Geneva, 8 June 2015 – President Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera of Costa Rica was inaugurated today as ITU Patron for Youth and ICT at a special ceremony in Geneva. The ITU (International Telecommunication Union) is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs. ITU allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develops technical standards that ...

The Mission of Foreign Visitors (MFV) of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Mexico, headed by the former President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, completed its field observation in the federal elections that were held on June 7th. The Mission, comprised of 60 experts and observers from 22 countries, was deployed across the 18 federative entities of the country. Former President Chin...

GENEVA (8 June 2015) – The heads of the 10 UN human rights expert committees, known as the Treaty Bodies, will hold their annual meeting from 22 to 26 June at the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights in San José, Costa Rica. The Chairpersons are scheduled to meet Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís on 22 June.   By meeting in Latin America, the Chairpersons, whose committees ...

Wikimedia Commons Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico, Jun 6 (EFE).- Mexican teachers on Saturday ended their occupation of two offices of the National Electoral Institute, or INE, and ceased their blockade of the fuel storage and distribution installations of state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos in the southeastern city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, capital of Chiapas state. However, less than 24 hours...

New York, Jun 3 (EFE).- A former director of FIFA who was brought to trial by a New York court confessed in 2013 that he had accepted bribes in exchange for selecting the sites of the World Cup in 1998 and 2010, judicial sources said Wednesday. The testimony of former sports director Charles Gordon Blazer, which was given in a closed court session on Nov. 25, 2013, was released Wednesday by the...

FIFA President Sepp Blatter. Wikimedia Commons At a press conference prior to embarking into yet another trip overseas, this time for Europe, President Luis Guillermo Solis of Costa Rica applauded the decision taken by embattled FIFA President Sepp Blatter to relinquish his office amidst law enforcement investigations into high-level corruption and bribery. President Solis explained that he...

Pixabay Public Domain The Court of Appeals for the Second Judicial Circuit of San Jose recently upheld a prison sentence for the Mayor of Coronado, a municipality located in the eastern exurbs of the capital city of Costa Rica. According to court records in this case, former Mayor Leonardo Herrera Sanchez and a female companion used a municipal vehicle to travel to the Cascada Azul (Blue Falls...

Source: Wikimedia Commons By Patricia Alvares Montevideo, Jun 1 (EFE).- Special soil, humidity gauges, pruning shears and books on growing cannabis are among the items in demand in Uruguay a year after the regulations for producing and marketing marijuana under government control took effect. "We noticed that there has been increased demand, and it continues because the market was create...

Lagrimita. Source: Facebook Guadalajara, Mexico, May 31 (EFE).- Lagrimita the clown can run for mayor of Guadalajara, the capital of the western Mexican state of Jalisco, the TEPJF electoral court said. "We are revoking the resolution of the Jalisco Electoral Institute's General Council under which the independent mayoral candidacy for Guadalajara of the ticket headed by Guillermo Cienfuego...

Flickr Commons Bangkok, May 30 (EFE).- The U.S. government said Saturday in Singapore that it is "deeply concerned" about Chinese island-building and military activity in the resource-rich South China Sea and urged all countries involved to halt their land-reclamation efforts to avoid an escalation of tensions in the region. "First, we want a peaceful resolution of all disputes and an immed...

A legislative proposal to enact a 15-year moratorium on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Costa Rica has the United States Trade Representative (USTR) very concerned. According to a news report filed by Marvin Barquero of national newspaper La Nacion, an urgent letter by Darci L. Vetter, USTR, was sent to the Minister of Foreign Trade (Spanish acronym: COMEX) Alexander Mora on May 26th. ...

FARC guerrilla unit marching in 1998. Wikimedia Commons Havana, May 27 (EFE).- The delegation representing the FARC rebels in peace talks here with the Colombian government said Wednesday that one of the group's negotiators was killed in a May 21 airstrike by government forces in southwest Colombia. "Amid the mourning that overwhelms us, we announce to the country and the world that comrade...

Source: UNHCR Costa Rica, May 26, International Organization for Migration - To help vulnerable migrants at the Paso Canoas border crossing between Panama and Costa Rica, IOM and the authorities of both countries have opened two specialized information hubs that will provide migrants with reliable information about their rights and services available to them. “These assistance hubs will add...

Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, May 23 (EFE).- Members of the campaign team of the conservative PAN's candidate for governor of the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, Jorge Camacho, came under fire while riding in a vehicle near the town of Petatlan. The campaign SUV was targeted Friday night after it was used to drive former Government Secretary Santiago Creel to the Zihuatanejo airport fo...

As part of a series of international conferences that aim to promote the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes, an organization based in the United States will meet in Costa Rica in June 2015 to discuss various issues related to this topic. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is a nonprofit organization made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal ...

Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, May 19 (EFE).- Leftist politician Valentin Gonzalez Bautista, who is running for mayor of the central Mexican city of Nezahualcoyotl in the June 7 elections, is using an automobile like Batman's Batmobile to get his message out to voters. "Exhibiting the Batmobile, the photographs that interested people take and the requests they make are a good way to get the...

FARC guerrilla unit marching in 1998. Wikimedia Commons By Marti Quintana Mexico City, May 19 (EFE).- The relationship between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrilla group and Mexico's drug cartels is rooted in shared interests in arms and drug trafficking, but not in the insurgents providing military training to the organized crime groups, experts told Efe. "Wher...

Unidentified U.S. federal agent during the seizure of Elián González from his uncle's residence on April 22, 2000. Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Photograph taken by Alan Diaz of the Associated Press. Wikimedia Commons Fair Use.  Miami, May 18 (EFE).- Young Cuban student Elian Gonzalez, who as a child was rescued at sea in 1999 by two U.S. fishermen, said in an interview Monday ...

Bogota, May 15 (EFE).- Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon is convinced that, based on the volume of drugs seized this year, cocaine production in the country is on the rise, officials told Efe. Pinzon made that statement in a speech given in Medellin this Thursday, the same day that the National Drug Council, or CNE, approved the suspension of the use of glyphosate for spraying illeg...

President Solis KANNAPOLIS, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Costa Rica and the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) are signing an education cooperation agreement that will allow training opportunities for Costa Rican scientists at the NCRC. The signing of this agreement is part of one of the objectives of the investment promotion tour headed by President Luis Guillermo Solis, the Minister of Forei...

French President François Hollande. EFE/File Havana, May 11 (EFE).- French President François Hollande on Monday in this capital met with retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro. The meeting between the French leader and the 88-year-old Fidel lasted about 40 minutes, a French diplomat told Efe. After being received by Fidel Castro, Hollande continued with his agenda by placing a floral offerin...

Wikimedia Commons By Ignacio Ortega Moscow, May 9 (EFE).- Half a million people coming from around the world to the old Soviet Union, including Russian leader Vladimir Putin, joined a massive march Saturday in honor of those who fought against Nazism in World War II. "I'm very happy that my father is with me, since I have his picture in my hands, and that hundreds of soldiers can gather ...

The Constitutional Chamber, Costa Rica's highest court, recently issued a ruling in favor of two environmental activists who had been labeled “personae non grata” by the Municipality of Talamanca, located in the Southern Caribbean coast. The high court, which is colloquially known as Sala IV, issued a very strong opinion against the Municipal Council of Talamanca, whose members arbitrarily issued ...

Source: UNHCR SABALITO, Costa Rica, May 7 (UNHCR) – Elida Andrade has lived in the green hills around the small southern Costa Rican town of Sabalito for her whole life, but until recently the 18-year-old mother never really belonged anywhere. Her parents, members of the indigenous Ngöbe Bugle people, were born across the nearby border in Chiriqui, Panama, and moved to the coffee-growing Sa...

In the Costa Rican National Anthem, a few verses exalt the virtue of hard work as the basis for individual pride and patriotism; to wit: En la lucha tenaz, de fecunda labor que enrojece del hombre la faz, which can be translated to: In the tenacious struggle of fruitful plodding, which crimsons the countenance of men, The above can be construed as referring to vigorous agricultural work ...

Close up of a Marijuana plant flowering during the final stages of growth San Juan, May 4 (EFE).- A number of organizations celebrated Monday the decision of Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana derivatives, a measure that has been debated for almost two years by the island's legislature. The director of descriminalizacion.org, Rafael Torruell...

Source: Flickr Commons Chilpancingo, Mexico, May 2 (EFE).- Armed assailants shot and killed a mayoral candidate of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero. Ulises Fabian Quiroz, a candidate for mayor of the municipality of Chilapa de Alvarez - located 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the state capital of Chilpancingo - in Mexico's June 7 ...

Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, Apr 29 (EFE).- Two new videos aired on Mexican television show Rodrigo Vallejo, the son of a former governor of the western state of Michoacan, socializing with Caballeros Templarios drug cartel boss Servando Gomez Martinez. Vallejo, who faces trial for being an accessory to a crime after the fact, is shown having drinks with Gomez Martinez, who has been arres...

Bogota, Apr 28 (EFE).- Colombia's deputy health minister said Tuesday that he expects the government to adopt the ministry's recommendation to suspend the aerial spraying program for glyphosate, a powerful herbicide used to eliminate illicit crops. The decision will not affect the commercial use of glyphosate, sold in the United States under the brand name Roundup, since those users may decide ...

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 (Government of Jamaica Information Service) - Jamaica has agreed to assist Costa Rica to establish a Local Government system which includes facilitating visits by Costa Rican Government officials to familiarise themselves with the Parish Council and Municipal system in Jamaica. This is among other areas of functional cooperation being considered to strengthen ties between the...

FARC guerrilla unit marching in 1998. Wikimedia Commons Bogota, Apr 26 (EFE).- A soldier was killed in combat with FARC guerrillas in a rural area in Cauca, a province in southwestern Colombia, the army said. The fighting occurred on Saturday outside Paez, a city located about 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Popayan, the capital of Cauca, the army said in a statement. The Revolutionary A...

New York, Apr 24 (EFE).- A senior U.S. trade representative said here Friday he is "greatly disappointed" by a European Union proposal that would allow individual EU countries to ban imported genetically modified food and animal feed even if the 28-nation bloc as a whole has approved them. Speaking at the close of the ninth round of negotiations on a proposed U.S.-EU trade deal, known as the Tr...

EFE file Madrid, Apr 23 (EFE).- Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said here Thursday that Spain has no intention of breaking off diplomatic relations with Venezuela, adding that he hopes for "democratic stability and economic prosperity" in the Latin American country. Garcia-Margallo made these remarks in his speech at the Leaders Forum, organized by EFE and KPMG, where he introd...

Source: Pixabay Commons Washington, Apr 21 (EFE).- The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Michele Leonhart, is expected to present her resignation after the news broke that some of its agents were involved in sex parties with prostitutes, U.S. media reported Tuesday. Some of the prostitutes were paid by members of Colombian drug cartels, according to a government report. White ...

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...

THE HAGUE (ICJ Press Release) -- During the public hearings due to open on Tuesday 14 April 2015 at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, experts have been called by the Parties in the joined cases concerning Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua) and the Construction of a Road in Costa Rica a...

Photo by Eladio Ramirez, U.S. Embassy) Story by Sgt. 1st Class Anna Doo SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Three highly-skilled noncommissioned officers of the New Mexico Army National Guard shared decades of experience and knowledge in combatives and weapons retention tactics with more than 30 Costa Rican first responders. Police officers, tourist law enforcement officials, narcotics officers and memb...

Source: RREE From a political standpoint, the administration of President Luis Guillermo Solis in Costa Rica is in shambles. The latest mishap involves a bizarre legislative proposal to reform the National Law on Radio and Television Broadcasting, which has been stuck in mid-20th century regulations. The proposal, which originated at the Executive Branch, took everyone in Costa Rica by surpris...

Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton. EFE file Washington, Apr 13 (EFE).- U.S. President Barack Obama is not ready to formally endorse his ex-secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, in her bid for the presidency because it is possible that other hopefuls for the post will appear, including other "friends" of the chief executive, the White House said Monday. A day after Clinton, who was defea...