Dozens of young men who are in the La Reforma prison in San Rafael de Alajuela don’t have shoes. After witnessing how the men often go around barefoot, the Ministry of Justice has started a donation campaign to collect footwear for the men who are aged 18 - 24. The ministry says at least 70 of the prison's young adult section’s 151 inmates have nothing but the government- issued sandals to wear...

The Financial Control Police (PCF) of the Costa Rica Treasury (Ministerio de Hacienda) carried out an important operation today in which they seized over 20 million cigarettes valued in one million dollars, they also confiscated cash and weapons. This action had the support of the National Security and Intelligence Office and it is part of a joint investigation both offices had been working on for...

The recent trial of a Lebanese man by the last name of Anis led to him receiving a 12-year prison sentence for smuggling migrants, reported the judiciary press office today. His trial was held earlier this month in the Criminal Court of Corredores, Puntarenas province,in the southern border region with Panama. He was sentenced to “aggravated illicit trafficking of persons” for his activities...

A new campaign has been launched to draw attention to child disappearances in Costa Rica, reported the state Electrical and Telecommunications Institute (ICE) yesterday. In January and February of this year, the Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ) Alert Unit received 146 reports of missing minors throughout the country. Fortunately, in all but one of these cases, the minors were located. The...

This morning at 5:20 a.m. police responded to a report of a man being shot in Sabana Sur, a residential neighborhood on the southern side of San José's La Sabana Metropolitan Park. The man, identified as Michael Chain Caspi (48) and of Israeli nationality, was here on one of his occasional visits to the country, said Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ) in a press conference this morning. Acc...

The Costa Rican Ministry of Public Security confirmed today the capture of a Somalian man suspected of international terrorism. Police arrested last night the African suspect at the Temporary Assistance Center for Migrants (CATEM) in El Cruce de Santa Cecilia, in the county of La Cruz, Guanacaste province, said the ministry. The Somalian is identified as 25-year-old Ibrahim Qoordheen. Police...

 - Police aid Italian woman recover her purse in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca A heightened police presence in the Caribbean tourist town of Puerto Viejo, south of the post city of Limón, has allowed police to prevent crime and also intervene successfully in some recent incidents. The increase in police came on the heels of the murder of a Canadian teacher who had left his hotel to take photographs e...

Coast guard officials yesterday confiscated an estimated 30 kilos of marine life and arrested five Spaniards in connection with violating several fishing laws, reported the Public Security Ministry. The men were found in an overloaded fishing boat near the Gulf of Nicoya off the Pacific port town of Puntarenas, using prohibited fishing gear, among other irregularities, by officers of the Calder...

Companies and individuals engaged in legal, real estate, agricultural, commercial and advisory services and consultancies are among the first 120 to be investigated by the Costa Rican tax administration, said the treasury department today. The names were identified in a publicly searchable database released last April during the Panama Papers scandal by the International Consortium of Investiga...

21-year-old Canadian Kayla Reid has decided to return to Newfoundland to avoid causing any problems for Natureboy and his community in Costa Rica. She described being stunned at the immense amount of negative media coverage of her move to Costa Rica earlier this month which she says was to be closer to nature. The CBC quoted from the Facebook she posted today in which she explained her decis...

Friday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) published an article on a 21-year-old woman from Corner Brook, Newfoundland who was declared missing by her family in early March. After the young woman, Kayla Jean Reid, had allegedly gone to a church retreat at the end of February and never returned home, her family contacted the Newfoundland police. As her family scoured the Internet for po...

Have you witnessed corruption in a court or judicial setting? Do you sense foul play and think you know who might be responsible? To aid the Costa Rican judiciary in fighting corruption within its ranks, there is now a free, confidential, 24-hour hotline where you can report your concerns. The resource is part of the Costa Rica Supreme Court of Justice's anti-corruption policy, said the judi...

The Panamanian Tourism Authority (ATP, its initials in Spanish) announced this week they are considering reactivating a medical insurance option offered for free to visitors to the Central American country, said the government entity. The consideration to reopen the program comes in the wake of the killing of a taxi driver Tuesday, March 14 in the early morning hours in which two Canadians were...

Investigations carried out by Drug Control Police (PCD, its initials in Spanish) unit of the Ministry of Public Security led to the dismantling of 20 narco criminal structures operating in the country, said the ministry. These police actions took place from January 1 until March 15. Fifteen of these narco clans operated locally, of which 8 were family-run groups. The remaining five narco operat...

A total of six Salvadorans have been arrested for their involvement in a shootout that left six people dead in downtown San Salvador, the head of the National Civil Police (PNC), Howard Cotto, confirmed at a press conference on Thursday. Cotto said that private security guard Hector Antonio Morales, 52, was murdered by three members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) gang, one of whom was captured ...

Since 1999 Costa Rica hasn’t built a new prison, but for this 2017, the country will have three new Comprehensive Care Units that will host 1,600 prisoners in spaces suitable for work and study. The new centers, which involve an investment of $66 million USD, will be located in San Rafael de Alajuela, Pococí de Limón and Pérez Zeledón,San José. The prisoners that will be allocated in these ...

In the wake of the tragic killing of a Canadian teacher over a week ago in Puerto Viejo, Limón, police have upped their presence. Through a number of different patrols, as well as meetings and conversations with community members and visitors, police aim to create a peaceful and safe environment for residents and tourists alike. An operation involving several different police forces has been...

A week ago today, Canadian tourist Bruce McCallum was mugged and stabbed to death in Puerto Viejo, Limón, when he was taking photographs of the sunrise. 51-year-old McCallum was a math teacher who apparently was on a sabbatical from his job at Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute; according to the Toronto Sun, McCallum loved traveling, nature and photography. Yesterday, close to 200 people f...

By Wendy Anders The day after International Women’s Day, a woman was nearly decapitated and left dead by her husband in a small town in Costa Rica. The country continues to move forward with protections of women’s rights in the workplace, in health care services, and in the streets with new anti-harassment legislation proposed, increased domestic violence services offered, greater gender awa...

Mexico City, Mar 7 — "Damaris," with lush black hair and inquisitive dark eyes, is a single mom who for the past four years has been a sex worker in Mexico City, fighting day by day against discrimination and police harassment. "We ask people not to judge us," she said. "Police persecution is horrible. They say you're a whore and almost treat you like an animal. They tell you 'If you want to n...

Costa Rican police have noted a significant drop in thefts and break-ins in the popular Central Pacific tourist region during the first two months of 2017. Police are attributing the decline to changes in their policing which includes strengthened preventive actions and greater cooperation with other regional agencies, said the Public Security Ministry. Thefts decreased by 66 cases in Januar...

This article was updated on Thursday, March 9 with correct name information for the victim. By Wendy Anders Today, in the early morning hours, a man was discovered lying along the side of the road with stab wounds in his stomach in the center of Puerto Viejo, a tourist beach town in the Atlantic coastal province of Limón, reported judicial investigative police (OIJ) press officials this afte...

A regional proposal by the Costa Rican Judiciary’s Restorative Justice Program was chosen from more than eighty projects submitted to an international competition organized by the European Union. The program proposes a regional approach to restorative justice, and will receive support from the European Union for its implementation, said European Union Ambassador Pelayo Castro Zuzuarregui. Costa...

Two cases of incestuous pregnancy in an underage girl were reported last week alone in Costa Rica. In the few days since the Costa Rica Professional Sociologists Association (CPSCR) published the following statement (which has been lightly edited and condensed) on Friday, February 24, local media (Repretel) reported on a new case of pregnancy in an underage girl in Costa Rica who reports having...

Seoul and Washington Wednesday began their annual joint military exercises amid heightened tension in the Korean peninsula owing to Pyongyang's latest missile tests and the alleged murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother. The first of these maneuvers, called Foal Eagle, which includes aerial, terrestrial and naval exercises, will continue until the end of April, announced the S...

The United Nations System in Costa Rica last week expressed concern about recent cases of sexual violence against the children and adolescents and increasing rates of reported violence in this population. Alice Shackelford, U.N. Resident Coordinator; Gordon Jonathan Lewis, Representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); and Paula Antezana, Assistant Representative of the United N...

This weekend, the Costa Rican Public Security Ministry (MSP) announced plans to build eleven new police stations throughout Costa Rica for a total investment of US$21.3 million. The infrastructure project began with the inauguration last week of Pérez Zeledón’s new facility in southern Costa Rica which is valued at US$2.3 million. The structure will improve operations of the region’s nearly 2,0...

Amidst increasing traffic accidents and road-related fatalities, Costa Rican police are calling on drivers to always, and correctly, use safety seats for children. A safety device is required for all children in a private vehicle under the age of twelve in Costa Rica, said the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT, in Spanish), who said in January this year 69 drivers were fined for...

Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration released a five-part agenda last Monday outlining specific steps the new Administration can take to promote public safety. The group urged President Donald Trump to embrace policies that reduce incarceration rates while strengthening efforts to fight violent crime, after he issued several executive orders on crime in early February. In a...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  It’s only common sense to think somebody, somewhere is planning a mass-casualty-shooting, bombing or other attack in the United States. Tick tock, tick tock. If the past is any indicator -- look out America. In this day and age protecting the nation ...

The case of a 13-year-old girl which came to light yesterday in Costa Rica and who is alleged to have been impregnated by her biological father has been cast into the spotlight of a moral debate surrounding child rights, health and access to therapeutic abortion in a country where the topic is still virtually taboo due to the predominant Catholic religion. The non-profit Costa Rican Acceder Fou...

An unexpected tragedy was in store last weekend for Canada’s Manitoba Rugby team who was in Costa Rica competing in the Rainforest 7s competition. On a trip to Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, player Peter Scouras, 33, drowned Monday around noon in the rough surf at Playa Hermosa beach, and Red Cross officials who responded to the accident were unable to resuscitate him, according to local Red Cross...

By Wendy Anders The Second Judicial Circuit prosecutor’s office in San José, Costa Rica detained a man yesterday, suspected of recruiting women, promising them jobs as models, and then sexually abusing them. According to the Public Security Ministry, the suspect, a man by the last names of Porras Rodezma (21), was arrested Monday afternoon in a house in Desamparados, where he apparently invi...

By Wendy Anders Have you ever filed for child support in Costa Rica, lodged a complaint for sexual harassment, or requested a restraining order from a partner or former partner? Your input and evaluation of these services is sought out as the Costa Rican justice system works to strengthen and improve their services for victims of gender-based violence, said the judiciary oversight department...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica’s Ombudsman's Office has given the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) a timeline to insure their compliance with across-the-board road safety educational programs in all of the country’s schools, from pre-school on up, said the Defensoría de Los Habitantes this week (The Defender of the Inhabitants or National Ombudsman’s Office). The country’s traffic and road saf...

By Wendy Anders Late Sunday afternoon, police observed suspicious activity at an automated teller machine (ATM) near the National University campus in downtown Heredia, Costa Rica which led to the detention of two men, said Pablo Calvo, Public Security Ministry spokesman, yesterday in a press conference. After observing the men leave the ATM and then head to another nearby ATM, police interv...

Almost 300 people in trucks and buses illegally entered the Corcovado National Park in the Osa Peninsula, through “Los Patos” sector, with the purpose of extracting gold. Men and women of different age groups are part of the group that have already began installing tents and temporary houses inside the National Park and some outside near the Termo river mouth. Eduardo Carrillo, director of the...

Hollywood actor and tech investor Ashton Kutcher urged U.S. legislators on Wednesday to drum up government support for the development of new technology to fight online sex trafficking. Kutcher's comments to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee follows heightened scrutiny of classified advertising websites such as Backpage.com for carrying ads that offer children for commercial sex. "Te...

If January’s lowered alcohol-related traffic deaths are a sign of things to come, then Costa Rica’s streets are getting a lot safer. Mario Calderón, director of Traffic Police, said his force was able to stop 228 drunk drivers last month through increased efforts. This may have led to a lowering by more than two-thirds the road deaths connected to drunk driving in January compared to December. ...

The Costa Rican State Electricity Agency (ICE, its Spanish acronym) is working to get the Pacific surf towns of Mal País, Santa Teresa and El Carmen better connected, said the company yesterday. With a team of 50 technicians, the country’s fiber optics network is being expanded in this region of the Costa Rican Pacific located on the southern end of the Nicoya Peninsula. The improvements wil...