Prisoners prepare to unload computers for their new computer lab. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Justice and Peace) More than 250 computers are being delivered to nine different adult prisons as well as juvenile detention facilities in Costa Rica to set up computer labs for inmates, the Ministry of Justice and Peace announced on Thursday. Amongst the institutions that will receive a com...

(Archive/stock image. For illustrative purposes only). For a month, doctors at the Max Peralta Hospital in the city of Cartago, located east of Costa Rica’s capital San Jose, had been keeping a brain-dead woman on artificial life support in hopes of allowing her unborn child a chance at life. On February 8th, doctors and family received their wish, as a team of more than a dozen specialists...

FILE - Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are seen in the House of Representatives Chamber of the US Capitol after Pope Francis' address Sept. 24, 2015. (Reuters OMX) //TRW// (VOA) Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz slammed U.S. President Barack Obama for his reported plans to visit Cuba next month. Speaking at a town hall Thursday in South Carolina, th...

Zika is spread by the Aedes aegyptie mosquito (Wikimedia Commons) Lab tests continue to rule out the presence of the Zika virus in Costa Rica, according to health officials, including a suspected case in a pregnant Canadian woman in Playa Potrero in the northwestern province of Guanacaste. Lab tests conducted on the woman came back negative for the virus, Minister of Health, Dr. Fernando Llorc...

(Nicaragua state media) Eight leaders of a massive religious cult in Nicaragua that attracted some 650 followers from Nicaragua as well as Honduras and El Salvador to live in “subhuman” conditions in a mountainous area in the municipality of El Viejo, in Nicaragua’s Chinandega department, were sentenced to more than seven years in prison on Monday. According to local media reports, the reli...

Dirk Beauchamp and his wife, Yemmi Duran are pictured in a photo from several years ago. (FACEBOOK) Details into the killing of a US man, his wife and three of the woman’s children in Matapalo de Santa Cruz, Guanacaste, began to emerge late Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Officials identified the victims as 57-year-old US citizen, Dirk Beauchamp, his 38-year-old Costa Rican wife, Yemmi Duran...

Adrian Salmerón Silva (MSP photo) UPDATE (click to read): Details emerge in massacre of US expat and family in Guanacaste Police officials in Costa Rica on Tuesday said they have identified the suspect in a brutal murder of an entire family in the northwestern province of Guanacaste as Adrian Salmerón Silva, saying they believe the man has fled to Nicaragua. Reports also confirm that one...

Source: Flickr Commons Editor’s note: This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available. UPDATE 1: (Click to read) Suspect in murder of entire family in Guanacaste identified; US man amongst victims Police on Tuesday morning discovered an entire family of five, including three children, brutally murdered in a home in Matapolo de Santa Cruz in Guanaca...

(Photo courtesy of Four Seasons) Rep. Suray Carrillo (FA) has presented a bill to Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly that would prohibit the use of potable water to irrigate golf courses. “I consider it urgent to amend the which dates from 1953, to update the protection measures of water as a finite and strategic resource vital to humans; our country must learn that we cannot continue using...

(Photo courtesy of Casa Presidencial) Chinese loans to Latin American and Caribbean governments and the region's state-owned firms climbed sharply in 2015 despite the slowing Chinese economy, rising to US $29 billion and focused once again on Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador, the Inter-American Dialogue public policy think tank said in its annual report issued this month. From nuclear power pl...

Guanacaste residents have taken to drastic measures to combat road dust in recent years. In this photo from December 2014, a local resident carries a bucket of molasses and some material with which to spread it on the roadway. (Photo: Adam Dietrich / La Voz de Guanacaste) COSTA RICA STAR NEWS BRIEF Costa Rica’s National Roads Authority (CONAVI) said last week that it will soon begin an effo...

(Photo courtesy of Toyota) The director for distribution systems at the National Power and Light Company (CNFL), Allan Blanco promised Costa Rica lawmakers last week that CNFL could quickly deploy the necessary infrastructure to support a bill before the Legislative Assembly that proposes significant incentives for motorists who choose to purchase electric and hybrid vehicles. Appearing bef...

Edgar Calderon Quesada died on Sunday (Facebook photo) COSTA RICA STAR NEWS BRIEF Edgar Calderon Quesada, a television cameraman for Costa Rica’s Extra TV Channel 42, died on Sunday after being struck by a bull during a live transmission of a Costa Rican-style bullfight at the Sarchi Convention Center. On Facebook, Calderon’s coworkers described the man as a good friend who “died doing w...

Nicaragua’s Momotombo volcano ended a 110-year period of inactivity with a fiery eruption on December 2, 2015 (Photo courtesy of INETER, Dec 2 2015) Authorities in Nicaragua activated emergency plans after explosions occurred at both the Momotombo and Telica volcanoes on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Masaya volcano has also witnessed an increase in seismic activity in recent days. According t...

Microcephaly is a birth defect which causes babies to be born with unusually small heads and brains. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters) WASHINGTON DC and SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA - The Pan American Health Organization says Latin America will have between 2 million and 3 million Zika cases, warning that the 100,000 cases reported thus far do not reflect the magnitude of the situation because many ...

Police continued to guard the crime scene Thursday night. (Screen capture / Teletica Channel 7) Four suspects remained at large Friday morning after pulling off a brazen robbery of a branch of the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) in Puriscal Thursday afternoon. According to the Judicial Investigative Organization (OIJ), the robbers gained access to the bank shortly after the branch closed to the p...

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (L) talks during the opening ceremony of a plant of PVC tubes in the state of Carabobo, in this handout picture provided by Miraflores Palace on February 11, 2016. REUTERS/Miraflores Palace/Handout via Reuters CARACAS - Venezuela's Supreme Court approved President Nicolas Maduro's "economic emergency" decree on Thursday, setting up a showdown after the Vene...

(Courtesy) National brewer, Cervecería Costa Rica is introducing a new version of the country’s favorite cerveza, Imperial, which contains 0.0 percent alcohol. The new beverage, called Imperial Cero , is aimed at consumers who like to enjoy a beer but cannot always consume alcohol, the company said. “It’s a bet by on innovation and technology. We have made a significant financial invest...

(Archive / Stock) Some 60,000 people in Alajuela have been without water since Wednesday afternoon, while another 24,000 in Puriscal also remained without water Thursday, after electrical disturbances caused by powerful winds damaged pumping stations, the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA) reported Thursday afternoon. In Alajuela, officials said it would take until Saturday...

(Stock / ICR-CRS Archive) Costa Rica’s Ministry of Justice and Peace and Microsoft announced an agreement on Thursday by which the California-based software giant will provide free training in web development to select prisoners in Costa Rica’s penal system as part of a pilot project. Under the pilot program, 15 prisoners aged 22 to 53 currently housed in a Heredia prison known as the Centr...

ARCHIVE: A Rawlings employee sews baseballs for use at the 2010 Major League Baseball tournament at a factory in Turrialba, Costa Rica March 3, 2010. REUTERS OMX/Juan Carlos Ulate Costa Rica’s official unemployment rate remained essentially stagnant during the fourth quarter of 2015 at 9.6 percent compared to 9.7 percent a year earlier, according to the latest report by Costa Rica’s National I...

(Archive image for illustrative purposes. OIJ photo) Costa Rica’s Minister of Public Security, Gustavo Mata is warning that significant budget cuts this year will result in a decrease in security and will weaken the efforts of law enforcement to combat crime. In an interview with the daily La Nacion published on Wednesday, Mata said that a reduction of 8 percent in the security ministry’s b...

(Photo courtesy of Toyota) Members of the Legislative Assembly’s Commission on Government and Administration heard arguments in favor of Legislative Bill 19744, known as the Incentive and Promotion of Electric Transport Act, this week. The bill proposes significant incentives for motorists who choose to purchase electric and hybrid vehicles, including a complete exemption from import duty a...

LIMA (EFE) The Pacific Ocean washes plastic waste, wood, pipes and other construction materials every day onto Peru's Carpayo beach, considered Latin America's dirtiest stretch of coast with tons of refuse and waste from the capital, Lima. No other beach in Latin America gets the 2.8 kilos (6.2 pounds) of trash per square meter (10.8 sq. feet) collected from Carpayo during the most recent c...

Zika is spread by the Aedes aegyptie mosquito (Wikimedia Commons) Costa Rica’s Ministry of Health on Tuesday sent a formal request to the World Health Organization (WHO) asking to be removed from the list of nations with active, indigenous transmission of the Zika virus. Minister of Health, Fernando Llorca said that in the view of Costa Rican health officials, there is no evidence that the ...

(Archive / Stock) As the result of the over-exploitation of aquifers throughout the northwestern province of Guanacaste, thousands of people are receiving water that has been salinized to the point it is no longer fit for human consumption, Elizabeth Fallas, one of the officials that oversees community water systems known as ASADAs for the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA), t...

Zika is spread by the Aedes aegyptie mosquito (Wikimedia Commons) TEGUCIGALPA (EFE) Honduran health authorities reported Tuesday that they have registered 35 cases of the nerve disorder known as Guillain-Barre syndrome linked to the Zika virus. "At this time, we have 35 cases of Guillain-Barre, of which one adult and one little boy are on artificial respirators," Deputy Health Minister Fran...

Olympic mascots are seen at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome, Feb. 7, 2016. (Reuters OMX) NEW YORK (Reuters OMX) The United States Olympic Committee told U.S. sports federations that athletes and staff concerned for their health over the Zika virus should consider not going to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in August. The message was delivered in a conference call involving USOC of...

(Archive image for illustrative purposes. OIJ photo) NEWS BRIEF In a series of coordinated raids Tuesday morning, agents of Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigative Police (OIJ) arrested a gang of five armed robbers who operated in Turrialba and surrounding communities, including a supervisor with the local police force. The arrested police officer was identified by the last names Cantillo Ra...

Dr. Mora Palma, the alleged ringleader of the group, faces more than 140 years in prison if convicted. (ICR/CRS Archive) The Criminal Court of San Jose ruled late last week that a criminal case against four Costa Rican doctors formerly employed by the public Calderon Guardia Hospital who were charged in 2013 in an illicit scheme to traffic in human organs should proceed to trial. Amongst th...

Former PLN lawmaker, Jorge Angulo faces eight criminal charges including influence peddling, extortion, and corruption. (ICR/CRS Archive) After years of delays and postponements, a Costa Rica criminal court has once again set a new trial date – this time in January 2017 – for former PLN lawmaker Jorge Angulo, who faces eight criminal charges including influence peddling, extortion, and corrupt...

Thousands of Cuban migrants remain in shelters across Costa Rica. (CIDH/Twitter) MIAMI (EFE) Some 600 Cubans entered the U.S. at Laredo, Texas, in the last five days, and the rate of arrivals will remain constant for the next three months, the founder of the "Cubanos en Libertad" group told EFE. In a telephone conversation from Laredo, Alejandro Ruiz, who lends his compatriots a helping han...

(Archive / Illustrative - Pailas geothermal plant) Costa Rica signed a US $500 million agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to finance renewable energy projects and their respective transmission and distribution systems on Friday. Costa Rica’s Ministry of Finance and the state-owned Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) said in a statement that the deal consists of two...

Zika is spread by the Aedes aegyptie mosquito (Wikimedia Commons) Costa Rica’s Minister of Health, Dr. Fernando Llorca and Security Minister Gustavo Mata announced plans for a massive mobilization of some 14,000 workers from the Ministry of Public Security (MSP) to be deployed alongside workers from the Ministry of Health to fumigate and eliminate breeding grounds of the Aedes aegypti mosquito...

Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario (1867-1916). Photo: Public Domain MANAGUA (EFE) Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario (1867-1916) was declared Saturday a "national hero" of Nicaragua, in a special session of the National Assembly marking the centennial of his death. The plenary session of the National Assembly named Dario a "national hero" because "with his pen and intellect as well as arms, he defended ...

(Entrance to the the Baldi Hot Springs Resort Hotel & Spa, located in La Fortuna de San Carlos. ICR Archive) Editor’s note: It should be noted that Alberto Rodriguez Baldi has never been charged with any crime in relation to the leaked intelligence reports, which date back three years, though Costa Rica’s Attorney General did indicate last month that there remains an “open investigation” –...

Thousands of Cuban migrants remain in shelters across Costa Rica. (For illustrative purposes. CIDH/Twitter) A group of some 100 Cuban migrants being housed in a shelter in San Ramon de Alajuela were threatening to begin a hunger strike and take over the city’s central park on Friday, CRHoy.com reports. The migrants are apparently upset at the slow pace and high cost – US $555 each - of sche...

Zika is spread by the Aedes aegyptie mosquito (Wikimedia Commons) MONTEVIDEO (EFE) Costa Rica's Minister of Health, Fernando Llorca and health ministers of 14 Latin American countries agreed in Montevideo, Uruguay Wednesday on a roadmap to fight the Zika virus, linked in Brazil to a dramatic increase of birth defects. After meeting all day in the Uruguayan capital, the ministers approved a ...

Microcephaly, a birth defect which causes babies to be born with unusually small heads and brains, is linked to the Zika virus. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters) The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday added Costa Rica and Nicaragua to a growing list of places where travelers risk being infected with Zika, a rapidly spreading mosquito-borne virus. The addition of Cos...

Zika is spread by the Aedes aegyptie mosquito (Wikimedia Commons) A tourist from the United States fell ill with the Zika virus after visiting Costa Rica, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Costa Rican health officials, who are investigating what could be the first case of indigenous transmission of the virus in the country.  The announcement was made by the Minister o...