Costa Rica hasn’t invested in its prison system since 1999, not for a lack of prisoners though. Overcrowding in Costa Rica’s prisons, among other problems experienced by prisoners, have garnered negative attention for the country in human rights reports in recent years. The Minister of Justice and Peace Cecilia Sánchez said last week that a new approach is being taken to the penitentiary system...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson Every time President Donald Trump leaves the White House in Washington for his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the mainstream media gets all fired up about the taxpayer expenses incurred by such trip. Critics are right in that the...

Neil Gorsuch on Monday was sworn in as the country's latest Supreme Court justice after being nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate, thus filling the high court seat that had been vacant for more than a year. At a public ceremony in the White House Rose Garden with the other high court justices and assorted other officials in attendance, Justice Anthony Kennedy adminis...

North Korea on Tuesday condemned the deployment of a nuclear aircraft carrier and its strike group by the United States near the Korean peninsula and warned that the country was prepared to respond to a "pre-emptive strike," authorities reported. "If the US dares opt for a military action, crying out for preemptive attack and removal of the headquarters, the DPRK is ready to react to any mode o...

On April 3, a delegation from the Russian Federation's aerial landing troops arrived in Managua, Nicaragua to plan future joint military exercises with the country's government, said the digital Russia Beyond the Headlines (RBTH). The end date for the maneuvers is unknown, as the military says they need to study the situation. Experts say that the decision to hold military exercises in Nicaragu...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  With the U.S. Congress out for a 2-week Easter break, President Donald Trump has time to kick some ISIS butt – especially in Egypt – before asking Congress for a declared war against radical Islamic terror in whatever countries it is known to exist. It’s...

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: The United States launched dozens of cruise missiles on Thursday into Syria, in the first direct military action by the US on President Bashar al-Assad's regime since the civil war began. The strike came in response to a chemical attack that struck a town in northern Syria on Tuesday which killed around 80 people. The US fired dozens of Tomahawk missiles at the Sha...

A U.S. Navy strike group will be moving towards the western Pacific Ocean near the Korean peninsula as a show of force, a U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday, as concerns grow about North Korea's advancing weapons program. Earlier this month North Korea tested a liquid-fueled Scud missile which only traveled a fraction of its range. The strike group, called Carl Vinson, includes an aircra...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson Love him, despise him or just plain can’t stand him President Donald Trump is on the move everywhere you look around the world and at home. World headlines are screaming from Syrian gas attacks killing children, North Korea’s nuclear threats...

The first primary for Costa Rica's upcoming presidential elections was held by the center-right National Liberation (PLN) party yesterday. Political aficionados have been on tenterhooks as the results for the "verdiblancos" (the green and whites, as they are nicknamed) have slowly rolled in. Party members were pleased with the turnout, but many were not happy about what seemed to be an anomaly ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  All eyes are on the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee as they are expected to vote Monday on the U.S. Supreme Court nomination of Colorado appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch which will clear the way for a full Senate vote on Friday in what many are calling a “...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson Mainstream media is all abuzz about the breaking news late Wednesday that President Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka Trump is officially joining the White House staff as a “special advisor” to her father. Not since former President George W...

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order that starts to undo the environmental policies put in place by - and the legacy against climate change of - his predecessor, Barack Obama. A key element in Trump's executive order, signed at the Washington headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency is that it eliminates the requirement that federal government agencies factor t...

US President Donald Trump would like to see the United Kingdom remain engaged with Europe following Brexit, the White House said Wednesday after the British government formally notified the European Union that it was starting the process of withdrawal from the bloc. "Whatever the future EU-UK relationship looks like, we want the UK to remain a strong leader in Europe," spokesman Sean Spicer tol...

Costa Rica is hosting the XVI Tuxtla Mechanism Summit with the participation of Presidents and high ranked delegations of Colombia, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic and of course Costa Rica; these countries are part of the the Mesoamerican group since 1996, when it was known as Puebla-Panama Plan. Mexico’s President, Enrique Peña Nieto wi...

This week the legislature approved in a second and final debate a cooperation agreement between the Republic of Costa Rica and Palestine that supports technical, economic, scientific and cultural cooperation activities, as reported in various Costa Rican media. The original agreement was signed in 2013, but faced some legal hurdles in the legislature. One vocal detractor, National Liberation...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Welcome to Washington Mr. President. The never ending World Series of Politics has you on the scoreboard.  The Democrats are claiming victory over the failure of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote last week on the passage of President Trump’s...

The Republican leadership of the US House of Representatives canceled Friday's scheduled vote on President Donald Trump's bill to replace the healthcare reform carried out by predecessor Barack Obama. House Speaker Paul Ryan said that he and Trump agreed it would be better to withdraw the bill once it became clear that the measure would fail due to defections among the GOP majority. "We came...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  High political drama played out all day Thursday leading to a one-day delay on the vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass President Trump’s American Health Care Act of 2017 which would officially replace ‘ObamaCare’. Key lawmakers now say the ...

US President Donald Trump's pick as Supreme Court judge, said Tuesday during his Senate hearing, the president's attacks on federal judges are "disheartening" and "demoralizing". Neil Gorsuch, once made a reference to Trump's attacks on federal judges in a private conversation with senators, which was later reported in the media, but he made his latest remarks in his public Senate hearing. "...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson U.S. Senate appointment confirmation hearings begin Monday for Colorado federal appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Also Monday, FBI Director James Comey is to appear before the U.S. House in...

WASHINGTON, DC — Yesterday the White House issued the following statement following a meeting between Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence: "The Vice President met today with President Luis Guillermo Solís of Costa Rica at the White House. The Vice President praised Costa Rica's role as a key partner of the United States in promoting regional economic pr...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  In the face of an estimated 300 FBI terror investigations ongoing within the borders of the United States, President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban involving six Muslim-majority counties in the Middle East has been blocked again by federal judges in...

Workers today in northern Costa Rica may make history with a first collective bargaining agreement on a pineapple farm. Costa Rica’s Labor Ministry is alert to a strike that initiated today at 3:00 a.m. by workers at the Santa Fe pineapple plantation in the far northern town of Los Chiles, said Gerald Valverde Santos, spokesman for the Private Sector Workers Union (Sitrasep, its acronym in Span...

The White House on Tuesday reported that the president of the United States paid $38 million in taxes on an income of $150 million in his 2005 tax return. The government disclosed the information ahead of an upcoming report by television network MSNBC, which announced Tuesday it had obtained part of Donald Trump's tax returns and intended to reveal it. "You know you are desperate for ratings...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Democrats across the board are hoping to remove President Trump from office within his first nine months with help from mainstream media who are churning out as many negative news stories about President Trump, his staff and his appointees as they can pr...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. By Britt Nelson So far the explainers have yet to explain much about President Donald Trump’s new American Health Care Act to replace President Obama’s Affordable Care Act AKA ObamaCare. The explanations from Republicans are vague and difficult to understand...

The U.S. state of Hawaii filed a lawsuit requesting a federal judge issue a temporary restraining order on President Donald Trump's revised immigration executive order, becoming the first state to fight the order in court. On Monday, Trump signed the revised order suspending travel to the United States through a 90-day visa ban for people from six majority-Muslim countries: Iran, Syria, Libya, ...

By Wendy Anders From March 13 to 17, Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís, as announced on his Facebook page,  will make a “working tour” to the United States. “In New York, I will be presenting, together with the High Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment, the final report containing actions and good practices for the effective inclusion of women in the workplace,” said Solís. ...

Costa Rica moves forward with its nature conservation agenda by signing into law a National Wetlands Policy this week. Luis Guillermo Solís, President of the Republic, attended the launch of this historic public policy together with environmental authorities and representatives of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Costa Rica has more than two thousand wetlands that fall under th...

 The House Intelligence Committee will hold its first public hearing on the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, committee chairman Devin Nunes announced Tuesday. The Republican congressman from California told reporters that the hearing will be held on March 20, adding that it is his intention to hold more public hearings on the matter, given the interest it has ...

US House Republicans on Monday presented their long-awaited plan to replace the Affordable Care Act pushed by former President Barack Obama, a much anticipated move after conservative lawmakers' repeated promises to do away with the current system, known as Obamacare. The GOP proposal is included in two bills, which basically aim to create a tax credit system to help people buy health insurance...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Presidential politics these days is getting as surreal as a Salvador Dali painting. Truth and reason have been thrown to the wind. Accusations and counter-accusations of political wrong-doing involving the Russians, possible wiretapping of President Donald ...

Politicians often claim there is a relationship between immigration patterns and increased crime. In a recent study done at the University at Buffalo in upstate New York however, no links were found between the two. According to the findings, immigration instead appears to be linked to reductions in some types of crimes. Robert Adelman, associate professor of sociology at UB and the paper’s lea...

With a 154.6 percent increase in asylum petitions in 2016, Mexico has gone from being a transit country to a possible destination for refugees, a trend that figures to continue and even accelerate under the policies of the current president of the United States. After receiving just 3,424 asylum requests in 2015, that number jumped to 8,781 in 2016, according to figures from the Mexican Commissio...

The president of the United States on Saturday accused his predecessor of wiretapping his phones in Trump Tower during the campaign, saying the alleged activity was comparable to the Watergate case. Donald Trump leveled the startling accusations against Barack Obama in a series of early morning tweets, but offered no evidence to support his claims. "How low has President Obama gone to tapp (...

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday recused himself from any current or future investigation of possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The announcement followed revelations that then-Sen. Sessions met with the Russian ambassador to the United States on two occasions during last year's campaign. "During the course of the last several weeks, I have met with ...

The recently appointed Attorney General of the United States met the Russian ambassador to the U.S. twice in Washington during the 2016 presidential campaign - something he did not disclose during his appointment confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate. The meetings between Jeff Sessions and Russia's Sergey Kislyak took place in July and September, barely a few months before the presidentia...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson What the heck just happened? The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, all openly-liberal publications considered mainstream media, just gave President Donald Trump’s Tuesday ‘address to the nation’ a thumbs ...

Wall Street closed with strong gains on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), the main market indicator, rising 1.45 percent and ending the day above 21,000 for the first time in history in the wake of President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress. All the major indexes moved into record territory, with the DJIA up 303.31 points to 21,115.55 at the close of t...