On Sunday, October 14 the Nicaraguan Police repressed protesters  in a violent manner, a situation that concluded with the arrest of 38 people, among them a Costa Rican and an American. In response to the situation, the Costa Rican government called on an immediate cease of the repression and arbitrary detentions against those participating in protests. “Costa Rica backs the concerns express...

Cars, trucks and airplanes worldwide are the #1 cause of global warming and or climate change, not President Donald Trump and not withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord. Fixing these problems unfortunately is highly political in Washington and around the world. Big oil and OPEC are entrenched and they fight any progress into an electrically or solar powered world. It’s the harmful emissions fro...

Tuesday October 16 the 22 judges that form the “Corte Plena” (full court) of Costa Rica’s Judicial Branch, will have to establish their final position in regard to the proposed fiscal plan, which has already been approved in first debate by the Legislative Assembly but was sent to several institutions for consultation before it's as established by law. A report created by the Judicial Direction...

According to information offered today by the Costa Rican government, 98.5% of the workers still on strike are employees of the Ministry of Public Education, “The labor unions’ strike against the fiscal plan has diluted in the majority of public institutions that joined the movement in the beginning, back on September 10, and currently the protests are limited to workers of the Ministry of Educati...

For political junkies the next four weeks will be like riding on an amusement park roller coaster. Across the USA there are way too-many-too-close-to-call elections for governors, senators and representatives, state houses, county offices, local town councils and referendums. It’s all coming up on Nov.6 – the 2018 national midterm election. Undoubtedly -- there will be upsets, surprises and jaw...

The labor strike affecting the state refinery (Recope) came to and end yesterday after an agreement was reached between representatives of the labor union and the authorities of Recope. The operations went back to complete normality this Thursday, October 11 at 6 a.m. Employees of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) also resumed their work after one month of striking. The Administ...

This Tuesday, Judge Francisco Quesada ruled that labor strike sustained for over a month by members of the Ministry of Public Education (MEP), illegal, considering that the movement was not carried out in a peaceful manner. The labor unions will have three days to appeal once they have been legally notified and after the appeal is presented the labor court will have another five days to dictat...

The Labor strike that has paralyzed many public schools in Costa Rica for over four weeks was deemed illegal by the labor court. Judge Francisco Quesada ruled on the matter and declared the strike of employees of the Ministry of Education illegal under the argument that the movement was not peaceful. “When it comes to the actions of the labor unions, including those in contradiction of the m...

The labor strike against the fiscal plan that began on September 10 seems to have died down considerably almost a month later, as most of the movements have been declared illegal by the labor courts. Today the strike of the employees of the Electricity Institute (ICE) was declared illegal, the decision of judge Yadir Jimenez was based in that ICE offers a public service, considered essential, “...

Savoir the moment! Reasoning has finally won over undocumented accusations resulting in the right man at the right time to be seated on the U.S. Supreme Court -- federal Judge Brett Kavanaugh. For the past three weeks Washington, DC has boiled over with unnecessary controversy that undoubtedly will affect the outcome of the Nov. 6 national mid-term election – less than 30 days away. Inside and ...

Even though the fiscal plan was approved in first debate by the Legislative Assembly and even though other labor unions such as those of the health sector chose to put an end to their strike, the labor unions of the education sector affirmed they will maintain their protest. “This is just the first battle; we have fought strongly. We have 22 deputies that said no to the project and 35 that vote...

The Labor Unions of the Social Security Service (CCSS) negotiated and reached an agreement with the authorities of the CCSS and the Government to return to their work this Monday, October 9, after a month of striking. The negotiations involved close to ten hours of negotiations and will allow the public hospitals and health centers to resume normal operations. The strike caused the suspensio...

The Legislative Assembly in Costa Rica approved this Friday in first debate the Law to Strengthen the Public Finances, better know as Fiscal Plan, with a total of 35 votes in favor (22 against). Among the 22 members of congress that voted against the plan were the 14 representatives of the National Restoration Party, 2 of the National Liberation Party, 1 of Frente Amplio, 3 of the National Inte...

Last Saturday night President Donald Trump held another raucous and packed to the gills political rally in Wheeling, West Virginia. The takeaway from this event is that this president’s popularity has not been the least bit diminished by last week’s ongoing political smear of Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee federal Judge Brett Kavanaugh. President Trump on Friday directed the FBI to conduct ...

“The Chamber of Commerce of Costa Rica condemns the disrespect and attitude of the protesters towards President of the Republic, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, as he was leaving the National Theater. We reiterate that these actions go beyond legality and good intentions and are far from the right to strike that the working population of the public and private sector have. Above all, the President’s Char...

US Ambassador to Costa Rica, Sharon Day, celebrated her first year as head of the US Embassy in Costa Rica, Day, highlighted the natural beauties she has encountered in the country as well as the warmth with which she was received in the country.  Day has worked for more than 20 years for the U.S. Republican party at the local, state and national levels, and most recently in leadership posi...

Wednesday, October 3, after 24 days of labor unions’ strike, the tension was present in the streets. Several incidents were reported where the public police were forced to intervene to guarantee the security and free transit of the rest of the population. Early in the morning the Director of the Calderon Guardia Hospital in San Jose reported that a group of protesters had blocked the roads of a...

In Costa Rica it is not uncommon to spot the President and former Presidents walking freely and with very little security, however, the ongoing labor strike that began September 10 has forced the Direction of Intelligence and Security (DIS) to strengthen the security for the President and other political figures. This Wednesday when several members of the Government, including President Alvarad...

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recognized the efforts carried out by Costa Rica for the eradication of statelessness (Statelessness is the condition of someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law"). Costa Rica’s efforts involve the approval of regulations and procedures for the determination of the condition of a statelessn...

Johnny Araya, mayor of the San Jose Municipality negotiated and reached an agreement with striking workers and these will immediately return to their jobs. According to the document signed by the Mayor and representatives of the National Union of Workers (UNT) strikers will return to their work in order to reestablish the services offered by the Municipality and in exchange they will have permi...

Here’s the bottom line about what just went out over all media -- around the world -- concerning the soap opera trial of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in the court of public opinion. “Dad -- What’s gang rape?” -- said little 9-year-old Johnny. “Where did you hear that son?” “On TV. On the news. So what is it?” – Johnny asked. Parents everywhere are scrambling for answers o...

The different labor unions in Costa Rica rejected the “preliminary proposal” they had negotiated with the Government between Friday and Saturday, the meeting that was scheduled between the parties for this Sunday at 3 p.m. was cancelled and instead the leaders of the movement held a press conference where they confirmed they will continue with the indefinite strike until the Government eliminates ...

Even though part of the agreement between the Costa Rican Government and the labor union leaders included to keep the details of the negotiation confidential until this Sunday at 3 p.m. when an official announcement was made on whether the labor unions accepted the agreement or not, the document was filtered on Saturday evening. According to this document, if the labor unions agree, which appar...

The Costa Rican Government and representatives of the labor unions concluded the eighth and final meeting of their “preliminary dialogue” that began at 2 p.m. on Friday and ended at 4:50 a.m. this Saturday, during the press conference following the meeting priest Edwin Aguiluz, acting as mediator, explained that a “preliminary text” had been reached which now the leaders of the labor unions will p...

The labor union strike affecting the state refinery (RECOPE) was declared illegal by the Labor Court which resolved that it did not comply with the requirements stated in the labor code that movements must be peaceful, the alternatives of conciliation must be exhausted, and it must have the support of a minimum percentage of employees. The sentence was dictated by Judge Alexander Contreras Barr...

The Labor Court of the II Judiciary Circuit of San Jose declared the labor union’s strike at the Costa Rican Institute of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (IAFA) legal. This is the first of 9 sentences that have been issued that considers the movement to meet all legal requirements. The sentence was given by Judge Angela Keiko Minero Akiya, who stated that “in conformity with the disposition of a...

The employees on strike working for the Atlantic Zone Development and Port Administration Group (JAPDEVA) has been deemed illegal, determined Judge Francisco Vargas Ramirez who considered that the services offered by JAPDEVA are essential and that the conciliation alternatives were not exhausted. “Paralyzing the services offered by the Limon and Moin ports, implies the suspension of an essentia...

This Thursday the director of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in San Jose, Doctor Ileana Balmaceda, denounced the actions of the labor union that took over surgery rooms preventing oncology patients from getting programmed surgeries. According to Balmaceda, members of the labor union were upset because the hospital arranged to get assistance from surgeons and professionals from the Puriscal clini...

How can the Democrats be so stupid? The more real Americans hear this political nonsense coming from the far left the more angry they get. The national mid-term election is in six weeks and some of these liberal swamp rats running for election or reelection will drown in their own self-inflicted misery. “I have never sexually assaulted anyone. I have always treated women with dignity and respec...

The labor union strike has been declared illegal so far for six different institutions; today the resolutions regarding the legality of the strikes for the Central Bank and the Social Protection Board (JPS - Institution that handles the lottery in Costa Rica) were made public. The Labor Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San Jose, declared illegal the movement promoted by the National Assoc...

The labor unions gathered since 10 a.m. this morning in La Sabana and started their march towards the legislative assembly as planned; currently the Central Avenue in San Jose and 42nd Street as well as the Second Avenue are completely closed for this reason; the tension between the strikers and the Government continues to raise as traffic police has run operations the morning of this Wednesday, a...

The Labor Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San Jose declared the strike promoted by the National Association of Public Employees (ANEP) in the National Emergency Commission (CNE) illegal. The sentence 1549-2018 was dictated by Judge Javier Camacho Duarte considering that the minimum requirements for a legitimate strike were not met and in addition to this, the National Emergency Commissio...

The Costa Rican Government affimrs that participation of employees of the Social Security Service (CCSS) in strike went down by 49%, going from 10,426 absent employees on September 10 to 5,325 this Monday, September 24. According to the detailed report, after the first week, the decrease was of 37% and after the second week it reduced another 17% in relation to the prior week. The employees ...

The mystery of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is astonishing. He won’t make it past the New Year. President Donald Trump will fire Sessions right after the mid-term national election on Nov. 6. He might as well resign and get on back to Alabama before the axe falls. That day in March 2017 Sessions -- fell into a deep black hole -- when he recused himself from any oversight involvement in t...

60 Hours of dialogue throughout 5 days have proven insufficient for representatives of the Costa Rican Government and the Labor Unions to come to an agreement. At 11 p.m. this Monday, September 24, during a press conference, the Ministers of Labor, Justice and Planning expressed their frustration after eight hours of dialogue, “we regret to inform that there has not been any advance in the nego...

The Labor Court of the Second Judicial Circuit of San Jose declared illegal the strike promoted by the National Association of Public Employees (ANEP) in the Ministry of Housing and Human Settlements (MIVAH) stating that the movement did not comply with the requirements established in the Labor Procedures Code. This is the second sentence by Labor Courts of the more than thirty requests that we...

Leaders of the labor unions announced since Saturday that the protest will continue this week and “for indefinite time”, this Monday they marched in different areas, including, downtown San Jose, Barranca in Puntarenas, Guápiles in Limón and Nicoya, Guanacaste. The labor unions have shared their schedule of activities on their social media channels, these are the planned activities, so you can ...

During the UN’s 73rd General Assembly this week Costa Rica will present its initiative for and "All Coalition", which includes topics such as environmental protection, climate action, inclusion, diversity, access to justice and international law, regional and global governance in migration and cooperation, and financing for development. These priorities and objectives coincide with those define...

At around midnight this Sunday, September 23, 2018, representatives of the Government and Labor Unions decided to take a break from their “preliminary dialogue” sessions and announced they will continue their meeting on Monday at 3 p.m. This was the fourth day of dialogue between both parties; no information has been released of what has been discussed or the progress made; Steven Nuñez, Minist...

The Labor Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San Jose ruled that the strike of the employees of the National Production Council (CNP) is illegal because the strike is a mechanism to resolve conflicts related to labor situations and not of political order. This is the first resolution of illegality that has been resolved of the 32 that were presented by different public institutions in relat...