That lone voice in the wilderness – Tim Allen’s ‘Last Man Standing’ -- is returning to prime-time network television for the upcoming 2018-19 season on the Fox News Channel. In May 2017, ABC-TV cancelled the conservative comedian’s highly-rated, prime-time situation comedy because of backlash from liberal viewers and advertisers who criticized the show for being pro-conservative, pro-Republican an...

Iranian fanatics were on full display after President Donald Trump announced Tuesday the United States of America was going rogue pulling out of the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal spearheaded by former President Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry. Right there on the floor of the Iranian Parliament government leaders were jumping up and down screaming “Death to America” while burning an Amer...

Carlos Alvarado Quesada was sworn in the morning of Tuesday, May 8th, at the presidential inauguration ceremony held at Plaza de la Democracia in San Jose as the 48th President of Costa Rica for the period 2018-2022, which means he will celebrate the country’s Independence bicentennial in 2021. Alvarado has taken on the commitment of guiding the country towards a more equitable development, inc...

Costa Rica’s President elect Carlos Alvarado will name a commissionaire that will be in charge of promoting the LGBTI agenda during the four year presidential term. The president will choose the commissionaire between the candidates proposed by organizations that defend the rights of the LGBTI population. The commissionaire will serve as a link with the Legislative Assembly in the discussion...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff Love him or hate him President Donald Trump’s popularity is on the rise with approval ratings topping 50-percent for the first time since he took office 16-months ago, according to Real Clear Politics. Rasmussen Reports Polling has President Trump’s approval ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff Special Counsel Robert Mueller should be furious that his list of 52 questions -- specifically intended for President Donald Trump -- has been leaked to the New York Times, the Washington Post and Fox News – but as usual he has been quiet. The cat is out of the ...

The United States Secretary of Labor, Rene Alexander Acosta, who leads the entourage that represents Donald Trump’s government arrived in Costa Rica this Monday afternoon to take part in the presidential inauguration ceremony Tuesday, May 8. The Secretary of Labor did not offer a statement to the press, he was accompanied by Costa Rican Sandra Cauffman who is the Deputy Director of the Earth Sc...

The presidential inauguration ceremony in Costa Rica will be celebrated on Tuesday, May 8, when Carlos Alvarado will be sworn in for a four-year term of office; this year, for the first time, the ceremony will be carbon neutral, which means that measures are being taken to reduce the waste and limit the carbon footprint, and also, to offset the unavoidable emissions generated by the event. The...

It’s Labor Day, and in Costa Rica like in many parts of the world this day usually involves parades usually raising awareness over particular issues concerning the general population, other times, like today in Costa Rica protesting against a particular political situation. Today, representatives of different workers’ union groups marched in the streets of downtown San Jose, expressing their op...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff ‘Hood’ politics is changing. Welcome to a new ‘Black America’ realizing its ok to like and support President Donald Trump. African-Americans are waking up with rapper Kanye West telling his brothers and sisters that it’s ok not to be a Democrat and so is Chance ...

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today released the 2018 Special 301 Report, identifying trading partners that do not adequately or effectively protect and enforce intellectual property (IP) rights or otherwise deny market access to U.S. innovators and creators that rely on protection of their IP rights. The Report calls on U.S. trading partners to address IP-related cha...

Costa Rica’s President elect, Carlos Alvarado, presented today the members of his team for the 2018-2022 period. The team has members of different political party including, of course, the Citizens’ Action Party (PAC), Social Christian Unity (PUSC), National Liberation Party (PLN), Frente Amplio, and Curridabat Siglo XXI. Except for the Minister of Culture, Sylvie Duran, the rest of the cabi...

The United States and Costa Rica formalized the donation of four UH-1ST helicopters to the Costa Rican Air Surveillance Agency (SVA) of the Ministry of Public Security. With these helicopters, Costa Rican increases its capability to provide aerial support during maritime operations, as well as to provide direct support to the National Coast Guard Service and emergency care. “This is another ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff This caravan of illegal immigrants from Central America that Mexico allowed through their southern border a month ago has arrived in Tijuana, Mexico seeking asylum. The standoff has begun. News reports claim this caravan started out with about 1,500 men, women a...

Costa Rica’s former Minister of Treasury and former candidate to the Vice-Presidency in this last campaign, Edgar Ayales, passed away this Wedneday, April 25, 2018. Ayales was a respected economist who served as Minister of Treasury for two years (2012-2014); during the presidency of Laura Chinchilla, he was also the candidate to the vice-presidency in this past elections alongside presidentia...

Labor union groups in Costa Rica have called a strike on this Wednesday, April 25 to protest against the new fiscal plan that is currently in discussion at the Legislative Assembly. The strike will gather the union groups of the National Insurance Institute (INS), the Social Security authority (CCSS), public education unions, among others. Leaders of the groups explained that their position...

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 hope former FBI Director James Comey makes a lot of money off his tell-all book “A Higher Loyalty” because he going to need it to pay for his legal defense now that the U.S. Inspector General’s Office has opened a new investigation into Comey leaking seven...

The sentence of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) received earlier this year in favor of Costa Rica, regarding the cases of “Maritime Delimitation Claim in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua)” and “Terrestrial Frontier in the North Area of Isla Portillos (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua)”, allowed Costa Rica to update the map of the country to include 36, 000 km2 of maritime t...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff Barbara Bush – the embodiment of grace, dignity and power – died this week at 92. She was the wife of one president and mother to another. She was the driving force behind the throne. Tributes are pouring in from around the world for this extraordinary woman who...

Costa Rica and the United States signed an agreement to exchange tax information and for mutual assistance between both countries, this with the purpose of attending to the transparency standard established by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). President of Costa Rica Luis Guillermo Solis and Sharon Day, US Ambassador to Costa Rica, signed the agreement that now m...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff Pro-Trump cheerleaders ‘Diamond and Silk’ get the hands down ‘thumbs-up political play of the week,’ not former FBI Director James Comey with his boorish, self-glorifying book “A Higher Loyalty” that comes out this week but has been leaked to the press since las...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff Say goodbye to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WIS) who announced last Wednesday that he would not seek reelection after 20-years of service including three years as Mr. Speaker. Ryan, 48, has represented Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District since 1999. I...

President-elect Carlos Alvarado chose the Plaza de la Democracia (Democracy Plaza) in San Jose as the site for the presidential transition act that will take place May 8th. Alvarado made the request directly to the commission in charge of the transition act, which is headed by Marcia Gonzalez president of the Citizens' Action Party and Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Gonzalez. "The Plaza de...

The judges of the Costa Rica's Constitutional Chamber (Sala Constitucional or Sala Cuarta) didn't find anything unconstitutional in the project presented to reduce the pensions of the Judiciary Power. The consultation was made by the Legislative Assembly since November 1, 2017, after the project was approved in first debate in congress. Now, with sentence number 2018-5758, the Constitutional Ch...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff This week should be a dilly in DC. Subpoenaed documents from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are not being delivered to the U.S. House of Representatives investigating the role of DOJ and FBI during Campaign 2016, media lea...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff This so-called ‘caravan’ of refugees headed to the USA-Mexico border from Central America sure has caught everyone’s attention. As soon as this ‘caravan’ became a real issue President Donald Trump said he’s bringing in the U.S. National Guard Army “immediately” ...

Carlos Alvarado Quesada was elected President of Costa Rica just a week ago and will take the lead of the country on May 8th, with the big responsibility of dealing with a high fiscal deficit, a divided congress and a country that demands actions against corruption and inequity. But who is and what is the background of Costa Rica’s 48th President? Does he have what it takes to make positive cha...

The Costa Rican government opened its first embassy in Africa, in the capital city of Nairobi, Kenya, location chosen by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Manuel Gonzalez, with the plan to access Eastern Africa. “In the case of Keya, it is an undeniable area of influence in East Africa. Kenya is a country with an important and growing economy, that has shown interest towards Costa Rica. I know thei...

The official ceremony where the new elected president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, will take over the leadership of the country will be on May 8th at noon time. Four years ago, the ceremony took place at the National Stadium, but Alvarado made it clear already on April 1st after knowing he had won the elections that this was not going to be the case this time around, “We have to face the fi...

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 Cat-5 political tropical storm approaching the USA-Mexico border from the south, moving slowly north toward Tijuana expected to arrive in a few weeks. A group of about 1,500 men, women and children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are headed...

A unified country and a unified government working together towards common goals for the benefit of the country is what Carlos Alvarado preached in the last two months of electoral campaign. One of Costa Rica’s biggest problems throughout the years has been the impossibility of advancing projects through a divided congress, different interests keep bills stuck for even decades and some never ...

Most of the polls conducted prior to the second round elections in Costa Rica, had candidate of the National Restoration Party (PRN) Fabricio Alvarado ahead of the game, however, the reality proved to be very different from what the polls predicted, and Fabricio received only 39.33% of the votes, vs. a 60.66 obtained by his opponent Carlos Alvarado. When the presidential race began in Costa Ri...

Yesterday, April 1st, Costa Rica elected its President for the next four years, the candidate of the Citizens' Action Party (PAC), Carlos Alvarado. With the support of 60.66% of the voters, Carlos Alvarado became the 48th president of Costa Rica. Carlos is a 38 year-old journalist, he was the Labor Minister and one of the counselors for PAC in congress during the 2006-2010 period, he consultant...

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 play of the week goes to the American Broadcasting Company, Roseanne Barr and John Goodman for the surprise revival of the old TV show “Roseanne” and their portrayal of a ‘normal’ middle-class American family torn apart by POLITICS over the 2016 el...

Polls leading to the Presidential Elections in Costa Rica never showed Carlos Alvarado, the candidate for Citizens' Action Party ahead; one had Fabricio Alvarado (PRN) up by almost ten points, while another showed a statistical tie. Today, April 1st, Carlos Alvarado was elected President of Costa Rica with 60.66% of the votes, versus 39.34% for Fabricio Alvarado. The last survey by Opol Co...

Costa Rica made its position very clear, Carlos Alvarado from the Citizen’s Action Party (PAC) was elected the President of the country for the 2018-2022 period. The first official cut showed that Carlos Alvarado received a total 60.66% of the votes with an overwhelming support that makes him the 48th President of Costa Rica. Fabricio Alvarado from the National Restauration Party received 39...

The voting centers in Costa Rica closed doors at 6 p.m. sharp. The Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) announced the provisional results of the first cut at 8:05 p.m. After an initial 5992 tables (90.62% of the total) 66.91% of the voters participated to put Citizens’ Action Party's candidate Carlos Alvarado significantly ahead: PAC: 60.66% Total votes: 1,205,864 PRN: 39.33% Total Votes: 782,009 ...

It is 2 p.m. in Costa Rica and in just 4 hours voting centers will close their doors and Costa Rica will have a new president. Fabricio Alvarado, candidate of the National Restauration Party, feels confident of coming out victorious in this process, he expected to have a million votes guaranteed by noon time, and said he was certain he’d get an overwhelming triumph. “It is important to remember...

The day is finally here, Costa Rica will know this Sunday evening who their president will be for the next four years. Costa Ricans are voting today in a second round of elections, between the two candidates that got the highest number of votes back on February 4. Early (9 a.m.) this Easter Sunday, election centers around the country looked somewhat empty in comparison to February 4; voting ...

The Handsmaid’s Tale television series based on Margaret Atwood’s influential and acclaimed novel, which explores topics related to the struggle of women to gain independence in a patriarchal and misogynic society, inspires the outfits (crimson robes and white bonnets) a group of women will be wearing this April 1st in the second round presidential elections in Costa Rica when they cast their vote...