The “Pura Vida” lifestyle of Costa Ricans is also reflected in the way we approach Presidential elections, in between debates, polls and diverse opinions, Ticos don’t lose their sense of humor, well, this is perhaps our way of taking a bit of the “edge” off a very serious matter. The last poll published by the Center for Political Studies and Investigation of the University of Costa Rica (CIEP-...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. There’s a shiny new Democrat appearing on the national stage Tuesday night to give the official response to President Donald Trump’s first State-of-the-Union speech before a joint-session of the U.S. Congress. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-MA) was selected to g...

The Costa Rican Embassy in Washington, D.C. shared the following information regarding Costa Rica’s presidential elections which will take place next Sunday, February 4. - The schedule for voting will be from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Costa Rica Embassy located in Washington D.C. (2114 S Street N.W. Washington, D.C., 20008) - The Embassy is located a few blocks from the Dupont Circle metro cente...

Expats from the US Democrat Party are meeting in Costa Rica to plan their actions regarding the upcoming midterm elections in the United States. Members of the organization Democrats Abroad (DACR) are holding their Americas Regional Meeting from January 25 to January 28 at the Hotel Bougainvillea in Heredia, Costa Rica. 30 democrat leaders are attending who reside in Canada and different Latin ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Trying to make sense of the craziness going on in Washington, DC these days would drive a sane person to beg for a padded cell in the nearest asylum. In guessing the next big story, now that the Democrat-induced government shutdown lasted only three days, it...

The Costa Rican Ministry of Security had made the announcement some months back of the donation by United States of three tactical vehicles known in Costa Rica as “Bestias” to be used by Specialized Units. Today, in an official act with the presence of the director of the Judicial Investigation Organism, Walter Espinoza, Mariano Figueres, Director of Intelligence and Security and US Ambassador ...

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Costa Rica’s Ambassador to the US Gonzalo Facio Segreda passed away this Wednesday, January 24 in his house in Escazu. Facio was 99 years old and had been fighting an illness for some time. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1970 to 1976 and from 1977 to 1978. He was also Costa Rica’s Ambassador to the United States in three periods, from 1956 to ...

While the last poll conducted by the Center for Political Studies and Investigation of the University of Costa Rica (CIEP-UCR) revealed that 27% of the voters in Costa Rica still have not decided who to vote for, the support for other candidates appears to be motivated by religious beliefs, tradition or populism. On Tuesday, the poll by CIEP-UCR showed evangelical pastor Fabricio Alvarado, the...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Saturday’s display of Democratic unity was nothing more than a charade as the stars came together to showcase the government shutdown, the Women’s Marches across the country and illegal immigrants in a carefully coordinated circus to discredit President Donald ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Much to the chagrin of President Donald Trump’s forever critics, the president’s doctor has given him a clean bill of health physically and mentally as he completes his first year in office. At the end of January this president will give his first State-of-the-...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Warning: Beyond this point expect to encounter some “shitholes.” What does it matter if President Donald Trump called a spade-a- spade in describing numerous countries like El Salvador and Haiti as a “shithole?” Some of those in the Oval Office last Thursday sa...

The United States’ Embassy and the Department of Labor of the US, will be donating US$2 million to improve the implementation of labor laws in the Costa Rican agricultural sector. The Bureau of International Labor Affairs of the Department of Labor describes the objectives of the project: “The project’s goal is to improve enforcement of minimum wage, hours of work, and occupational safety and h...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.   Checkmate! Whoever on Team Trump came up with the idea to go live on national TV during Tuesday’s bipartisan congressional White House meeting on immigration with President Donald Trump deserves the Political-Play-of-the-Week award. No one knew. It wa...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. The first big story coming out of this New Year 2018 is last Thursday the Dow Jones Industrial Average blasted past 25,000 for the first time – by Friday closing it landed at 25,295! The Democrats are left standing along the side of the road on this one. The...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. California came on-line with legal recreational-use of marijuana on Jan. 1 -- following the lead of Alaska, Washington, Colorado and other states. Costa Rica is not far behind with possibly approving legal-medical marijuana soon, so recreational weed is inevita...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Let’s think outside the box. There must be a better way to measure public opinion than today’s polling methods conducted by such groups as Gallup, Rasmussen, Reuters, Quinnipiac, Monmouth and Harvard-Harris. Each of these polling organizations practices a varie...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. No sooner does the United Nations vote 128 to 9 objecting to President Donald Trump’s decision to finally recognize Jerusalem as the true capitol of Israel and move the U.S. Embassy there, the president cuts $285-million from the annual UN membership fee of whi...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. The craziest things heard on mainstream media this week were “Patriotism is a perversion” and “It’s our job to control what people think.” So in the eyes of the ultra-weird-liberal-left media a love of God, country, flag and national anthem are now perverted vi...

Qatar donated US$1million to Costa Rica to be used for the attention and rebuilding process of the áreas affected by tropical storm Nate and Otto hurricane. Through a press release the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that the funds will be deposited in an account of the National Emergency Committee (CNE). “Receiving this generous help from friendly countries is very meaningful. A countr...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. On Nov. 6, 2018 voters in the United States will return to the ballot booth for the mid-term elections to cast their votes for the future of America. Will the Democrats regain control of the U.S. Congress by winning back the U.S. House and Senate or will they dim...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica voted against the United States’ decision of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. During the United Nations General Assembly which had the presence of 193 member countries, 128 voted in favor of the resolution which condemns the decision of the United States; 9 nations voted against the resolution and 35 abstained. Although the resolut...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Lady Justice is trembling. Recent revelations of favoritism are swirling around the upper management of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and overseer the U.S. Department of Justice. These events appear to show that Lady Justice’s blindfold came off several y...

The Legislative Commission that investigated the bank credits awarded to Juan Carlos Bolaños and his company SINOCEM in the cement corruption scandal in Costa Rica (cementazo) finally presented their report yesterday, recommending sanctions for 29 people, some belonging to the different government branches and others from two public banks. (Read here all about the Cementazo case) The first p...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Alabama Judge Roy Moore was too hot to handle for voters who handed the U.S. Senate seat to Birmingham attorney and Democrat Doug Jones which reduces the margin of Republicans in the senate by one leaving their slim majority even slimmer at 51 to 49. Jones won ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.   There is much to read-between-the-lines with FBI Director Christopher Wray’s testimony before congress centering on the FBI’s special investigation into Trump-Russian connections and Minnesota Sen. Al Franken’s defiant resignation speech before the U....

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.   God bless retired Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz – a staunch Democrat! This 79-year-old high-profile criminal and constitutional law attorney is one of -- if not the best legal mind -- contributing to the public debate concerning everyth...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Last week liberalism suffered a major shock that won’t blow over anytime soon. Kate Steinle’s killer walked away from murder and manslaughter charges in a San Francisco, California courtroom stunning the nation. All of a sudden those “not guilty” verdicts ca...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. At the White House “Merry Christmas” is in while “Happy Holidays” is out. Former President Barack Obama referred to the Christmas season as “Happy Holidays” so not to offend non-Christians in a Christian-majority nation. But that has all changed. No soone...

Costa Rica’s Attorney General Emilia Navas ordered this Wednesday morning the search of the house and offices of congressmen Otto Guevara and Victor Morales Zapata as well as the vice-ministry of Treasury (Ministerio de Hacienda) Fernando Rodriguez. The police arrived at the “pink house” or Congress offices (Asamblea Legislativa) along with the Attorney General and forced their entry to the ...

“Living the integration” is an initiative launched in Costa Rica by The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also known as the UN Refugee Agency in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Labour; this initiative has the goal of offering work options to refugees in Costa Rica. Refugees are all those people that are forced to leave their count...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Since the Democrats really have no message other than ‘Dump Trump’ what is it behind the scenes that they truly want to see happen with traditional American life? Looking down the road a few miles just where does ultra-far-left thinking take you? Where would it...

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 time to read the tea leaves, gaze into a crystal ball and make a prediction that Republican Judge Roy Moore will win big in Alabama’s Dec. 12 special U.S. Senate election that has gained national attention in recent weeks due to repeated, unproven allegati...

The government of the United Arab Emirates announced their decision to open an embassy in Costa Rica. The announcement was made by Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to Costa Rican chancellor, Manuel Gonzalez Sanz, in an act of reciprocity since the Embassy of the Republic of Costa Rica was officially opened in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. Curre...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. The political ‘Star of the Week’ is Leeann Tweeden who blew the sexual-assault whistle on former Saturday Night Live funny man Minnesota Sen. Al Franken – a far-left Democrat. She claims Franken “forcibly kissed and fondled” her eleven years ago. In present da...

A Joke? Yes, a joke shared by Costa Rican Judge Hugo Porter two years ago on his Facebook page will be used by the attorneys of Juan Carlos Bolaños and Mario Barrenechea to challenge the resolution that ratified the preventive detention measure. Attorneys are arguing that the judge that dictated the resolution is prejudiced against bankers. Attorney Jose Miguel Villalobos, secondary lawyer to J...

Costa Rica’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal released data regarding the 2018 presidential election. In total there are 3,322,329 citizens registered to vote, representing 7.93% more than in 2014; half of these voters, 1.6 million, are between the ages of 18 and 39 years of age, as a matter of fact, 40% are under 34 years-old; 12.34% are senior citizens and 633 voters are over 100 years old. The ...

The Court of Appeals reconfirmed on Friday the three month preventive detention for businessman Juan Carlos Bolaños and the six BCR executives, established on November 4  and in relation with the "Cementazo" corruption scandal. The attorneys of each of the seven defendants had presented their appeals and allegations and tried to convince Judge Hugo Porter to set their clients free or change the...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. President Donald Trump arrived back in Washington on Tuesday following g a 12-day Asian tour of Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, where he met again with the one-and-only, the notorious Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who hosted ...

Costa Rican congressman part of the National Liberation Party for the province of Guanacaste, Juan Marin, passed away this Thursday after his car crashed against a protection wall in the Rio Segundo, Alajuela tollbooth (General Cañas highway). The congressman was driving his Hyundai Tucson 2013 when the accident occurred, for reasons still unknown, at around 2:51 a.m., according to the hour reg...

The annual report on Costa Rica's "State of the Nation" shows some disheartening realities with 20 percent of households stuck in a cycle of poverty and exclusion. While some families in extreme poverty, notably in rural areas, got a foothold out of their dire situation over the past year, this appears mainly due to government aid programs, and not due to permanent economic solutions or changes...