By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Politics can be so fickle. Picking a presidential candidate is like voting for homecoming king and queen back in high school. We like this one, but not that one. This one is too tall and that one is too fat. It’s all a popularity contest. We ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) that observed the municipal elections in Costa Rica on February 7, 2016 today congratulated the citizens of the country on the successful participation in the process, which the Mission qualified as “a show of the solidity of its democratic system.” In his report (Spanish) to the Permanent Council of the Orga...

Wikimedia Commons By Britt Nelson Homeboy billionaire Donald Trump and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the New York Primary on Tuesday night, further advancing a future face-off between the two for the upcoming national Presidential election in November. Republican Trump scored higher than expected with a whopping 60.5 percent of the vote and winning at least 89 of New...

Guatemalan president, Jimmy Morales. (State media) Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales took the opportunity of a Facebook Live interview with the Spanish-language edition of The New York Times to mock Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump's proposal for a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. "To the gentleman who wishes to build that wall, I offer cheap labor," the former television c...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today questioned State Department officials from the Obama Administration regarding the Cuban migratory crisis currently unfolding in Central America. Rubio also addressed security challenges in Central American countries. Rubio made his comments during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on 'Central America and the ...

Wikimedia Commons São Paulo, April 15th, 2016 – Netflix, the world’s leading Internet television network, announced that filming of its new original series based on recent corruption investigation Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato in Portuguese), will begin this year in Brazil. The yet-to-be-titled series will be created and directed by José Padilha (Narcos, Elite Squad and Robocop), and written b...

(Wikimedia Commons) Chicago, Apr 15 (EFE).- The anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric of Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has invaded schools and universities across the United States, where the magnate's followers shout his name to intimidate Latinos and other people of color. "Trump has become a synonym for hate and his name is used to threaten minorities," the Midwest regional...

Wikimedia Commons By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. It appears almost certain that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will win the April 19 New York Primary in her quest to secure the Democratic nomination for President, but Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has won a lo...

Wikimedia Commons The Honorable Noel Holder, Agriculture Minister of Guyana arrived in Costa Rica on April 11 as part of a visit to discuss Agricultural priorities among the two countries. Among the discussions held, the main topic will be the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture’s (IICA) Country Strategy 2014-2018. The Agriculture Minister is accompanied by Chief Executi...

Wikimedia Commons By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Watching the developing war of words in the presidential race for the upcoming New York primary from Costa Rica is quite entertaining no matter which candidate you support. Each day we get to watch an eye-popping sunset ...

(Wikimedia Commons) Washington, Apr 9 (EFE). - Several U.S. art galleries have refused to exhibit artist Illma Gore's painting of controversial magnate and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, whom she portrays naked with tiny genitals. But the painting, in which Trump is seen with his arms resting on one knee, will get a showing within two weeks at Britain's Maddox Gallery in Lond...

Source: rree.go.cr Brussels, 08/04/2016 - On 7 April 2016, the first meeting between the European Union and Costa Rica under the Memorandum of Understanding between both parties was held in Brussels. The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Costa Rica, Mr. Alejandro Solano Ortiz and the Managing Director for the Americas of the European External Action Service (EEAS), Mrs. Edita Hrd...

Costa Rica’s President Luis Guillermo Solís and U.S. Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd, commander of U.S. Southern Command, greet each other prior to the opening ceremony for the Central American Security Conference April 7 in San Jose. Photo by Jose Ruiz, SOUTHCOM By Jose Ruiz and Michael Wimbish, United States Southern Command SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- Top government, defense, and police leaders from Cen...

Wikimedia Commons By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Hillary Clinton is still in the driver’s seat, but when she looks in the rear-view mirror the sight of Bernie Sanders nipping at her heels keeps getting bigger. Vermont Sen. Sanders whipped former Secretary of State C...

Presidential Standard of Brazil. Wikimedia Commons Brasilia, Apr 5 (EFE).- The Brazilian crisis entered a new and confused phase on Tuesday with the decision by a Supreme Court justice to order Congress to take up the impeachment of Vice President Michel Temer even as lawmakers are deciding whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. Justice Marco Aurelio Mello's ruling is subject to appea...

Human Rights Watch, a prominent international non-profit known for its advocacy work with the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union, and several nations, is calling on President Luis Guillermo Solís to take immediate action on the issue of marriage equality. The following letter, dated April 4, was posted on the Human Rights Watch website. This letter is also available in Spanis...

Wikimedia Commons By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Voters in Wisconsin go to the primary polls Tuesday and it’s looking like another win for Democrat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders who, in the past few days, has opened up a 5-point lead over former Secretary of State Hillar...

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff speaks during a meeting with jurists at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, March 22, 2016. REUTERS/Gregg Newton Brasilia, Apr 1 (EFE).- Members of the MST Landless Workers Movement told Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Friday they would take to the streets to defeat a plan to oust her in a "coup," as they termed an ongoing impeachment effort in Congress. ...

Wikimedia Commons By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. The Independent voter has yet to speak. Presidential Campaign 2016 will be remembered as the year the Independent registered voter weighed in and turned the tides. The math is simple: Out of all registered voters acro...

(Wikimedia Commons) New York, Mar 30 (EFE).- Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump on Wednesday retracted comments he made about illegal abortion and said that doctors who perform such abortions are the ones who should be "legally responsible," and not the women who have them. The clarification came in an interview with MSNBC set to air Wednesday night but the announcement of which w...

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Call to Action on Nuclear Terrorism signed by more than 140 global political, diplomatic, business and military leaders, as well as top experts in nuclear security, and released today, cites the progress resulting from four Nuclear Security Summits but warns: "The job is not done. The Summits are ending as the terrorist threat is growing." ...

Wikimedia Commons By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. For now, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has two speeds – hot and sizzlin’ hot. Voters say they are starting to get “Bernie fever.” On Saturday, Sanders – in his quest to win the Democratic nomination for president -- sco...

By Ministério da Defesa - Solenidade de passagem de cargo dos Comandantes da 2ª Região Militar e da 2ª Divisão de Exército no QG do Comando Militar do Sudeste (CMSE), CC BY 2.0 Rio de Janeiro, Mar 25 (EFE).- Brazil's military will abide by the nation's constitution and laws amid its severe ongoing "political, economic and ethical-moral" crisis, army commander Gen. Eduardo Villas Boas said. ...

People flee from the Brussels airport in this image taken from video, shot by a bystander in the the immediate aftermath of blasts at the airport near Brussels, Belgium, March 22, 2016. REUTERS/Asher Gunsberg/Handout via Reuters TV By Britt Nelson Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Clinto...

File photo of retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro. EFE/File Miami, Mar 22 (EFE).- One of Fidel Castro's sons said during an interview on Univision that there are no dynasties in Cuba, and when his uncle Raul Castro "leaves office" in 2018, no one in the family is going to take power. "Power won't stay in the family, but will go to those prepared for it," Alex Castro said in an interview filme...

Grand Ole Party logo By Britt Nelson Editor’s Note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. President Obama’s choice to replace the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has turned 100 percent political as Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vows the U.S. Senate will not conduct confir...

Source: Pixabay Commons The government of Costa Rica has failed to protect victims of sex trafficking who are sometimes forced to become prostitutes for North American and European sexual tourists. Such was the statement presented to the Human Rights Commission of the Legislative Assembly by the Socialist Christian Union (Spanish initials: PUSC), a major political party in Costa Rica that has ...

(Archive image for illustrative purposes. Wikimedia Commons) New York, Mar 19 (EFE).- Around 1,000 people demonstrated in downtown New York against the Republican hopeful for the presidency of the United States, Donald Trump. The protesters, surrounded by a strong police contingent, gathered at Columbus Circle next to Central Park to slam Trump's rhetoric of division, hate and extremism, ac...

Source: York University York University News Release - Over the past three years, Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) Professor Felipe Montoya and his family have been waiting for a response from Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) on their application for permanent residency. As required for all applications, the family, including their son 13-year-old Nico, underwent standard me...

Rebeca Grynspan Christiana Figueres and Rebeca Grynspan, two stateswomen whose international careers have made Costa Rica very proud, are two of the names currently being mentioned as potential candidates to succeed Ban Ki-Moon as Secretary-General of the United Nations. Women have not been elected Secretary-General of the UN in the seven decades that the prominent international institution...

(Wikimedia Commons) Remember when Rush Limbaugh vowed to relocate to Costa Rica if Obamacare passed? It didn’t happen, of course, but according to The Washington Post, Costa Rica is a prime destination to relocate for those wishing to flee the United States in the event that Donald Trump is elected president of the world's lone superpower. Perhaps Limbaugh opted out of relocating to Costa R...

(Archive image for illustrative purposes. Wikimedia Commons) (Reuters) The U.S. Republican presidential debate scheduled for next week in Utah has been canceled, host Fox News said Wednesday, after party front-runner Donald Trump told the network he would not participate. Trump, who has clashed with Fox News throughout his campaign, told the network in an interview Wednesday he would not ap...

(YouTube screen capture) By Britt Nelson Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won five out of five Democratic presidential primary elections Tuesday in: Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri, leaving Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders far behind in total delegate counts. Sanders said he is staying in the race and will not drop out. On the Republican side, New York billio...

Source: UN Women UN Women Press Release - 15 March 2016, New York - The inaugural meeting of the first-ever High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment kicked off today during the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Operating under the aegis of the UN Secretary-General, it intends to put women’s economic empowerment at the top of the international agenda, including b...

(CRS Archive) President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua seems destined to win reelection in November, according to the latest national poll conducted by M&R Consultores, published by Nicaragua’s Nuevo Diario on Monday. According to the poll, Ortega, who has held the presidency since 2007, has the support of 66.7 percent of likely voters. As such, Ortega is running essentially unchallenged, a...

(YouTube screen capture) Meet the woman who may be Nicaragua's biggest supporter of U.S. presidential candidate, Donald Trump. Her name is Evelyn, and during a Trump rally in Cincinatti, Ohio on Sunday, the Nicaraguan woman who hails from Managua took the opportunity to lavish Mr. Trump with praise when given a chance to ask the billionaire a question. "Mr. Trump, I don't have a question...

Source: The World Bank Over the next three years, the World Bank is proposing the establishment of a $65 million Catastrophe Deferred Draw Down Option (CAT DDO) for Costa Rica. This CAT DDO is part of the World Bank's Disaster Risk Management scope. According to the World Bank, the overall development objective of the CAT DDO funding is to enhance the capacity of the government of Costa Rica to...

YouTube/Google under Creative Commons 2.0 Bogota, Mar 13 (EFE).- The relatives of a Colombian police captain who revealed an alleged male prostitution network within the police force said that he was kidnapped on a highway in Norte de Santander province, local media reported. Capt. Anyelo Palacios was abducted on Saturday evening by four men on two motorscooters as he was riding in a car th...

A Cuban traveler Panama City, Mar 12 (EFE).- The Panamanian government finished Saturday the transport to Mexico of 1,301 Cubans who had been stranded while waiting to find a way to continue their journey to the United States, an official told EFE. Almost 300 Cubans left Saturday on a commercial flight from Tocumen International Airport in the capital, thus wrapping up an operation describe...

(Archive image for illustrative purposes. Wikimedia Commons) By Britt Nelson   The Republican and Democratic presidential debates appear to be over and the primaries are gaining steam. Voters from both parties head to voting booths on March 15 in winner-take-all primaries in Florida, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina and Missouri.   Thursday night’s Republican debate in Miam...