Margaritaville Beach Resort Playa Flamingo has already opened doors in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The hotel was known in the past as Flamingo Beach Resort & Spa, but back in July, 2017 it became part of Margaritaville Holdings portfolio. Margaritaville Beach Resort Playa Flamingo made its debut under the Margaritaville brand with several new signature restaurant concepts, updated guestrooms, a...

Gianfranco Pescosolido, a 50 year-old man of Italian nationality was murdered Wednesday evening in La Sabana park in San Jose, Costa Rica. The death of the Italian was the result of a failed robbery apparently carried out by three minors who have yet not been located. Authorities received the alert at close to 8:19 p.m. when calls were made by people at the park, when the Red Cross arrived t...

The Costa Rican Tourism Board declared the Fiestas Típicas Nacionales de Santa Cruz 2019 (National Traditional Party of Santa Cruz), which will be celebrated January 14 through January 20, 2019, of “public interest”. This traditional activity carried out in the county of Santa Cruz, Guanacaste, has gained popularity in the country, in particular due to the Costa Rican style bullfighting. I...

The already traditional Festival de la Luz or Festival of Light will take place this Satuday, December 15; for this reason the transit authorities and the Municipality have already started their work to set up all the infrastructure and will be closing some roads since the early hours of Saturday. The works to install the platforms and bleachers began the evening of this Wednesday in Paseo Colo...

The eruptions of the Turrialba Volcano the morning of this Wednesday caused the delay of almost two hours of five flights that were departing from the Juan Santamaria Airport. The flights affected included two flights from Copa Airlines to Panama, another two from American Airlines to Florida, and the fifth flight was from Avianca with destination to Guatemala. In addition to this, a flight ...

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Epsy Campbell, presented her resignation to this position this afternoon at the Legislative Assembly; Campbell will continue in her position as Vice-President of the Republic. Campbell has been questioned for her decisions to name people to positions with a certain closeness, relation or affinity to her and who apparently did not fulfill the requierements establ...

Three out of the five juvenile delinquents that escaped the Zurqui Juvenile Complex in San Luis, Santo Domingo, Heredia on Saturday, were captured again this Tuesday, December 11. The minors were staying in the house of a family member in El Roble, Puntarenas. Anonymous tips and reports from citizens played an important role on locating the three 16 year-old fugitives. Pablo Bertozzi, Direct...

The work of the different police bodies of the Ministry of Public Security during this 2018 has allowed the seizure of 25 tons 165 kilograms of cocaine, number that exceeds the total amount seized for the previous year which was of 22 tons 567 kilograms. This number was reached with 365 kilograms that were seized by Costa Rican Coast Guard from two Colombians on Saturday, December 8 in waters o...

Costa Rican-Nicaraguan Boxer Francisco Fonseca is getting a second shot at winning the world title in his division when he faces this Saturday, December 15, Philadelphia native, Tevin Farmer, the current IBF World Super Featherweight Champion. The championship fight will take place at the Madison Square Garden in New York. This is Fonseca’s second shot at a World Title, his previous title fi...

The sixth edition of the Costa Rica Surfing Awards will recognize the best athletes in this discipline in an event that will take place Saturday, December 22 at La Fira, Via Lindora Shopping Center in Santa Ana, starting at 9 p.m. The event will bring together athletes such as Leilani McGonagle, Noemar McGonagle, Cali Muñoz, Malakai Martinez, Brisa Hennessey, Eva Woodland and Rubiana Brownwell;...

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, global leader in patient-focused medical innovations for structural heart disease, as well as critical care and surgical monitoring, plans to hire 370 employees as part of its expansion in Costa Rica. “We are proud to contribute from Costa Rica to today’s and tomorrow’s product development that aid patients worldwide. Our new facilities will start operating 100...

After three months of strike, the labor unions of the education sector lifted the movement and will go back to work Monday, December 10, for the remaining 4 days of the 2018 school year. Even though the fiscal reform was already approved by congress on second debate and the Labor Court ruled for a second time the strike of educators as illegal only one of the labor unions, SEC, had already retu...

The constant eruptions of the Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica that have been registered since yesterday and throughout the day today have caused ash fall to different parts of the Great Metropolitan Area. The activity this Sunday, December 9, began since the early morning hours (1:15 a.m.) and again (6:52 a.m.) with a column of ash that reached over 800 meters above the crater, 4.140 meters abo...

Using the slogan “taking care of one another is in our nature”, the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) launched a new tourist safety campaign on Wednesday, to coincide with Costa Rica’s main tourist period, with high numbers of visitors from abroad as well as local tourists. The publicity components were shown in the opening ceremonies of the XX Tourism Safety Congress, an event held by the Nation...

According to a survey carried out by the Costa Rican Hotels Chamber, hotels in the country are registering already over 80% occupancy for the holiday season. Beach hotels as it is common for this time of the year are the ones registering higher occupation numbers of over 82% while mountain hotels are at 80%. It is likely that the upcoming weeks register an increase specially of national to...

Five juvenile delinquents escaped the evening of Saturday, December 8 from the Zurqui Juvenile Complex in San Luis, Santo Domingo, Heredia. Officers at the prison noticed the group was missing when they were doing the evening count. The young men have criminal records for murder, robbery, attempted murder and aggravated robbery. Penitentiary Police officers with the assistance of Public P...

The color of the water of the lake of the Poas Volcano in Costa Rica, changed its coloration from its regular turquoise to green. According to information given by volcanologist Guillermo Alvarado, from the National Seismology Network, the reason for the change of color occurs because the volcano has two sources of activity under the lake which constantly inject sulfur dioxide to it; the effect...

This Saturday  December 8th and 7:49 am the Turrialba Volcano registered another eruption with a column of gas that reached approximately 500 meters above the crater and 3,840 meters above sea level (12595.2 ft). The direction of the winds during the morning directed the ash towards some areas of the Central Valley such as Coronado, Goicoechea, Moravia and several cities in Heredia. Smell of su...

A Costa Rican woman of name, Sandra Diaz, has been in the eye of the public light this week along with Guatemalan Victorina Morales, after they both spoke to The New York Times admitting they were undocumented workers at one of President Trump’s Golf Resorts, National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Sandra Diaz worked at the golf club from 2010 to 2013 and is now a legal resident of the Un...

Costa Rica became the first country to gather 25 tons of plastic in under 8 hours, this gives the country the Guinness Record which was previously held by India which had gathered 23 tons in less than 8 hours. Only type 1 and 2 plastic bottles counted. The activity took place at the Pedregal Event Center in San Antonio de Belén, Heredia, here all the plastic was gathered and weighed which re...

The family of murdered tourist, Carla Stefaniak, has continued to share information regarding Carla's case through the Facebook page "FindingCarla", on one of the most recent posts, they informed that Costa Rican authorities had shared the results of the autopsy with the family, they described the same as "absolutely terrifying". Although exact details were not shared, it has been said that the...

One of the biggest exhibitions of LEGO works will arrive to Costa Rica this 2019 at Multiplaza Escazú. The exhibit, created by Ryan McNaught, will take up 1200 square meters of the mall in Escazu, from January 13 and through February 22, it involves more than 5 million LEGO bricks and has interactive areas that guarantee a unique experience for people all ages. In total, The Brickman Experi...

The Escazú Municipality closed down on Thursday, December 6, the lodging facility Villa Le Mas located in San Antonio, Escazú, where Carla Stefaniak, the Venezuelan-American tourist who was murdered, stayed. According to the Municipality, the hotel, owned by a corporation under the name Adiantum had given up the permit to operate as a hotel back in 2013, and apparently was operating without any...

President Carlos Alvarado and the Minister of Sports, Hernán Solano, announced the donation of the Chinese Government of approximately 11 million dollars, this to be used for the update of the security systems of the National Stadium and other projects. The Government confirmed a contribution for the participation of Costa Rica in the Olympic cycle with a transfer of over $915 thousand from the...

The Costa Rican Train Institute (INCOFER) announced today that they have already approved the purchase of 8 new trains from the factory, CRRC Quingdao Sigang Co., Ltd. company that was awarded the bid. The awarding was carried out under the figure of successive direct negotiation, in accordance to Article 19 of the Special Regimen Regulation of Administrative Contracting, Law 9366. These ...

The United States, China and the Netherlands are three dynamic markets that have been important to the medical devices sector in Costa Rica. For second year-round, it continues to be Costa Rica’s top goods export with 29% of all its exports, equivalent to $2,758 million. This is based on October’s goods exports report, submitted by PROCOMER and COMEX. The sector’s growth is $412 million more th...

American credit rating agency Moody’s announced this December 5th they have “downgraded the Government of Costa Rica's long-term issuer and senior unsecured bond ratings to B1 from Ba2 and changed its rating outlook to negative, concluding the review for downgrade that was initiated on 18 October 2018”. Moody’s stated that the key drivers for the downgrade are: 1. The continued and projected...

"This country depends on tourism, immigration and crime are getting out of hand", this was fragment of the statements given by Carlos Caicedo, father of Carla Stefaniak, the Venezuelan-American tourist that was found dead this past Monday, December 3. Caicedo complained that it took a long time to get the authorization from the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) to see and identify the body, ...

The joint patrol operations of the Costa Rican Coast Guard Service and the USA Coast Guard Service resulted in the arrest of four people who were transporting 1.5 tons of cocaine aboard a vessel intercepted 53 nautical miles from Punta Burica in the South Zone. The vessel of name ¨Miriam V¨ plates P-13283, was intercepted by the United States Coast Guard Services and during the inspection they ...

After 86 days of striking, the National Association of Public Employees (ANEP), headed by Albino Vargas, decided to cancel the strike, this after the fiscal reform was approved by the Legislative Assembly. Last week, the Costa Rican Educators Union (SEC) had also chosen to go back to work. Labor Union leader Albino Vargas, was, however, very clear in stating that they will go back to the str...

Walter Espinoza, Director of the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ), had a press conference Tuesday, December 4, 2018, where he stated that “everything so far leads us to believe that the body found in Escazú corresponds to Carla Stefaniak”, however, he was very careful to insist that scientific confirmation is still pending. According to Espinoza, the body that was found near Villa Le Mas, S...

The US Embassy in Costa Rica informs it will remain closed this Wednesday, December 5, this as a mark of respect for the passing of former President George H.W. Bush "As a mark of respect for the passing of the forty-first President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush, Wednesday, December 5, has been designated as a National Day of Mourning by Executive Order of the President. Emba...

Carlos Caicedo, father of Carla Stefaniak, the 36-year-old tourist that went missing in Costa Rica November 28, arrived at the Forensic Science building in San Joaquín de Flores, Heredia, the morning of this Tuesday, December 4. Samples of his blood were taken to be compared with the DNA of the woman whose body was found buried yesterday in the same area where his daughter was last seen. Caiced...

The fiscal reform was finally approved in Costa Rica, after receiving in Congress 34 votes in favor and 17 against during the second debate. After two governments attempted and failed to move forward with a fiscal reform and after more than 80 days of strike movements opposing the plan, the approval finally came the afternoon of this Monday, December 3. The fiscal plan intends to bring econo...

The body of a woman was found buried in San Antonio, Escazu, on the same property "Villa Le Mas" where Venezuelan/American tourist Carla Stefaniak, who went missing last week, was staying. The Costa Rica Judiciary Police (OIJ) conducted a search Monday, December 3rd, in the room where the 36 year old Venezuelan, d who resides legally in Florida, USA, was last seen along with the surrounding are...

Going to the dentist is usually not an experience we look forward to, but it is something we all need to do if we want a healthy smile and overall good health. It is recommended for a person to visit a dentist at least twice a year to prevent any severe problems, however, many times, not only do we not look forward to it but we avoid it because of the high costs it represents, especially when it c...

The ballistics unit Judicial Branch’s Forensics Science Labs received the international accreditation with ISO 17020 norm and the re-accreditation of the biochemical, toxicology and analytic chemistry units with the ISO 17025 norms, making Costa Rica a regional model in this area. "The strengthening of forensic capabilities improves the quality of evidence analysis, which in turn strengthens th...

Costa Rica offered to host the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 25) that is scheduled to take place December, 2019, after Brazil withdrew due to budget problems. The sites for the Conference of the Parties (COP) is usually defined three years in advance for the country to have enough time to organize the event; the 2019 event was supposed to be hosted by Brazil, however...

Two members of the Public Police Force suspected of bribing two Canadian tourists were arrested by the Judiciary Investigative Police (OIJ) in Santa Cruz, Guanacaste. The men of last names Gutiérrez Matarrita, 48 years old, and Diaz Cabalceta, age 31, apparently stopped the car of the Canadian tourists during a routine operation in a road control post, back November 14 in the area of Santa Ana ...

P.F. Chang’s will inaugurate its second restaurant in Costa Rica next December 4, the restaurant will be located at the recently opened Oxígeno Human Playground in Heredia. With a total investment of close to $2.5 million, this will be the fourth restaurant the Asian fusion restaurant brand opens in Central America. This second restaurant is smaller than the original locale in Avenida Esca...