In December 2016, a law called the "Law to Improve the Fight against Tax Fraud" was published, which in turn created a Registry of Transparency and Final Beneficiaries, under the responsibility of the Central Bank of Costa Rica. The concept of "anonymous" corporations disappeared, because although the Registry is not publicly accessible, it will be accessible tax, judicial, public security and oth...

Scientists aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor spent three weeks in February, 2019, exploring the depths of the ocean surrounding Isla del Coco National Park. They found good news and bad news. They discovered at least four new species of deep-sea coral – one probably 1,000 years old – and six yet undiscovered ocean animals. They also found on one of their deepest of dives,...

Roadblocks continued this Monday in Costa Rica in different key roads, particularly Route 32 which communicates San José and Limón. The pressure by different sectors forced the resignation of Minister of Education Edgar Mora, one of the demands of the protesting groups. Labor union leaders announced that roadblocks and other forms of protests will maintain throughout this week as they will p...

US Embassy in Costa RIca Alerts: On Monday, July 1, 2019, the U.S. Embassy received credible open source information that student protestors and trade unions will continue to protest against government politics with a new focus on the resignation of Finance Minister Rocio Aguilar. In addition to these demonstrations, protestors continue to block main roadways throughout the country, reportedly to ...

Transport services, fishermen, students all took the streets this week in Costa Rica to protest against the government. Driving slow enough to cause congestion (tortuguismo) and blocking different key roads, drivers, specifically truckers, representing different transport services were the first to manifest their anger earlier this week against the implementation of the Value Added Tax (VAT) wh...

American Airlines announced it will have two new flights from the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York to the Juan Santamaría Airport in Alajuela (SJO) and the Daniel Oduber Airport (LIR) in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The route JFK-SJO will begin operations November 21, the flight will be daily, leaving JFK at 3:59 p.m. and arriving in SJO at 9:42 p.m. and leaving SJO at 11:03 to arrive at New York...

Today, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced the creation of 2,000 job openings. These positions will be based in Amazon’s dedicated centers in Costa Rica and will include specialist roles in areas such as customer service, technology, cloud services, finance and accounting. These specialist roles will support Amazon’s customers around the world and provide 24/7 world class customer servi...

A 6.6 magnitud earthquake shook Costa Rica at 11:23 p.m. on Tuesday. According to the preliminary report by OVSICORI the epicenter was registered 12.3 km Northwest of Laurel, Corredores, Puntarenas. Reports indicate the movement was felt in most of the Costa Rican territory. The National Seismology Network (RSN) confirms the movement had a depth of 31 km and it was originated by the subd...

Mexican-American pastor of La Luz del Mundo (The Light of The World) who calls himself “Apostle” was surprised at LAX airport a little over ten days ago when he was arrested on 26 felonies for sexual abuse of children and child pornography. Naason Joaquin Garcia had his own surprise up his sleeve, it seems. The church has bought 25 – 100 hectares of land in Quepos to create a religious complex, si...

The pill known as “morning-after” pill, used as an emergency contraception method is now available in Costa Rica after receiving green light from the Ministry of Health. Pharmaceutical house Quinfica is the company distributing the “morning-after” pill under the name Posterga, and it will be sold in pharmacies for a price of 18 thousand colones (approximately $31.00 USD). Posterga will be ...

Sunday, June 23 2019, Costa Rica will celebrate the tenth edition of the Pride Parade, a colorful event that celebrates the differences in sexual preferences and promotes tolerance and respect of the members of the LGBTI community. 24 floats, music, dance, shows, international guests, are just part of the event that will once again take the streets of San Jose, starting at Centro Colón in Paseo...

The term eviction can be defined as the action of expelling a person from land, a building, a house, etc., by legal process as well as the action of recovering a property by virtue of superior legal title. This word immediately brings to mind the necessity of a legal process in Court to get a decree permitting the eviction. The most common examples of evictions in Costa Rica are for tenants who ge...

Have you seen a stone sphere since you’ve been in Costa Rica? They can be seen used as lawn ornaments in the yards of important people, or in front of some government office buildings, or at the National Museum in San Jose -- but in 2014 UNESCO declared the “Pre-Columbian Chiefdom Settlements with stone spheres of the Diquis” a World Heritage Site – and that’s a huge deal. A museum was established...

Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas is a renown operator of luxury hotels, resorts and spas, managing 19 hotels and resorts across 14 countries, plus 37 spas under the brand names Six Senses, Evason, Six Senses Spas and Raison d’Etre; since February 2019, Six Senses became part of the IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) family of hotel brands. Six Senses will be opening its first resort in Central Ame...

A Mexican with strong ties to Costa Rica and a 20-million dollar bounty on his head, Rafael Caro Quintero, is now #10 on the FBI’s Most Wanted List – and may well be hiding in Costa Rica where he has strong connections and many cartel friends. Quintero is wanted for the murder of Drug Enforcement Agent (DEA) Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, in July of 1985, as well as charges of drug trafficking, kidnappi...

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications announced that Costa Rica will host the biggest human rights event in the digital era, RightsCon 2020. The announcement was made at the end of the RightsCon 2019 which took place in Tunisia with 2500 participants from 130 countries. “Back in October we presented the Digital Transformation Strategy towards the Costa Rica of the Bice...

Naason Joaquin Garcia, the 50-year old “Apostle” of the Luz del Mundo (Light of the World) Church, got quite a surprise when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport and deplaned from his private charter airplane – officials were waiting for him, and arrested him for human trafficking, production of child pornography, forcible rape of a minor, and several other felonies committed between 20...

It's no surprise that Costa Rica isn't in the best financial shape. Costa Rican Congress approved a new tax package called "Law of Strengthening of Public Finances number 9635". Guess what this means......more taxes. Within the new taxes commencing July 2019 Hacienda will expand the number of products and services that will be taxed with IVA or "Value Added Tax", which is essentially a sales tax o...

According to the last report on air quality in Costa Rica, the area close to the National University in Heredia shows an annual average of 34 µg/m3 (micrograms per Cubic Meter of Air) of particulate matter (the sum of all solid and liquid particles suspended in air many of which are hazardous), value that despite being under the maximum limit of 40 µg/m3 established in the + Air Quality Criteria f...

Seven Americans have been charged on a 39-count indictment for various crimes including money laundering, gambling promotion, conspiracy, and enterprise corruption. One of them – Robert Brieger – was operating out of Costa Rica and is waiting to be extradited back to the US. The seven people stand accused of taking bets on sporting events through wire rooms in both Astoria, Queens and Costa Rica. ...

Soon you will be able to camp in style overlooking the Arenal Volcano in La Fortuna, San Carlos, Costa Rica, glamping “glamourus camping” will arrive to this popular tourist destination by December 2019 by way of Nayara Tented Camp, a new option by award winning Nayara Resorts. The concept, inspired on the tented camps in Africa and Asia, is designed by Luxury Frontiers and will include a total...

Paradise Ingredients, known for its processed juices and beverages in the food industry, opened today its new plant of juices and drinks NEWVANA. Paradise Ingredients is the world’s top banana puree processing company. With this new aseptic juice processing operation, it will create 120 jobs in Cartago. The Minister of Foreign Trade, Dyalá Jiménez, said: “The country’s development requires...

After recent warnings to foreigners visiting Costa Rica about an increase in both petty and serious crime, comes an announcement to be applauded. On Tuesday Michael Soto, Minister of Public Security (Public Police Force), announced that between May 2018 and May 2019, his security forces have succeeded in the following arrests and seizures of goods: ~ 2,160 people arrested, up 16% ~ 233 firear...

Internationally renowned historian and reverend Yamil Jimenez Tabash gave a lecture to a standing-room-only audience in Perez Zeledon last Friday on an un-sanitized version of the history of Costa Rica – the true history – according to this Perez Zeledonian historian and scholar. Jimenez did not pull any punches, detailing both the locally accepted version of Tico history, and the more probably ac...

This Monday, June 3, 2019, Costa Rica kicked off  the first ever vaccination campaign to protect young girls against Human Papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection and some types lead to cervix cancer, the vaccine is now part of the national vaccination program and will be applied free of charge by social security to 10-year-old girls. Cervical cancer is th...

Coffee Britt in Costa Rica kicked off the first stage of its reforestation plan part of its corporate social responsibility commitment; volunteers planted native trees in the Toucan Rescue Ranch situated in Nazareth, Sarapiquí. “Toucan Rescue Ranch, our partner on Hábitat Sloth coffee, has welcomed our volunteers on numerous occasions for projects such as maintenance, painting murals, and refor...

Last year NBC News named cigarette butts as the single greatest source of ocean pollution – far surpassing the recently demonized plastic straws or single use plastic bags. The momentum of banning plastic straws continues to grow with major corporations taking up the fight and gradually phasing out straws completely. However, many experts believe that the focus of ocean pollution and litter should...

May 28, 2019 – The Canadian Government has issued a security warning for Canadian citizens wishing to visit Costa Rica, urging citizens to exercise a high degree of caution when visiting Costa Rica, especially for female visitors. The reasons cited for this warning are: Crime: The rate of drug-related violent crimes, including homicides is on the rise. Drug trafficking is common. Local drug use,...

Here’s something brilliant that Costa Rica has achieved in the last thirty years: They have doubled their forest cover. Half of Costa Rica’s land surface is now covered with trees. Those trees can absorb a massive amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and we can all breathe easier for it. Bravo! No one would have predicted this outcome back in 1983 when a meager 26% of Costa Rica had f...

In September of 2017, an agricultural worker working on a farm in Desemparados de Pejibaye de Perez Zeledon, detected a foul odor about 500 meters from the main farm house. He then discovered human remains, apparently of a female, partially buried in a shallow grave. The worker reported his gruesome discovery to the OIJ, who removed a corpse in advanced state of decomposition, and took it directly...

The Constitutional Chamber in Costa Rica (Sala IV) annulled this week 11 salary increases that benefited employees of the state refinery (RECOPE). The benefits were granted to the employees in what is called the “Convención Colectiva” (collective convention), which is an agreement celebrated between one or several worker unions and their employers to regulate the conditions under which the work...

President Carlos Alvarado and the Minister of Public Security, Michael Soto, subscribed this week the changes to the Firearms and Explosives Law, which gives authorities more tools for gun control. “We are demonstrating with tools like these, that Costa Rica is capable of advancing to become a safer country with less impunity”, stated President Alvarado. The project was approved by the Legis...

You can only snicker when commenters on The Costa Rica Star state that ‘opinions’ on American politics have no business being carried as newsworthy to those in Tico land. Sorry folks, but what happens in Costa Rica’s biggest trading partner can not only affect the lives of its citizens and residents but it's future wellbeing…BIG time. We will try and make a complex subject simple. People are se...

The Ministry of Health and the General Directorate of Migration in Costa Rica are working on the requirements to begin implementing a regulation for foreigners requesting their residence in the country to comply with the national vaccination program starting July 2019. According to Rodrigo Marín, director of Health Surveillance, every year the Migration office in Costa Rica receives anywhere be...

Costa Rican Social Security Service “La Caja” (CCSS) received the United Nations’ Public Service Award 2019 in the category “Promoting digital transformation in public sector institutions”, Good Health and Well Being for the implementation of Single Digital Health Records, a unique tool in primary medical care. “The United Nations Public Service Awards is the most prestigious international rec...

Costa Rica is hosting the Central American Cruise Conference for the first time from May 22 through May 24. The biannual event, organized by the Florida and Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), has the participation of 250 cruise industry professionals and 16 executives from the world’s leading cruise lines. This is 5th edition, of this event meant promote a better understanding of the work of ...

Since March APM Terminals in Limón announced they now had the most modern container scanner in Latin America which helps verify all the cargos traveling to the United States and Europe as a tool to battle illegal traffic of weapons, drugs, cash radioactive materials, plagues, etc. The But.....In order to put the scanner to work the Government of Costa Rica has to invest in a monitoring center w...

The US Embassy San Jose announced the upcoming Consular outreach for U.S. citizens in San Ramon and La Fortuna. To RSVP for passport renewals, notary services, and federal benefits inquiries, interested parties must indicate their preference by writing to [email protected]. Any applicable fees must be paid in cash and colones. No checks or dollars. San Ramon WHEN: Wednesday, May 22, 2019...

This past Wednesday taxi drivers protested on the streets once again demanding sanctions against Uber and actions against this company and the drivers that work for it. Traffic police carried out operations at the Juan Santamaria Airport against Uber drivers also in response to protest by airport taxi drivers. Now the U.S. Embassy has received credible information that individual Uber driver...

Scientists from the University of Costa Rica (UCR) have announced the reappearance of the Heredia Robber Frog (Craugastor escoces), an amphibian thought to be already extinct. She was rediscovered in Juan Castro Blanco National Park in Alajuela. The frog is brown, with a red belly and striped lips. This amphibian was declared extinct in 2004 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (I...