Source: Wikimedia Commons In a video statement broadcast by Noticias 24 in Venezuela, one of many state-owned media outlets in the troubled South American nation, President Nicolás Maduro affirmed that a group of terrorists have traveled to Costa Rica with the intention of threatening him. Such was the report published by online news daily CRHoy.com earlier today. President Maduro is one of...

Jairo Mora's supporters The following press release on the ongoing controversy surrounding the Jairo Mora Sandoval murder trial was kindly provided to The Costa Rica Star by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. VERDICT ISSUED IN JAIRO MORA CASE: COURT COULD NOT CONDEMN THE MURDERERS, BUT WE ALL KNOW WHO THEY ARE January 27th, 2015 — COSTA RICA — Sea Shepherd Conservation Society deeply...

Jairo Mora loved to teach children about nature. Wikimedia Commons A deplorable investigation and mishandling of evidence have been cited as the key factors in the decision by a Criminal Tribunal in Limón, in the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, to relieve seven male suspects of homicide charges filed against them by inept prosecutors in the Jairo Mora Sandoval murder case. To understand this...

Source: News.co.,cr archives Tour operators, travel agencies and hospitality businesses are used to seeing trends develop on an annual basis. Whereas in the late 20th century there was high demand for backpacking through Europe and budget travel in general, two of the major trends developing in 2015 include luxury travel and active vacations. Costa Rica is well-prepared to cater to luxury and ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons With regard to the horrific shooting at the offices of French publication Charlie Hebdo in Paris, which claimed 12 lives and was reportedly carried out as a terr or attack on human life and freedom of the press, the government of Costa Rica issued a firm statement of condemnation. Speaking from China on official business, President Luis Guillermo Solis stated: &...

President Solis President Luis Guillermo Solis is hoping for an economic Chinese New Year in Costa Rica. According to a wire report by international news bureau Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) and published by online news daily El Pais, President Solis will visit the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in early 2015, and one of the most important items on his agenda is to drum up interest on the is...

Tactical police units and soldiers from the Nicaraguan Army clashed against farmers who amassed in protest against one of the most controversial, convoluted and quixotic civil engineering projects of the 21st century, the Grand Interoceanic Canal of Nicaragua. According to Mexican newspaper AM Queretaro, the violent demonstrations have left dozens wounded and two or three in critical condition. ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons For many decades, the Republic of Costa Rica and the State of Japan have shown the world that they are willing to take a chance on peace by taking on strong, constitutional commitments. Costa Rica did so by abolishing its armed forces; this was a constitutional act was inspired by Japan, a nation which had earlier renounced war itself.   Earlier this month,...

Source: Embassy of Japan On the morning of Wednesday, December 10th, the Embassy of Japan in Costa Rica officially handed the keys to three Toyota 4x4 ambulance vehicles that will be utilized by the Red Cross rescue squads of Porvenir in Limon, Hojancha in Guanacaste and Paquera in Puntarenas. These three emergency vehicles are part of the State of Japan’s Assistance-Community-Projects (APC) f...

The booming voice of play-by-play broadcaster Mario McGregor is well-known by football fans in Costa Rica who enjoy listening to live matches on the radio. When Mr. McGregor, who is an Afro Costa Rican from the Caribbean province of Limon, takes the microphone of Radio Columbia 98.7 FM, he gives it to you with as much love and emotion as he can muster.   While broadcasting from Brazil d...

Source: Wikimedia Commons In the wake of the geopolitically significant announcement by the governments of the United States and Cuba with regard of their intent to renew diplomatic ties, speculation has emerged about the possibility of Cuba becoming a prime tourism destination for budget travelers. Since Costa Rica is widely considered to be the reigning queen of tourism in the Americas, how ...

Shortly after the historic announcement by President Barack Obama of the United States and President Raul Castro of the Council of the State of Cuba on their renewal of diplomatic relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Costa Rica issued an institutional communiqué expressing satisfaction on this development. Foreign Affairs Minister Manuel A. González Sanz stated: “This is a happy momen...

On Thursday, November 25th, the Ambassador of Costa Rica to Nicaragua, Don Javier Sancho, officially inaugurated a library located in a public school serving the community of Ciudad Sandino. According to institutional communique 4099 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the new library is about 15 minutes away from the populous capital city of Managua, and it holds many volumes of literature relate...

Earlier this week, the Caribbean Port of Limon was the temporary home of Patrouillevaartuig Zr. Ms. Holland (P840), a magnificent patrol boat in the service of the Coast Guard of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This vessel's visit to Costa Rica was carried out in support of the ratification of a treaty that creates a Joint Patrol Agreement between our country, the Netherlands, and other nations th...

Hainan. Source: ISA Thanks to the great performance of Costa Rica's National Surfing Team at the recent World Surfing Games in Peru, our professional surfers have another shot at high-level international competition. According to an official press release by the Surfing Federation of Costa Rica (Spanish acronym: FEDESURF), our Tico pro surfers are now in Hainan, the smallest and southernmost pro...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Dozens of environmental activist organizations in Managua met on Saturday and lodged a strong peremptory request to the government and to the Chinese company HKND Group to postpone their plans to begin construction of the quixotic and highly controversial Nicaragua Canal project. As published by online news daily El Pais and reported by Spanish news agency EFE, the...

More than two years have passed since The Costa Rica Star published an article about two controversial figures whose respective lifeworks have impacted Costa Rica and the rest of the world. The extradition requests we discussed in the article A Tale of two Extraditions: Paul Watson to Costa Rica and Julian Assange to Sweden are still in effect to this very day. In late October, journalists from...

The governments and civil society of Costa Rica and Mexico are pleased to announce that the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Regional Meeting for the Americas will take place in San José, Costa Rica on 18-19 November 2014. This meeting will be preceded by a Civil Society Day, which will take place on November 17. The Open Government Partnership currently includes 17 participant countries from ...

On Thursday night, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Enrique Castillo Barrantes was awarded one of the highest honors issued by the French Republic. The ceremony took place at the diplomatic residence of Jean-Baptiste Chauvin, Ambassador of France to Costa Rica, and Mr. Castillo was accompanied by relatives, friends and the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Gonzalez Saenz. Mr. Castill...

German airline Condor is the latest European carrier increasing its number of flights to Costa Rica. Such is the report by Tatiana Gutierrez Wa-Chong of business weekly El Financiero, published by Grupo Nacion. The new flight on Tuesday increases the number of flights between Frankfurt and the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO) to three per week.   The new Condor flight connect...

Alvaro Umaña served as the first ever Minister of the Environment in Costa Rica. During his term as Minister, various conservation initiatives that are now standard in Costa Rica were first envisioned. Such initiatives include payment for environmental services, ecotourism certifications, carbon neutrality, and others. Mr. Umaña will be one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming Stanford Woods In...

At the 13th edition of the National Journalism Awards in Mexico, a special investigative report about drug trafficking in the Latin American nations of Costa Rica, Colombia, Nicaragua, Panama, and Venezuela was given special recognition. The special report was published on the Sunday pages of the esteemed Mexican newspaper El Universal, and it received accolades for the accuracy of its sources,...

Buyurun and hoş geldiniz are two Turkish expressions that members of the hospitality and tourism industry of Costa Rica will likely utilize in the near future. These two warm phrases are variations of “welcome,” and they will come in handy when direct flights between Istanbul and San Jose are offered by Turkish Airlines in the future, inşallah (God willing) good relations between Turkey and Costa ...

The 2014 Miss Latina Internacional Gay beauty pageant will be hosted for the first time in Costa Rica, and it will feature two separate events. On Friday night, the transgender contestants will be introduced at the Ribs Bar and Restaurant in San Joaquín de Flores; the gala event and awards ceremony will take place at the Lucho Barahona Theater in San Jose on Saturday night. Organizer Ricardo Casti...

News about Britanny Maynard, the 29-yeard old California woman who took her own life by means of assisted suicide this weekend, are spreading around the world and prompting debate about euthanasia and the right to die with dignity. In Costa Rica, the Constitutional Chamber (known as Sala Cuarta) has recognized the human right to receive medical treatment to alleviate pain and suffering; however eu...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Dozens of United States citizens and former expatriates have been charged with different criminal offenses for their alleged participation in telemarketing schemes based in Costa Rica. Most of the case are being handled in the Western District of North Carolina. As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, some individuals are being indicted while others are enterin...

Amid reports of vandalism, gunfire, fiery roadblocks, arrests, canceled negotiations, criminal infiltration, political posturing, and civil disobedience, the dock workers strike at the main seaport of Costa Rica continued on Monday evening with no end in sight. One of the latest developments of this strike, which has been going on for a week, is the possibility of the International Transport Worke...

Source: Flickr CC If you find traffic jams in Costa Rica exasperating, you may not want to drive in Rio de Janeiro, ever. This magnificent and populous Brazilian megacity is among the most beautiful in the world, but gridlock has been tarnishing Rio's facade; particularly after news media reported on the horrible traffic conditions during the FIFA World Cup earlier this year as well as during ...

President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega Members of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) have issued a resolution that calls for the immediate cessation of all activity related to the construction of the controversial Nicaragua Canal, a quixotic project to build an interoceanic waterway to rival the Panama Canal. The ATBC resolution is based on what the organization estimat...

Source: MSP CR Twitter The following press release is being published exactly as it appeared on Defense.gov, an online information portal serving the United States Department of Defense. The article quotes Marine Corps General John F. Kelly, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), and his thoughts on the Ebola virus passing through Costa Rica on its way to the U.S. General Kelly ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons One day after health officials from the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed that a kind physician and volunteer for Doctors Without Borders has been diagnosed with an Ebola virus infection, the New York Times published a story on the patient's fiancee, a liberal and kind-hearted woman whose efforts to help those in need have brought her to Costa ...

Illustrative purposes only. Source: Wikimedia Commons. The following information is being provided by the Office of Public Affairs of the United States Department of Justice:   Two Individuals Charged, Third Pleads Guilty For Roles In Costa Rican Telemarketing Schemes Targeting U.S. Residents   A California woman pleaded guilty today for her role in a half-million-dollar “swe...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica herewith extends a message of solidarity and condolences in the wake of the shooting perpetrated earlier today at the National War Memorial and Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada. This terror attack took place while Prime Minister Harper and many other government officials, as well as legislators and visitors, were present.   The Ministry als...

Although Costa Rica is considered by many cash-strapped expats to be the most expensive country in Latin America, data compiled by popular online travel site TripAdvisor indicates that the lovable city of San Jose is a bargain for tourists. Even when compared to Managua, the populous capital city of Nicaragua, San Jose still comes up cheaper. How did TripAdvisor arrive to this peculiar conclusion?...

Source: Wikimedia Commons During a recent press conference on matters of national security, the Director of Intelligence and Security, Mariano Figueres Olsen, told reporters that his agency has detected the presence of members of terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Costa Rica. Director Figueres was quite vague about all other details about the purporte...

When it comes to public transportation, Cartago, the former capital city of Costa Rica, is the most ecologically conscious section of the Greater San Jose Metropolitan Area (Spanish initials: GAM). Thanks to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Cartago is now a pioneer in the use of bicycles as a smart public transportation option. This past October 15th, the fourth phase of the Bicipubl...

Lethal Injection is still used in the United States Costa Rica is a nation that supports, defends and promotes the defense of human rights around the world. In the matter of the death penalty, the Constitution is clear insofar as human life being inviolable, never to be broken or infringed upon. Such was the message issued by Minister of Foreign Affairs Alejandro Solano last week in commemorat...

From drugs to oil and from the iPhone 6 to jade and timber, smuggling in China is a thriving business that generates billions of dollars each year. Perpetrators of these economic crimes must somehow launder their illicit profits, and smuggling currency out of China seems to be their preferred method. Macau, a former Portuguese colony that now operates as an autonomous region of China, is one of...

Many tourists and expatriate residents in Costa Rica have come to the conclusion that the “Switzerland of the Americas” is called that way not only because of her politically neutral stance or the quiet pastoral scenes in mountain landscapes. Switzerland is known as one of the most expensive places in the world, and Costa Rica can now boast to have that in common with the Swiss Confederation. Than...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Following the September 27th eruption of Mount Ontake, a volcano in Japan that was considered to be mostly dormant since 1979, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Costa Rica issued an official communiqué extending condolences and solidarity to the honorable people of this Asian island nation at a time when the death count has climbed to 54.   Hiking to the p...