The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“SPT”) of the United Nations (UN) is visiting Costa Rica to evaluate the conditions and treatment given to prisoners in the different prisons in the country. Members of the SPT will remain in the country through March 14. “During its mission, the Subcommittee intends to visit prisons, police...

The work of Costa Rican Public Police Force and the National Coast Guard Service managed to seize 1,065 kilograms of cocaine and detained six people. The suspects are five Costa Ricans between the ages of 22 and 39, four of them with prior criminal records and a 53-year-old Colombian of last names Guarí Enríquez In addition to the drugs seized the police also confiscated three vehicles and...

Madame Butterfly, opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini will be presented for the third time by the National Lyric Company (CLN) at the Melico Salazar Theater in San José, Costa Rica. The presentations are expected at the end of July, beginning of August, however dates have yet not been officially defined, the CLN has confirmed five presentations. The production of the opera will have the...

The effects of El Niño have already been felt in the past few months in Costa Rica, particularly in the Caribbean and North Zone of the country were these months usually present rainfall and the deficit of rain ranged between 60% to 75% in January making it the second driest January registered for the province of Limon. Initially it was expected that the phenomenon would increase rainfall in t...

As part of a strategy of accessible tourism, Jacó beach inaugurated a 63 meter long ramp (206.70 ft.) built with recycled plastic and which gives wheelchair users access to the shore, this and other improvements and facilities made of Jacó the first fully accessible beach in Central America. The inauguration took place this Friday, March 1st, in the frame of the Zero Discrimination Day, and it...

Authorities of the Ministry of Public Security seized a total of 1.2 tons of cocaine in waters of the South Pacific, packed as shoe soles and as rectangular packages. The National Coast Guard Service was in routine actions directed to battle drug trafficking another crimes with the assistance of the United States Coast Guard Service when they detected a suspicious speed boat 68 kilometers from...

The Russian Classical Ballet Company will bring the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet to Costa Rica’s Melico Salazar Theater on May 18 and May 19. With 35 dancers, the renown Russian Classical Ballet Company will present the complete version of this William Shakespeare classic with the music of Sergei Prokofiev. “There isn’t a more romantic and eternal love story than that of Romeo and...

The Moín Megaport, APM Terminals, officially began operations this Thursday, February, 28, 2019 with the promise of putting Costa Rica at the head of the region in port services. The container terminal began operations partially back in October 30, 2018 working at a minimum capacity with the purpose of testing procedures and preparing personnel. The official inauguration of the megaport, which...

Costa Rica ranks every year among the top destinations to retire to, and hundreds of foreigners choose to relocate to this country for many reasons other than retirement, some are looking to escape the cold winter that affects their home country, others simply come to visit and fall in love with the Pura Vida of the country. The fact that many choose Costa Rica as their new home is not a fluke,...

Just a quick flight away from the United States and Canada many foreigners choose Costa Rica to retire, the reasons are many, from great weather and amazing scenarios to peace and stability, but one of the main reasons is also the fact that living in Costa Rica is still considerably cheaper than the United States. Once again, International Living has included Costa Rica, in a report that highli...

The Costa Rica Tourism Board and the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) signed a new strategy for the search and promotion of foreign investment projects in the tourism sector that have to do with the respect to the authenticity, values and cultural tradition of national communities. “We will support self-projects of orange economy, those industries that support culture as an engin...

The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) announced the official formation and legal induction of the members of the National Commission of Tourist Guides (CONAGUITUR), an inter-institutional agency with representatives from the public and private sectors, which will establish and monitor a training program for certified guides. CONAGUITUR is overseen by the ICT and is also made up of the Costa Rican...

Internet service provided RACSA, subsidiary of ICE, informed that they will be performing maintenance work of the fiber optic submarine telecommunications cable system Maya-1 this weekend, March 1st through March 3, these works will take Maya-1 submarine cable out of operation. Previsions are being taken by using outbound Internet capacity through other Submarine Cable options so that affectati...

The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) and the Canadian airline Air Transat confirmed an increase in the number of seats the company would offer to Costa Rica’s two international airports. Two flights originating in Toronto were added this winter, one to the Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport and another to Juan Santamaría International Airport. “Attracting airlines and a greater number of...

The former four time National Champion, Gilbert Brown López took the win at the Marley Cup on the second stop of the Kolbi National Surf Circuit in Puerto Viejo, this past weekend and after five years since his last win. In the female division it was Paulina Summers, also a local of Puerto Viejo, who took the Open and Junior. Brown also took the Masters category, the 37-year-old managed to b...

he University of Georgia Foundation has agreed to sell the university's Costa Rica residential and research campus in San Luis de Monteverde, Costa Rica, to the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), the oldest and largest nonprofit study-abroad and intercultural exchange organization in the U.S. The University of Georgia Foundation Board of Trustees approved the transaction at i...

In a ceremony celebrated this Sunday, February 24, the Government of Costa Rica launched the National Decarbonization Plan 2018-2050, which sets the bases of a green economy to face the challenges of climate change. The activity gathered over 300 national and international personalities, at the sculptures garden of the Costa Rican Art Museum and under the conduction of Christiana Figueres, pr...

The Upala airfield is now looking completely renovated after an investment of almost $2 million USD made by the Technical Council of Civil Aviation (CETAC) and the General Direction of Civil Aviation (DGAC). The Upala airfield had suffered severe deterioration after Otto Hurricane in November 2016; an intervention was necessary to fix and improve the conditions of the airfield. “The administ...

The Labor Appeals Court of the Second Judicial Court of San José declared the strike movement of the education sector protesting the fiscal plan, which extended 89 days, as legal, considering that there was no proof that the movement “was not peaceful nor that it affected essential services”. Judges Adriana Chacón, Ana Ruth Fallas and Luis Eduardo Mesén, rejected the arguments presented by the...

Neustar, Inc., provider of real-time information services, announced it will expand its business footprint and workforce in STEM-related computer and information services (IS) skills as it increases its employee base. Throughout 2019, the company intends to hire more than 50 professionals in technical and leadership positions in engineering-related functions and activities including database ...

For months now Costa Rican health authorities have been insisting on the vaccination of children against measles due to outbreaks of this virus in different parts of the continent; yesterday, the Ministry of Health confirmed that this virus is back in the country, an imported case from France. A family of French tourist, the parents 30 and 35 years of age and their 5-year-old child, have been ...

Spanish company Telefónica (Movistar) is in the process of selling its operations in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama to the company Millicom International Cellular (Tigo) for a total 1,455 million euros (approx.$1,650 million USD). The information was confirmed by the Movistar Costa Rica headquarters, however, the transaction is still pending to be approved by each market’s regulations, the wh...

Roche inaugurated the Finance and Procurement areas of its Shared Service Center for the Americas today. From Costa Rica, the company will provide business operations support to the Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics divisions across the entire American Continent. The operation will generate approximately 400 direct and 50 indirect jobs by the end of 2020. The Center, which began operations in J...

The Government of Costa Rica and the National Emergency Commission had announced since the end of 2018 measures being taken to face the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENOS) phenomenon that would be causing droughts and floods to a large part of the national territory this 2019; this phenomenon could extend for another nine months and is already causing water rationing in some communities. The...

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration - CABEI and the Bank of Costa Rica, signed a transaction for 100 million dollars under the modality of outlay of a global credit line destined as work capital to promote productive sectors. The resources will be used by BCR to finance the operations of “mipymes”, small and mid-size companies of the manufacturing, agriculture and cooperative sec...

The Minister of Environment, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, announced that they have plans to turn 8 areas in different regions of Costa Rica into parks similar to La Sabana in San José, where people have open spaces for their recreation and leisure. The eight areas that are being considered are: La Carpintera in Cartago, an area in the Mountains of Escazú in San José; El Rodeo in Ciudad Colón, San J...

The area of Costa Rica known as Zona de los Santos is famous for the quality of its coffee, this year, coffee lovers will be able to enjoy the Tarrazú Coffee Expo, that will take place March 1st through March 3. Some of the best coffee of Costa Rica is produced in this region with altitudes of between 1,200 and 1,650 meters and with particular characteristics that make it exportable to countrie...

As part of the project “Connected Public Spaces” the Ministry of Science and Technology (MICITT), the Ministry of Environment(MINAE) and the Telecommunication Superintendence (SUTEL) signed an agreement to offer free internet connection in Costa Rican National Parks. “Considering that Wildlife Protected Areas in the country are visited daily by hundreds of national and foreign tourists and ar...

Costa Rican boxer and former interim world champion Bryan “Tiquito” Vasquez will return to the ring April 20 to face Puerto Rican Felix Verdejo. Although the announcement has not been officially made by the Costa Rican’s promoter Top Rank, the fight will apparently be signed as part of the preliminary fights to the event headlined by WBO world champion Terence Crawford who will defend his title...

The Government of Costa Rica reaffirms its rejection to any course of action of declaration that involves the use of violence against the Venezuelan people, the use of force or military intervention in Venezuela. This statement comes just days after the Costa Rican government granted 60 days to three Venezuelan diplomats in Costa Rica named under the regimen of Nicolás Maduro, to leave the coun...

The United States Congress approved $40.7 million to be given to Costa Rica to battle organized crime during 2019, informed the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This amount represents an increase of 33% over last year’s aid; this increase obeys to the good results obtained by the Ministry of Public Security and the different police bodies in the country in their battle against drug tr...

The work of Costa Rican sculptor Jorge Jiménez Deredia will transform the city of San José in an open air museum, an exhibit including 27 of his pieces will be in display from February 20 through July 14, 2019. Some of the pieces are already displayed in different areas of downtown San José, but the exhibit will be officially inaugurated on February 20. Boulevards, open spaces and parks will ...

After the preventive closure of Poas Volcano National Park this past Monday, visitation to the park has resumed with normality despite the sporadic passive eruptions that it continues to report. The eruptions have been of variable intensity and after the analysis by experts the park remains open to the public with certain restrictions and security measures. “When there is a change in the dir...

The first international tournament of adaptive surf in Costa Rica will take place May 29 which is the national day of the population with disabilities. The tournament will gather the best adaptive surfers of the country along with international guests that will be joining this first edition that will take place in Jacó Beach, in the Central Pacific. This event is organized by the Adaptive Su...

Oscar Arias, former two-time president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace award winner, appeared at the Associate District Attorney Office for Gender matters as part of the investigation regarding two criminal complaints one for rape and another for sexual assault filed against him. Arias, rejected all charges against him and abstained from making any further statements at the time, however, he did ...

The work by the Border Police (Ministry of Public Security) to battle the illegal extraction of gold in the north zone of the country continues delivering good results. On this occasion, officers managed to seize 1,900 kilograms of cyanide, material used for the extraction of gold. The material was divided in 38 large bags. Officers that were patrolling the area received information about the p...

The National Sports Council will invest $3,736,890 USD of its budget to give funds to 60 sports federations, associations and the National Olympic Committee (CON). The announcement was made by the Minister of Sports, Hernán Solano Venegas. More specifically, $3,244,113.00 are destined for the sports federations and associations and $492,776.00 for the National Olympic Committee. In the c...

Foreigners Detained at Costa Rica International Airport Carrying Spiders, Ants and a Scorpion Two foreigners were detained at the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Costa Rica, when they attempted to leave the country with 181 containers containing live ants, spiders and a scorpion. The men of German nationality and last names Goldnik and Ollesch were arrested by Airport Police of the...

The city of Curridabat to the east of San José, is one of the 16 finalists in the first edition of the Wellbeing City Award, in the category of Sustainable Development. The Wellbeing City Award is an initiative of NewCities and its partners Novartis Foundation, Novartis US Foundation, and the City of Montréal, and it recognizes cities placing wellbeing at the center of urban design, planning an...

IBM will expand its Global Security Service Center in Costa Rica making it the biggest in Latin America. With an investment of $21 million, IBM will expand its operations in the country including its current infrastructure. The Global Security Service Center monitors security events for clients in over 130 countries; the expansion will allow it to triple its capacity and it will add new service...