Wikimedia Commons Washington, May 1 (EFE).- Singer Ben E. King, best known for his 1961 gospel-influenced hit "Stand By Me," has died, his agent told ABC News. He was 76. The star, whose real name was Benjamin Earl Nelson, died of "coronary problems" in New Jersey, Randy Irwin said. King, who began his artistic career in the late 1950s singing with the doo wop and R&B group The Drift...

File photo of retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro. EFE/File By Mar Centenera Buenos Aires, Apr 28 (EFE).- "No contact with Manila," Ernesto "Che" Guevara wrote several times in his diary as he marched to his death in Bolivia and, behind the phrase, is Cuban leader Fidel Castro's betrayal and abandonment of the legendary guerrilla fighter, Cuban journalist Alberto Müller said. "Manila" was ...

Wikimedia Commons San Juan, Apr 20 (EFE).- Seeds for the first legal marijuana crop were sown at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies in Jamaica on Monday, a few days after the amendments to the bill decriminalizing marijuana for medicinal and religious purposes came into effect. In a statement, UWI said that Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Minister Phillip Paulwell p...

"Mad Men season 5 cast photo" by Source (WP:NFCC#4). Licensed under Fair Use via Wikimedia Commons Los Angeles, Apr 4 (EFE).- The winding down of the critically acclaimed "Mad Men" saga, hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as the best drama series of all time, marks an end of an era for the AMC cable network and U.S. television and will be must-see viewing over the next several weeks for millions...

ISIS fighters in Iraq. Source: Wikimedia Commons Mosul, Iraq, Apr 4 (EFE).- Jihadists of the radical Islamic State posted a video Saturday showing how they recently destroyed ancient statues in the northern Iraqi city of Hatra, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985. The destruction was confirmed to Efe by an official of the Tourism Ministry in the northern province of Nineveh. ...

On April 4th, 1885, the international Red Cross and Red Crescent movement formally inaugurated operations in Costa Rica. On this Holy Saturday, Red Cross staff and volunteers in Costa Rica would certainly like to take a moment to celebrate their 130th anniversary of providing a most noble service in our country; alas, they are very busy rendering emergency medical service to residents and visitors...

ENOB - Basquiat, 1985. Flickr Commons By Mateo Sancho Cardiel New York, Apr 3 (EFE).- He was among the most influential yet one of the shortest-lived artists of the second half of the 20th century, but the complicated mind of Jean-Michel Basquiat, which raised him to fame and plunged him into self-destruction, has a roadmap in the eight hand-written notebooks being exhibited starting Friday...

Photograph from a Santa Cruz brothel in the 1960s Most of the research conducted on the topic of prostitution in Costa Rica tends to be concentrated in the Greater San Jose Metropolitan Area (Spanish acronym: GAM) and on the phenomenon of sexual tourism, which has been on the increase over the last few years. Almost invariably, academic researchers who study prostitution in Costa Rica focus...

Wikimedia Commons Charlotte, North Carolina, Mar 26 (EFE).- The Aztec empire was not as powerful as previously thought and did not enjoy total domination of its central Mexican heartland, according to a study published by the Journal of Archaeological Science. "The Geopolitics of Obsidian Supply in Postclassic Tlaxcallan" is the product of a collaboration among researchers from North Caroli...

Some of the pre-Columbian arhaeological pieces repatriated from France to Peru are put on display Tuesday in Lima, where officials held a ceremony to mark the return of cultural heritage items from Canada, Chile, Spain, the United States, France, Japan and Switzerland. EFE Lima, Feb 25 (EFE).- A total of 3,898 archaeological pieces will be repatriated this year to Peru from Argentina following...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The life and times of one of the most iconic and controversial musicians in the history of rock 'n' roll have been adapted for the stage by a Costa Rica-based author. Some readers of The Costa Rica Star and Jaco Beach residents are familiar with Britt Nelson, a man with a long and illustrious journalism career in the United States. Growing up in the DC area in the ...

Source: Focus Features A penetrating film that deals with a very delicate, yet factual and historic, Cold War narrative, is now available on DVD. Kill the Messenger was modestly released to regional audiences in the United States last year; it has received positive reviews thanks to actor Jeremy Renner's powerful performance as the late journalist Gary Webb. Kill the Messenger is based on t...

Earlier this week, members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sat in their Sunset Screening Room and enjoyed the second screening of a movie directed by Laura Astorga, a filmmaker from Costa Rica. Making it to a second screening at the Academy is a big deal for a movie that hopes be nominated for the Foreign Language Film category of the 2015 Oscars, and there is a strong chance th...

The people of Catalonia, an autonomous region of Spain, have democratically spoken: They want out of the Kingdom of Spain, and they are supporting their leaders who are concocting a plan for independence to be achieved in the next two years. As 80 percent of more than two million Catalans turned to the polls to vote on an unofficial independence referendum, some residents of Guanacaste, the former...

Although World Teacher's Day was celebrated on Sunday, October 5th this year, Costa Rica chooses to observe this important, yet often ignored, holiday on November 22nd. This year, the holiday fell on a Saturday, when most public schools do not operate, so the Ministry of Education (Spanish initials: MEP) decided to celebrate Teacher's Day with a paid holiday break on Friday. Costa Rica is hardl...

  Afro-Costa Rican Fashion. Source: Corredor Cultural del Caribe The history of Costa Rica cannot be told without recognizing the important sociocultural contribution of the Afro-Caribbean community. In 1980, the Union of Educators in Costa Rica realized that a truly multicultural and ethnically diverse society needs to take time to celebrate its roots, and thus El Día del Negro (Afro-...

Dr. Collado - Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs On April 12th, in the pretty Italian town of Casalecchio di Reno, province of Bologna, Ambassador Jaime Feinzaig Rosenstein was the guest of honor during the inauguration of the Giardini della Casa per la Pace alla Repubblica di Costa Rica (Park of Costa Rica at the House of Peace). Two historic events motivated the kind gesture: The brave sacr...

Not much is known about the first native peoples to live near the massive Rincon de la Vieja Volcano in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province. A new archaeology tour at the area’s eco-lodge Hacienda Guachipelin will help shed some light on the mysteries of these indigenous ancestors of Costa Rica. “We’re rescuing the cultural traditions of Guanacaste,” said Fernando Camacho Mora, archaeologist in ch...

Source: Imgur Although there is no historical question as to the events of April 11, 1856 during the Battle of Rivas in Nicaragua, there are conspiracy theorists and historical revisionists who claim that the brave Juan Santamaria, National Hero of Costa Rica, did not exist. We start hearing from these negationists each year around late March; they tend to invade online social networks and oth...

Coming at the end of March to the Osa southern region of Costa Rica, the ninth Festival of the Stone Spheres celebrates one of the most enigmatic historical and cultural mysteries of Costa Rica. The 2014 Festival of the Spheres will be held March 26 to 30 in Palmar Sur, Palmar Norte and Sierpe. Put on by the National Museum of Costa Rica, the majority of the activities will be at its new satell...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The frantic search for Malaysia Airlines passenger flight MH370, which never reached its Beijing destination after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, has turned into a hijacking investigation as Prime Minister Najib Razak stated that the Boeing 777-200ER may have been deliberately diverted off course. Hopes of finding the aircraft remain strong; alas, aviation history in C...

Finished in July, 1908, the historic prison in Heredia has long fallen into disuse and deterioration. But today it is undergoing a 450 million colon facelift that will turn back the clock from its decline through weathering and neglect. The project began last September, a project of the Ministry of Culture's efforts to preserve historic landmarks. The architecture is typical of the massive (and...

Prior to the 1970s, paranormal activity in Costa Rica was mostly the stuff of folklore passed from generations dating back to the times when Conquistadors were busy claiming the newfound Americas for the Spanish Crown. Some scary tales actually originated before Columbus arrived; they were told by the indigenous people of Costa Rica, who in some way descended from the Mayas. When a former mental h...

The most widely accepted historical version of events related to the origin of Costa Rica's name involves gold; or, more precisely, an embellishment thereof. When Columbus discovered the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica during one of his whirlwind voyages of exploration in 1502, he wrote to the Spanish Crown that he had found a coast that was rich in both nature and lots of gold. More than five centu...

October 12 (or the nearest Monday to it) is traditionally celebrated throughout the Americas as the day Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492. In Spanish speaking countries, is is known as “Día de la Raza”, in English speaking countries, the day is celebrated as Columbus Day. In Costa Rica, the name of the holiday has changed over the years, today known as “Día de las Culturas” (Day of Cultur...

Source: Wikimedia Commons With two powerful slogans and a patriotic call, a small militia group in Costa Rica shut down its online presence and put an end to a short-lived existence that came under heavy criticism and a strong warning by the Ministry of Public Safety (Spanish initials: MSP). The Patrulla 1856 (Patrol 1856) was apparently an informal militia group that was attempting to take up...

Source: ANDRÉS GARITA, La Nacion It has been 192 years since the final defeat of the Spanish in the Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821) when the authorities in Guatemala declared the independence of all of Central America. And so now, every year a flaming torch is carried from Guatemala starting on Sept. 11 all the way to the former colonial capital of Costa Rica in Cartago, symbolizing th...

The article below is a long detailed guest post by Margie Thompson of Escribana “This place is magical. … the Southern Caribbean has such an attraction that when people come here they can’t explain why they want to stay.” (Maritza Morales Williams, young Afro Costa Rican from Puerto Viejo) Famous for being one of the most biologically rich areas in the world with a population comprised of a uniq...

A giant wooden armadillo trophy was presented to Jose Joaquin Fernandez Castrillo at the Annexation celebration on Wednesday, July 24, as the winner of “La Gran Nicoya” award in recognition of his contributions to both local and international journalism. “I have endeavored to always disseminate the great events of Nicoya,” Fernandez said as he accepted the award. Fernandez, who was ...

Did you know that Nicoya was the name of the reigning monarch in this area at the time of the arrival of the Spanish in 1520? This and many interesting Nicoyan historical facts will be commemorated on July 25th during the Nocturbano, a guided city tour, starting at 7 p.m., that is taking place due to the initiative of Nicoyan native Cesar Rodriguez. The Nocturbano is an initiative launched in 2...

Last weekend I finally got to visit a place I’ve been wanting to see all year long! My friends and I took a visit to the Duran Sanatorium (El Sanatorio Duran) near Cartago, Costa Rica. The Duran Sanatorium is considered one of the most haunted places in all of Costa Rica, and it was only a half hour drive out of San Jose. It has even been featured on an episode of Ghost Hunters International. ...

If it was 25 years ago, you wouldn’t want to go to San Lucas Island. The small, forested island in the middle of Costa Rica’s Nicoya Gulf was the roughest jail in the country. Being sent to San Lucas Island was a terrible prospect; prisoners’ lives were short and often spent in torture. Thankfully, today, the prisoners are gone and San Lucas Island has been transformed into a national wildlife ...

The prison island San Lucas has a dark history as the most brutal prison in Costa Rica. The prison ran between 1873 and 1991 and housed the most notorious and dangerous criminals in Costa Rica, but is now being converted into a tourist destination. Located close to Puntarenas, the area is already a major tourist destination. The island San Lucas, 472 acres, is located three kilometers from ...

Spend only hours in Costa Rica and you are still likely to come across the ubiquitous brand of Dos Pinos. Easily the most popular and profitable Dairy Operation in Costa Rica (and much of Central America), their milk, ice cream, yogurts, cheeses and other varied list of dairy (and other) products can be found in every Costa Rica hotel, business, restaurant and private household in the county, ...

In the year 1921 a new project was started in Costa Rica by the Latin American Mission. Several missionaries of various nationalities came to this country with the goal of helping those in greatest need. Mr. Henry Strachan, of Scottish nationality, and his Irish wife Susan Strachan joined this noble cause after having served as evangelical missionaries in Argentina for 17 years. Upon their arr...

It has been said that Costa Rica is a Third World and Underdeveloped Country, but it’s difficult to think of Costa Rica under these terms, when we consider the new expressways, abundant shopping malls, modern office towers and North American style restaurants. However, in the true sense of the definition of a Third World Country, Costa Rica still fits into this category and that could be one o...

Workers digging a secondary drainage canal for a banana plantation in Costa Rica’s Osa canton discovered what is just the latest in series of stone spheres that raise more questions than they answer for archaeologists. Locally the stone spheres are known as Las Bolas. Over the years just over three hundred of them have been discovered across the Diqius Delta and on Isla del Cano in Costa Rica. ...

A recent article in the online version of the Cleveland Jewish News described a typical example of conflict resolution in Costa Rica. Dental practitioner Dr. Yoav Taub and his wife arrived in the Juan Santamaria International Airport and tried to clear customs with a few days' supply of kosher food. As previously reported in The Costa Rica Star, importing food into our country can be a highly bur...

In the wake of rumors about American gossip target Casey Anthony's plans to move to Costa Rica and the interest of reality television producers in our country, it is always refreshing to learn cool stories about expatriates who come to our country with notable, rather than notorious, backgrounds and whose lifestyles here add value to our communities. In Los Angeles Sur, a small rural community ...

As Ticos celebrate the ultimate sacrifice of Costa Rica's favorite son and National Hero, Juan "El Erizo" Santamaria, it is important to look beyond the nice summer day off from work, the lack of vehicular restriction in downtown San Jose, and the fact that Juan Santamaria volunteered for the most noble of all patriotic endeavors. Juan Santamaria did not just stop filibuster William Walker and ...