many articles about Volcano Brewing Company. Costa Rica is well known for its beautiful beaches, lush, wildlife-filled jungles, and ideal climate, not to mention low cost of living, bargain real estate, and low-cost medical care. “There was only one problem with Costa Rica,” says California native Joe Walsh. “No pale ale.” So he solved the problem...

Update: thank you Danny Haelewaters, the original author of this article, for allowing us to publish it. In the past The Costa Rica Star has published numerous articles about Sea Turtles in Costa Rica. Costa Rica - It has been named the promised land of biodiversity, Mother of Ecotourism, and it also harbors one of the most important nesting sites for sea turtles. Five of the world’s seven s...

Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim expressed hope that Turkey would soon sign an air transportation agreement with Costa Rica which had been on the agenda for the last ten years. Prior to his meeting with Costa Rica's Minister of Foreign Relations Jose Enrique Castillo, Yildirim said that he previously attended Caribbean countries' economic cooperation meeting, and all Caribbean co...

Who says that Costa Ricans don't have imagination? The Universidad Americana's 19th edition of their Expotec and their Senior Adult Science Fair drew hundreds of all sorts of useful scientific applications. Expotec 2012 was open to kids kindergarten through high school who proudly demonstrated 350 samples of ingenuity from 1,200 students. The Expotec fair was shown in Cedes de Don Bosco ...

Air pollution in Costa Rica’s capital San Jose has exceeded the standard level set by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a study said Tuesday. The concentration of atmospheric particulate matter, or PM2.5, in the air reaches as high as 31 micrograms per cubic meter (31mcg/m3), while international norms say there should be no more than 10mcg/m3, acc...

Last month The Costa Rica Star published an article about La Ruta de los Conquistadores, and how you have to be tough as nails to finish it. JACO, Costa Rica - When the notion of racing a mountain bike across Costa Rica was conjured up 20 years ago it was about more than riding a bike; it was about the adventure to be had between the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Adventure and then some i...

The Costa Rican Chamber of Construction has requested explanations about recent public works contracts through other States or international organizations. A statement from the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction (CCC) reads: CCC REQUESTS TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS AND PUBLIC WORKS In a memorandum to President Laura Chinchilla, the Costa Rican Cham...

The National Institute of Housing and Urban Development has announced the creation of a trust to finance housing for middle-income families. According to an article in Nacion.com, the new CEO of the National Institute of Housing and Urban Development (INVU in Spanish), Alvaro Gonzalez, said three lots are available in the province of San José, where the plan is to build high rise condominiums...

Public employees' job performance is evaluated each year and the workers treated with a bonus for excellence, but Labor Minister Sandra Piszk doesn't think the system has ever worked properly. A rough draft of a reform bill was presented to lawmakers this month and has already resulted in a teachers' strike last week. Piszk believes it is because employees have come to regard annual bonuses as ...

Costa Ricans must wait about a month for an expected drop in gasoline and diesel prices while the public services rate watchdog agency ARESEP holds public hearings mandated by the Supreme Court's Constitutional Chamber (Sala IV) in 2008. This situation disturbs President Laura Chinchilla who would otherwise have the price at the pump drop immediately. Since the government-owned refinery, RECOPE...

The current situation of organized crime in Central America is the central topic of a meeting carried out by the general district attorneys of the area, said the Judicial Power of Costa Rica here Monday. According to the General District Attorney of Costa Rica, Jorge Chavarría, the program of the Net against Organized Crime is giving positive results in the area, although the high indexes of de...

Thailand coach Victor Hermans is worried about his men's fragile defence ahead of the first match of their Futsal World Cup campaign against Costa Rica on Thursday. The Dutch coach said yesterday that Brazil and Spain, the only two nations who have won the world title, are again favourites to be crowned champions. He said Paraguay, Italy and Russia could reach the top in the seventh World Cu...

One of the structures that suffered damage from the 7.6 magnitude earthquake was the colonial church of Nicoya, which was built in 1544. Plans for its restoration are now underway, according to Adrian Vindas, director of the Conservation Center of the Patrimonial Church. Vindas explained that the major damages are to the vault and the façade, the walls of which split apart and cracked in place...

The President of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla criticized state-owned commercial banks for being directly responsible for the high interest rates plaguing the economy. Nacion.com reports that "President Laura Chinchilla recently said that Costa Rican public banks "are over stepping their hand" with interest rates in colones which are hitting Costa Rican’s wallets." Chinchilla said "it is the p...

Investigators are trying to determine whether a body found last week in a vacant lot in San Jose is that of a Mexican journalist who disappeared in June, the press reported. Pascual Tarin Avila's relatives in Mexico have been contacted by the Judicial Investigations Agency to see whether or not the body found last Tuesday is his, the La Nacion newspaper said. The 53-year-old Tarin, who worke...

Evanescence will perform live in Costa Rica for the first time. The amazing voice of Amy Lee accompanied by the sound of the Evanescence band will rock Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in Tibás. Evanescence is an American rock band founded back in 1995 in Little Rock, Arkansas. The group consisted singer/pianist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After many single releases, Evanescence released t...

The situation was so unique that the normally unflappable president of the Supreme Court, Luis Paulino Mora, appeared uncertain of how to go about treating it and called a meeting of top Judges this week. Judge Priscilla Quiros had submitted a letter to Mora last week in which she accused a fellow Judge, Oscar Gonzalez, of sexual and workplace harassment. The closed door meeting Monday decid...

Every time the south Altantic breeds a hurricane, narrow Costa Rica suffers because the low pressure sucks in wet air from the Pacific to dump torrential rains on the Pacific coast. So the story went this week with Hurricane Sandy, which hit Haiti and Jamaica hard with high winds and rainfall. But it also brought flooding that isolated 200 families in Costa Rica. Roads were damaged, especial...

Finca Luna Nueva will be hosting its second “Slow Food in the Rainforest” luncheon in celebration of Terra Madre Day on December 9, 2012. It will be a fun and exciting day at our eco-lodge in the rainforest. The event will start between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. with an introductory gathering in Casa Luna where we will serve fresh juice, coffee or tea, and galletas, after which the group will spli...

With a new public works minister taking office and announcements of new highway investments last week, Costa Rica’s infrastructure plans seem to be full speed ahead. Due to a 13 percent reduction in capital expenditures and a 2.4 percent cut for the public works ministry next year, the Costa Rican government has looked abroad for credit and investments to beef up the country’s infrastructure. “The...

FRIDAY - OCTOBER 26, 2012 A pair of three-goal performances from Claudio Goodridge and Fernando Mena led Panama to a 7-5 victory over host Thailand in the first of two futsal friendlies in Bangkok on Friday. Miguel Lasso had the other goal for the Canaleros, who earned their second consecutive victory against an Asian opponent after topping Malaysia earlier this week. Panama continues pre...

Crossing Latin American international borders is rarely easy or pleasant (why do they always smell like pee and desperation?). Things are even more complicated when you’re driving across in your own vehicle as part of an overland road trip. We hope these border crossing tips help you travel across the Peñas Blancas border from Nicaragua into Costa Rica smoothly with or without a vehicle. From: ...

Donald Trump, the U.S. billionaire real-estate developer, is seeking to put his name on hotels in Argentina and Brazil as he expands his brand in Latin America. Uruguay, Costa Rica and Mexico are also possibilities for hotel development as trade growth for the region equals China, said Eric Trump, executive vice president of development and acquisitions at Trump Organization Inc. The Trump O...

NEW YORK, Oct. 26, 2012 - KPS Capital Partners, LP ("KPS") announced today that it signed a definitive agreement to sell its portfolio company, North American Breweries Holdings, LLC ("NAB" or the "Company"), to Cerveceria Costa Rica, S.A. ("CCR"), a subsidiary of Florida Ice and Farm Company, S.A., for $388 million in cash. NAB is one of the largest independently owned beer companies in the ...

In Costa Rica, the new tax law increases the penalties for mistakes and omissions in income tax statements. Effective from September 28, the Law for Strengthening Tax Management and Law for Enforcing Standards of Fiscal Transparency in some cases doubles fines to be paid for misreporting. Errors without malice will be subject to a penalty of 50% of the unpaid amount, when it used to be 25%...

Almost unnoticed in the turmoil surrounding numerous scandals, the Chinchilla Administration's vow to make the country an easier place to do business seems to have borne some fruit. The nation jumped 12 places in the Doing Business ranking by the World Bank. Vice President Luis Liberman, among others in both the Oscar Arias and Chinchilla administrations, have been working on the problem. Pr...