The sixth edition of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (MBFW) San Jose already has its dates set for Wednesday, May 2 through Saturday, May 5 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Escazu. The most important fashion event in the country will once again give national designers and models the opportunity to showcase their talent and take their collections to other international runways. Leonora Jimenez...

The Municipality of San Jose, signed an agreement with Marviva Foundation through which they will support actions involving businesses and the general population to begin eliminating the use of single use plastic which represents 80% of the waste that is accumulated in the oceans. Concerned for the amount of waste that is generated in a daily basis and the repercussions this has in the environ...

Costa Rican company Florida Ice & Farm (FIFCO) celebrated in December last year the accomplishment of their goal to become the first mass consumption company in Costa Rica to be certified as carbon positive, now, the company celebrates another milestone as they become the first company in Latin America to receive the certification “Zero Waste to Landfill”. The certification, awarded by The Carb...

The Electric Transportation bill was approved by congress in Costa Rica back in December 2017; the bill is intended to promote the use of electric vehicles through the creation of tax exemptions of up to 100% depending on the cost of the car, these measures hope to bring down contamination levels and the use of fossil fuels replacing them for clean energies. Now, two months after the approval o...

Thanks to the “Bloque Sur” (South Block)  the Costa Rican authorities were able to give two big hits to drug dealing operations with the help of the joint patrol operations from  the United States. The first case involved a total of 1,256 kilograms of cocaine seized at 188 nautical miles from Punta Burica which found aboard the vessel Cherokee II plates PQ8824 which operates as a fishing boat; ...

Officers of the Professional Migration Police and personnel from the Ministry of Work and the Social Security Service  (C.C.S.S.) found a total of 47 foreigners working under "irregular conditions" AKA Illegally in two companies hired by Coopesa a company dedicate to the repair and maintenance of air crafts. The group included natives from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela who receiv...

Francisco Prendas is the candidate for the vice-presidency of Costa Rica representing the National Restoration Party (PRN) whose presidential candidate is Fabricio Alvarado. Francisco stated that their party would much rather choose heterosexuals as members of his government (ministers or executive presidents in public institutions) than a homosexual person, to avoid “offending the majority of Cos...

Manuel Alvarez, the 74 year-old man native of Spain but a resident of San Francisco, California, who went missing in Costa Rica since February 2, is the owner of at least 17 properties in the country. “He used to own restaurants in San Francisco, California. He then started investing in real estate. He came here (to Costa Rica) to buy and sell properties and he fell in love. About 15 years ago ...

The Manuel Antonio National Park in Quepos, Puntarenas, the most visited National park in Costa Rica, has a new universal trail sponsored by the Costa Rica Electricity Institute (ICE). “El Manglar” (The Mangrove) is the name of the new elevated trail that has a length of 784 meters (2,572 feet) and is 2.4 meters wide (7.87 feet); it was built over a mangrove, hence the name, in an area of the ...

Fishermen took to some of the main streets in Puntarenas, Limon and Guanacaste in a strike to demand better conditions for their industry. Changes to some of the fishing policies which have been established by the government for example, minimum size in some species of fish have affected their activity and profitability. Fishermen consider that government authorities and the Costa Rica Fish...

A 5.2 magnitude earthquake was felt in Costa Rica on Monday, February 26 at 7:15 a.m. The epicenter was registered 4 km South of Puerto Jimenez, in Golfito, Puntarenas. On February, 24 at 4:26 a.m. the National Seismology Network registered another seism of exactly the same magnitude 5.2 and located 30 km southwest of Bahia Ballena in Osa, Puntarenas. Both movements were felt strong in...

Photo Credit: La Nacion / Alfonso Quesada A man identified as Wesner Chavarria of approximately 30-years-of-age passed away this Sunday in Uvita de Osa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, apparently he was taking part of the 2018 Envision Festival that was being carried out from February 22 through the 26 in this location. The circumstances of his death are still unclear and currently under investigati...

Costa Rican MMA fighter Jorge Calvo was facing Mexican Irving Amaya in the LUX 002 event in Mexico City, Mexico, organized by Lux Fight League when the Mexican suffered an unfortunate and painful injury. Amaya was preparing an attack on Calvo but Calvo was able to block the kick with his leg, unfortunately the Mexican fractured his tibia and fibula in a dramatic way. The accident occurred durin...

The second date of the Kolbi National Surf Tournament took place in Puerto Viejo, Limon and saw two new surfers take the lead, Malakai Martinez and Coral Wiggins in the male and female open categories respectively. Malakai Martinez, from Guanacaste and only 16-years-old, took the first place in the Open and the Junior competitions, and he also set the records of the weekend with two best waves ...

Ray Guze a man from Okanagan Valley in Canada, a former BC Hockey League player and professional lacrosse player, died while vacationing in Costa Rica. Apparently Guze was spending his vacation in the country with some friends, “He was dancing on a ledge, slipped and fell approximately 10 feet, hitting his head on a cement block dying instantly. The British Columbia native played seven NLL seas...

Xandari Hotel is a beautiful boutique hotel located in the area of Tacacori in Alajuela, initially it was a project created by a couple of architects from California, under the concept of sustainability, the conservation of native flora and fauna and the development of the local community, the hotel was later acquired by Muthoot Group. Xandari Hotel is located in a property of more than 16 hec...

Costa Rican boxer Bryan “Tiquito” Vasquez returned to the ring on Saturday, February 24 and added another win to his record by defeating Mexican Miguel “La Ranita” Gonzalez, with this win Vasquez earned the Fedelatin Belt of the World Boxing Association (WBA) in the 130 pound category and the Fecarbox of the World Boxing Council (CMB). Vasquez needed a win in his career after losing a majority ...

As Costa Rica heads towards the second round of its Presidential Elections 2018, the latest poll carried out by Opol Consultores show Evangelic candidate, Fabricio Alvarado, as the favorite with 57.3% of the support of those voters that will vote and have already picked their candidate. Costa Rica will commence the second round of its presidential elections on Sunday, April 1st, since in the fi...

The arrival of the first three port cranes to the Moin Container Terminal sends Costa Rica in route to becoming a regional leader in port services with a more efficient and safe operation for the import and export of products. The acquisition of these equipment marks a historic milestone, the cranes are unique in the country and will allow Costa Rica to provide for the first time services to Po...

Costa Rican Drug Control Police (PCD) stopped a trailer truck close to the frontier with Nicaragua (Peñas Blancas) which was carrying USD $562,200.00 hidden in the front differential . The trailer truck was in route Guatemala-Costa Rica and was transporting cleaning products. “The detained driver of last names Soto de León, he is a 44-year-old Guatemalan who had a total of 58 packages with...

The surgery to separate siamese twins Ezequiel and Samuel concluded at 2 a.m. this Saturday and the children are in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit of the National Children’s Hospital in Costa Rica. The complex procedure to separate the 2 year-old twins that were joined at the head began at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, February 23 with a team of 20 professionals in different areas. Accord...

The Limon Airport will receive an investment of over U.S. $2.6 million for a new terminal that will comply with all international aeronautic norms to continue to promote the connectivity and competitiveness of this province. The new Terminal will have waiting rooms, governmental offices, division of passenger flows (National/International), fire prevention system, and water treatment plants. It...

Photo Credit: Jeffrey Zamora/La Nacion Two surgical teams are taking part in the complex surgery that involves separating Costa Rican siemese twins Ezequiel and Samuel, born in 2015 and who are joined at the head. The babies were taken into the surgery room at 7:30 a.m. Friday, February 23 and almost 11 hours later the surgery was still in progress. The Social Security Service (CCSS) confirm...

Mimo International Exports and Imports Inc. a Panama based company pleaded guilty to bribing Costa Rican soccer official Eduardo Li. According to the statement read in a Brooklyn court by attorney Barry Kingham, back in 2014 Mimo paid Eduardo Li, who was then the head of the Costa Rican Soccer Federation, the sum of U.S. $500,000.00 so that he would agree to sign a deal for a U.S. apparel compa...

From April 9th to 27th, Costa Rica will have three weeks ofinnovation, design and digital technologies, taught by professionals who are known for their contributions in such areas. For the first time, Costa Rica will have the privilege to be the host country of the Summer School of the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID). It is recognized as one of the main references of design in...

As part of its growth strategy in Costa Rica, Citi announced that it hopes to continue generating more employment opportunities through the end of the year. The above was communicated, in the framework of the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Shared Service Center, better known as: Citi Service Center (CSC) which operates in Costa Rica, La Ribera de Belén, where it provides services to o...

Costa Rican company SmartSoft developed with the support of the Propyme Fund, the software “Dynamic Behavior Patterns” which detects and prevents fraud and money laundering and helps national and international financial institutions increase their security and protect their clients’ resources. “Dynamic Behavior Patterns” is the result of the project “Determination of dynamic behavioral patterns...

Authorities in Costa Rica are concerned as presence of Central America gang members “mareros” increases in the country. On February 20 a native from El Salvador was captured as a suspect of a robbery, he is allegedly a member of a “mara” (gang). From only 3 cases associated with maras in 2016 the number increased to 16 in 2017, according to official data by the Migratory Police. The members ...

TripAdvisor, the travel planning and booking site revealed its Travellers' Choice ranking of Top 25 beaches in the world, and this year this listing includes a beach on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, the beautiful and peaceful Punta Uva. Created in 2002, the Travellers' Choice Awards are based on the quantity and quality of traveler reviews and ratings for beaches on TripAdvisor, gathered o...

The opening of Planet Hollywood Beach Resort Costa Rica was announced by Sunwing Travel Group, a North American integrated travel company, which signed a deal with iconic lifestyle brand Planet Hollywood to dramatically increase the footprint of Planet Hollywood's hotel operations globally. The press release stated: For more than 25 years, the Planet Hollywood brand has been positioned as th...

As consumers become increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of agro-commodity production, with the click of a button, companies buying pineapples from Costa Rica – one of the world's largest producers of the fruit – can now see if their suppliers are engaged in deforestation or not, with help from the United Nations' Green Commodities Programme. The Land Use Change Monitoring Syst...

The three bulletproof tactical vehicles donated by the United States to Costa Rica and that were received by the police bodies in Costa Rica at the end of January, did not pass technical revision, Riteve, due to three problems labeled as serious. According to the information provided by the Ministry of Public Security the problems were: Lack of reflective stickers (the cars are completely black...

The Canada Embassy to Costa Rica will host a business forum with the participation of representatives of different national companies with the purpose of analyzing and comparing the quality and price of products offered. According to information by the Foreign Commerce Chamber of Costa Rica in total, twelve Canadian companies from diverse product and service sectors, including Canadian Oats, Ch...

Manuel Alvarez, a 74 year-old man native from Asturias, Spain was reported missing in Costa Rica by his family, who explained the man traveled to this country on January 10 after he had received a call alerting him of a possible fraud to sell properties he owned here. Alvarez, who has resided in San Francisco, California for many years, owns some properties in Costa Rica and visited the country...

The biggest hydroelectric plant in Costa Rica and in fact all Central America, Reventazon, a mega-project that was inaugurated just close to a year and a half ago will remain shut down for at least six months to fix a “strong water leak” present in the rock massif of the dam’s spillway. The Costa Rica Electricity Institute (ICE), company in charge of this project, confirmed the existence of a c...

The wonders of Corcovado National Park have been recognized by several travel magazines and environmental publications in the past, among them Discovery Corp. which considered it as one of the best National Parks in the world, and National Geographic which described it as “the most biologically intense area in the world when it comes to biodiversity”; today, the beauty of this park located in Cost...

This is the first time in history that a Costa Rican government complies with what is established in the Ley Orgánica del Ambiente of 1995 (Organic Law of the Environment) by presenting the State of the Environment Report, a document that provides a common frame of information to address environmental topics by sectors and in a comprehensive way, with the purpose of providing a diagnosis of the st...

The Pavas Criminal Court extended Ziad Akl's  preventive imprisonment for another three months. Ziad is the brother of Elias Akl, who was assassinated back in March 2017 outside a private school in Guachipelin, Escazu.  Ziad was arrested shortly after his brother’s death when he was trying to flee the country through the Juan Santamaria Airport, and was detained on separate charges of attempted mu...

Photo Credit: Esteban Chinchilla / FIA 2017 The XVI edition of the International Festival of the Arts (FIA) in Costa Rica will take place April 6 through April 15, and will include a total of 92 artistic groups, 18 participating countries and 162 presentations. Under the slogan “The window to discover art”, the FIA will bring together over 1100 professionals in 7 main sites that include, th...

Tourism is the main economic activity for Costa Rica, we are in the middle of the high season and having a lot of traffic in the airports is a good thing, or at least one would think that, except that for the past few months many tourists have entered or left the country with the bad experience of having to wait in line for a very long time at the Juan Santamaria Airport. The posts on different...