President Carlos Alvarado was received by the Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) during a  meeting today at the headquarters of the institution in Washington, DC. Alvarado centered his speech around the situations currently affecting Nicaragua and Venezuela. "The main achievement of the General Assembly of this Organization was to channel the analysis of the challenges in t...

Sunwing Airlines announced today the opening of a new route that will connect Vancouver, Canada and Liberia in Costa Rica, starting December 23, 2018. The flight will initially operate only from December 23 through March 31, departing on Sundays, to offer Canadians an opportunity to escape the cold weather of those months and enjoy the warm summer in Costa Rica. This is the second direct fl...

The Ministry of Health in Costa Rica signed this Monday afternoon a sanitary alert for malaria due to the increase in the number of cases reported in the country “imported” from Nicaragua, Panama, South America and Africa. The purpose of the alert is to raise awareness among the population and educate them on the characteristics and symptoms of this disease. Costa Rica has maintained the e...

The University of Costa Rica (UCR) once again claimed its spot among the 20 best universities in Latin America, according to the QS World University Rankings 2019. The QS World University ranking, evaluates universities across the world and lists the 1000 top universities using six different indicators: Academic Reputation (40%) Employer Reputation (10%) Faculty/Student Ratio (20%) Citat...

A total of 406 kilograms of cocaine were seized by the Drug Control Police in Costa Rica with a street value of over 12 million USD. The packets of drugs were hidden inside a container in Puerto Limon, Moin, and which originated from Colombia. The container was found on a routine inspection of a cargo boat of name “Nedeland Reefer” that originated from Puerto Turbo in Colombia, but was traveli...

According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the plastic industry in Costa Rica is the third largest in the country, and they are also biggest importers of plastic in all Central America. An estimated 550 tons of plastic are dumped daily in Costa Rica; 80% of which end up in the ocean, 11% in landfills and dump sites, while only 9% are recycled. Making Costa Rica a plastic fre...

The vice-president of Costa Rica Marvin Rodriguez, Minister of Presidency Rodolfo Piza and Minister of Work, Steven Nuñez met with representatives of the labor unions, Rerum Novarum Workers Central, Bussco, Anepp and the Central Unit of Workers, to discuss the unions’ position in relation to the fiscal plan and the expense containment measures that have been proposed by the government. The two...

Former top model, entrepreneur and environmentalist Gisele Bundchen, spoke about her love for Costa Rica during her participation at the Omina 2018 sustainable fashion and lifestyle summit which was held at Texas Tech University in Avenida Escazu. Bundchen was one of the guests at the Omina Summit and presented the book Drawdown along with author Paul Hawken; Drawdown a comprehensive plan to r...

According to information released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the flow of immigrants through the north frontier (Nicaragua) registers a mild increase. “Since three weeks ago, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains an Interinstitutional Coordination Committee to face the possible impact that the crisis in Nicaragua could have in Costa Rica”, informed the Vice-President and Chancellor,...

The Costa Rican Coast Guard Service was able to intercept a speed boat in waters of the South Pacific which was carrying an important amount of drugs. Officers who had been surveying and patrolling the area located the speed boat and after a chase they were finally able to stop it at 3:35 a.m. 150 kilometers southwest of the Quepos coast in Puntarenas. Three men were arrested, two Colombi...

Environmentalist Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, through his lawyer Abraham Stern, filed a criminal complaint before the Public Ministry against 10 Costa Rican judges, accusing them or “prevaricato”, crime that consists on dictating resolutions contrary to the law. The case against Watson dates back to 2002 when members of the fishing vessel Varadero I from Punta...

The twelfth edition of the Global Peace Index (GPI), which ranks 163 countries according to their level of peacefulness, shows that Costa Rica is one of the countries that have presented a fall in peacefulness, dropping from the 34th position in 2017 to position 40 this year. The Global Peace Index is elaborated by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). “This report presents the most ...

Road blocks in several areas of Nicaragua, particularly 52 kilometers North from Managua, in the area known as Las Maderas have had hundreds of trailer and cargo trucks from different Central American countries stuck for days. According to Francisco Quiros, executive director of the National Chamber of Cargo Drivers, close to 100 trucks from Costa Rica have been stuck for almost a week now in...

Labor Unions in Costa Rica have expressed in these past weeks their disagreement and discomfort with the cuts the government has proposed to control the expenses and bring down the fiscal deficit; now, they receive a new blow, the Constitutional Court limited to 12 years the payment of 'cesantía' in the public institutions. 'Cesantia' is a compensation that an employee receives as part of the...

The Costa Rican embassy in Bern, Switzerland, became the first to enter the Carbon Neutrality Country Program of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica; it is also the first embassy in Switzerland to reach this accomplishment. In order to reach carbon neutrality, the embassy had to calculate its emissions, as well as the mitigation and compensation of the same, and complete the v...

Aeromexico airlines announced today in a press conference where President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado was present, a new route they will begin operating November 10, connecting Mexico City with Liberia, Guanacaste. With a frequency of two flights a week, the route will aim to offer a new alternative to the more than 100 thousand Mexicans that travel to Costa Rica a year. The Costa Rica To...

Costa Rica takes the first place among Central American countries in the Country Brand Index created by Country Brand Report Latin America, which analyzes the strength of country brands of more than 20 countries and is based on a quantitative study and information provided by opinion leaders and frequent travelers (for business or pleasure) outside Latin America. “This report, focused on the La...

Image for Illustration Purposes Only The Government of Costa Rica announced during the official presentation of the First Latin American Congress on Sustainability, Ecology and Evolution (SEE), which will take place in Parque Viva, September 26 through the 28, the implementation of a trial project involving electric buses. Three electric buses, or e-buses, will transit the roads of Costa Ri...

Former President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis and his wife, Mercedes Peñas will be relocating to Florida in August 2018. Solis will be taking on a position as a professor at the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC) of the Florida International University (FIU). Peñas will be working as an investigator in the area of territorial development and prevention of risk at l...

The President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado and the Minister of Treasury, Rocio Aguilar, signed, on May 30, an order to reduce the salaries of the general managers of the public banks, as well as the manager of Banco Popular. However, on June 4, the Board of Directors of Banco Popular named Juan Francisco Rodriguez as sub-general manager of the bank for a period of 5 years starting June 5, wit...

A two-year-old girl and a 50-year-old woman share the liver of one donator after a successful split liver transplantation that was carried out by Costa Rican physicians in two hospitals in the country. A split liver transplantation involves taking the liver of a donor and dividing it to be transplanted into two patients. This procedure, performed two weeks ago (May 23), was the first of its ...

President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, and the Minister of Environment Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, in the frame of the World Environmental Day, signed a directive that regulates the management, consumption and labeling of single use plastic in public institutions. “These actions respond to the unequivocal commitment this government has to reach carbon neutrality of the economy”, expressed Alvar...

Today, June 5, we celebrate the World Environmental Day, a day meant to encourage worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Costa Rica celebrated with the signing of a decree by President Carlos Alvarado and the Minister of Environment, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, for the expansion of the Rincon de la Vieja National Park, with the purpose of strengthening the protec...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAp3ZMKei1k The video above, “Calling on Costa Rica”, was produced by Metro Golden Mayer and narrated by James A. FitzPatrick, and it showcases the Costa Rica of 70 years ago, the Costa Rica of 1947. Back in 1947 things were very different in Costa Rica, the video even mentions the country had some of the best roads! Imagine that!...

Costa Rican Drug Control Police (PCD) officers found 300 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a container aboard a cargo ship in the port of Moin, Limon. The PCD agents arrived in Moin to check the ships, the drugs were found in a container on the ship MN Cala Palma which originated from Turbo in Colombia but traveled under Italian flag. According to information released by the Ministry of Public ...

Photo Credit:Cafe de Costa Rica 25 international expert coffee tasters chose the best Costa Rican coffee to participate in the tenth edition of the international virtual auction the Cup of Excellence 2018 which takes place July 10. The winner was the coffee of Mr. Luis Ricardo Calderon Madrigal from La Bandera de Copey de Dota, the variety of the bean, Geisha, managed a score of 91.29 and it...

June 7 through June 9 important figures will gather in Avenida Escazu in Costa Rica, “to propose and implement alternative lifestyle paradigms bases on social and environment justice”. “Omina 2018 is the biggest sustainable fashion and lifestyle event in Latin America; the word –Omina is Latin and means omen, its an non for profit initiative created with the objective of inspiring people to ch...

The eruptions this Sunday of the Volcan de Fuego in Guatemala which caused, according to the latest data, at least 62 deaths, several people injured and almost two million people affected, raised the question on whether an emergency of this type could happen with one of the active volcanoes in Costa Rica. The National Seismology Network in Costar Rica posted in their Facebook account “Volcan d...

After the voting this Sunday in the Nosara plebiscite, the initial count shows that the minimum number of votes needed was not reached, meaning that Nosara will remain under the administration of the Nicoya Municipality. The plebiscite process was overseen by the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE,) and called on all inhabitants of Nicoya to vote on their position regarding the administrative indepen...

Photo: Illustration purposes only Walter Espinoza, director of the Judiciary Investigative Police, explained during a press conference that the center of the province of Puntarenas is being affected by insecurity which comes as the consequence of criminal activity that manifests through violence and aggression. “The OIJ has detected not just individuals but also organizations that are aggres...

The First Lady of Costa Rica, Claudia Dobles, held meetings throughout last week with groups in charge of the construction of metropolitan rapid transit systems in other Latin American countries. The purpose of these meetings is to learn from the different experiences in countries such as the cities of Medellin and Bogota in Colombia and in Panama. In the meetings, Dobles, an architect, inqu...

The Costa Rican government announced the inauguration this Monday, June 4th of Route 257 which will connect Route 32 (San Jose-Limon) to the Moin Container Terminal. The design and construction of this road was executed by the company Consorcio del Atlantico which is formed by Constructora Meco and Spanish company Puentes y Calzadas; it had a cost of approximately $77 million USD and took 18 mo...

This Sunday, June 3, over 40 thousand inhabitants of Nicoya, Guanacaste are called to vote on the administrative independence for the district of Nosara. The plebiscite which will be overseen by the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), will decide on whether or not to form the Municipal District Council of Nosara. In other words, Nosara will continue to be part of the Nicoya Municipality but it wi...

The hurricane season 2018 officially kicked off this Friday, June 1st, and this year the National Hurricane Center of the United States estimates a total of between 12 and 16 storms, out of which between 5 and 9 could become hurricanes. Only four are expected to reach high categories of 3, 4 or 5. This year we will not have the influence of El Niño in the initial months, but La Niña should not ...

National Parks, Wildlife Protected Areas, Biological Corridors, Protected Zones, Forest Reserves, Costa Rica has a number of protected areas that represent one of the country’s biggest assets as they attract millions of tourists every year. The options of different National Parks to visit are many, 28 to be exact and 72 protected areas of variable types that represent 26% of the total area of t...

The Costa Rica male national Soccer Team “La Sele” has been working together throughout this week as their preparation begins in route to the Russia World Cup 2018. The team will be playing in a full National Stadium on Sunday, June 3 when they face Northern Ireland in their last international friendly in Costa Rica before leaving to Europe next week. Norther Ireland faced Panama this past Tue...

Street vendors are found everywhere in Costa Rica, and they will offer many different products, ranging from food to clothes and cell phone accessories. According to a recent study by the Demoscopia for the Illicit Commerce Observatory of the Costa Rica Chamber of Commerce, there are over 5000 street vendors in the center of the capital city of San Jose alone; it is estimated that they could ...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) presented its Economic Outlook report 2018-2019, and in the specific case of Costa Rica affirms once again that the major domestic risk the country has involves the high fiscal deficit and the rapidly growing public debt. The report stresses that if left unaddressed the fiscal deficit and the growing public debt could end up threa...

“Fiscal Sustainability for the Wellbeing of Costa Rica” is the name of the proposal presented to the Legislative Assembly by the Minister of Treasury Rocio Aguilar this Wednesday. Administrative actions, decrees, law projects and directives are included as part of the proposal that hopes to contain the government’s expenses with the purpose of bringing down the fiscal deficit between 1.6% and 1...

The President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado and the Minister of Treasury, Rocio Aguilar, signed an order today for the reduction of general managers salaries working at the State’s commercial banks, aswell as Banco Popular. He instructed the boards of directors of each of these institutions (Banco Nacional and Banco de Costa Rica) as well as Banco Popular, to adjust the salary of their general...