Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Filthy-dirty, hard-ball politics are at play in Alabama as former state Supreme Court Chief Judge Roy Moore and current U.S. Senate Republican candidate -- faces last-minute bombshell allegations about sexual misconduct involving a 14-year-old girl from 38-ye...

Costa Ricans will have the responsibility of electing their president for the period  of 2018-2022 in the election that will take place February 4, 2018 with a total of 13 candidates. However, as it is usually the case, out of the 13 options only a handful have real possibilities of reaching the presidency, which is actually an improvement after many years of having only two big political parti...

The name Juan Carlos Bolaños has been appearing in all media outlets throughout Costa Rica almost daily for the past six months; he is the main character in the corruption scandal known as “Cementazo”, but who is this man? And, why, all of a sudden has he become one of Costa Rica’s most polemic characters. Juan Carlos Bolaños was born in San José, Costa Rica in June,1979 and he was raised by hi...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Two elections were held Tuesday – New Jersey and Virginia – and both resulted in wins for two Democratic incoming governors in what political observers say may be the beginning of their hopes to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives and t...

A document apparently found by the district attorney’s office in the office of the former general manager of Banco de Costa Rica Mario Barrenechea during the search that took place November 3, showed a graphic with a “strategic plan” to discredit and boycott Costa Rican newspaper Diario Extra. This information was released today by Diario Extra and according to them the information was confirme...

For those of you following the china cement corruption scandal "Cementazo" in Costa Rica, this week has brought even more interesting things to light, affecting people such as the President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solís. The President was put in the spotlight by congressman Víctor Hugo Morales Zapata who declared in front of the Commission investigating the ¨Cementazo¨ case that he always...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Four words from the 1979 movie-war-classic ‘Apocalypse Now’ are ringing out for real from south-central Texas: “The horror! The horror!” On a typically beautiful, peaceful Sunday morning in Sutherland Springs a lone gunman -- dressed all in black -- parked h...

This Saturday, November 5 the San José court sentenced Costa Rican businessman Juan Carlos Bolaños, president of SINOCEM and six executives of public bank Banco de Costa Rica who were all detained yesterday in relation to the “Cementazo” corruption case, to three months of preventive prision detention at the San Sebastián prison in San José which inmates describe as "hell on earth". The resolut...

If you still don’t have the basics of the “Cementazo” corruption case in Costa Rica, we invite you to read our previous article “Understanding the Cementazo” to get you up to date on this scandal that has occupied the covers of all Costa Rican newspapers and sites since late June this year. For the past few weeks the commission investigating the case has continued with the interviews with all p...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Tuesday afternoon the ugly face of radical Islam screamed again “Allahu Akbar” in New York City claiming eight innocent lives and injuring more than a dozen. Police said the male suspect rented a truck in New Jersey and 65 minutes later plowed down pe...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. “Deny everything. Admit to nothing. Maintain plausible deniability at all times.”  This is the new battle cry for former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, former Hillary Clinton presidential campaign chairman, Jon Podesta,...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Fifty-four years ago shots rang out in Dallas claiming the life of beloved U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. To this day questions persist and conspiracy theories run rampant in hundreds of books written by conspiracy theorists. Polls show 62 per...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  There are some things going on in today’s turbulent political world that simply boggle the mind. Such is the case of Florida’s flamboyant U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson and her “set-up” of President Donald Trump as she listened in on a presidential sympat...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Next week the horror of heroin-opioid-related deaths will finally and formally be recognized as a national health emergency by President Donald Trump in response to the fact the families in the United States of America are losing more than 140 of their sons...

The US Ambassador to Costa Rica, Sharon Day, introduced herself through a video published on Facebook, Day revealed she fell in love with the country during a family trip where she visited the country to enjoy its nature and biodiversity. Day was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas but lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the past 25 years. She has been part of the U.S. Republican party for ...

Representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Belize will analyze the regional anti-gang strategy jointly with specialists from the United States Federal Office of Investigation (FBI), Department of Police Los Angeles, Chicago and Fairfax; and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. This is happening at the Central American Anti-Gang Conference, an important region...

The Chancellor of the Republic, Manuel A. González Sanz, formally inaugurated the Costa Rican Embassy in Australia during his working visit to the Asia Pacific island. In the activity, Minister González described the opening as a great step for Costa Rican diplomacy, and a key move towards its strategic objective of consolidating its presence in the vast Asia Pacific region. "This decision wil...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Puerto Rico office is investigating numerous complaints of fraud throughout the U.S. Territory involving the distribution and mishandling of relief supplies following the double-barrel blast from Hurricanes Irma and Maria ...

You’ve probably heard the term in the news over the past few months, or maybe a friend or coworker has mentioned it to you, but the amount of information is overwhelming and of course in Spanish, even for a Spanish speaker the craziness of this case has been hard to follow. “Cemento” is the Spanish word for cement; and like with Odebrecht or the Panama Papers, “Cementazo” is just the term being...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Hidden among hundreds of political stories, liberal and conservative commentaries, newspaper editorials and voter polls on the Real Clear Politics website is this buried headline, “Trump is on track to win reelection,” originally published on the op-ed p...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Today’s late-night TV comedians are no longer funny – none of them. If you laugh along with the likes of Bill Maher, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Chelsea Handler, Seth Myers, Jon Stewart, Kathy Griffin or Stephen Colbert you are not one of us. Every weekd...

The new U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica Sharon Day presented her credentials to President Solis this week on Wednesday, October 4, 2017, and thus began her official duties as the highest ranking representative of the U.S. Government in Costa Rica. In her meeting with President Solis, Ambassador Day reiterated the United States’ commitment to a strong and enduring partnership with Costa Rica. A...

Starting TODAY, Tuesday, October 3, at 10 a.m., the electronic form to participate in the Diversity Visa Lottery program, also known comply as the U.S. Visa Lottery, will be available. The program, organized by the United States Department of State, will be accepting applications from Costa Rica until Tuesday, November 7, 2017 at 10 a.m. Those interested should log-on to the website <www....

The United States Embassy in Costa Rica posted the following message yesterday on their Facebook page as the embassy prepares for the new ambassador, Sharon Day, to assume her post: "It is a real pleasure to introduce you to Ambassador Sharon Day "Ambassador Day was sworn in as United States Ambassador to Costa Rica on September 25 at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. "She has worked for more ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Puerto Rico is down and out. Hurricane Maria came ashore last week with 155-mph winds, heavy rains, and a storm surge that wiped out this Caribbean island of 3.4 million U.S. citizens, leaving them in the dark, homeless and without access to food, water, gas, ...

For the estimated 70,000 American citizens living in Costa Rica, what will President Donald Trump’s new proposed federal tax cuts for the middle class and corporations mean to them? Will U.S. tax cuts make any difference to the average retiree living on Social Security and perhaps a pension as a Costa Rican resident or perpetual tourist? For these expat retirees, these new proposed tax cuts ...

At last week's United Nations 72nd General Assembly, recommendations from the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace were presented, said Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Costa Rica joined the panel when it was established in 2015, and played an important role in developing mechanisms and best practices for promoting cooperation regarding water supplies and sources. Costa Rican ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Rarely do protest boycotts take hold, but this political season they are in style and gaining steam. Politics has its place, but this year anti-Trump, anti-police, anti-flag and anti-USA politics may drive your business out of business -- just ask main s...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  President Donald Trump’s first address to the United Nations hit close to home in Costa Rica. Only two countries away -- past Panama and Columbia -- neighboring Venezuela was singled out as a “rogue” nation right alongside North Korea and Iran. The presi...

-- Between 2013 to July 2017, 36,081 irregular migrants entered Costa Rica through Paso Canoas on the Panamanian border, according to immigration officials. Towards the end of 2015 and into 2016, Costa Rica faced a surge in irregular migrants for which it was not prepared, said the government press office today, and that forced institutions and communities to respond to the emergency. First th...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Slowly but surely Texas, Louisiana and Florida are returning to normal following two hurricanes -- Harvey and Irma – that together caused an estimated over $200 billion in damages to homes, businesses and public infrastructure. Mother nature doled out a ...

The United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sent a message on the occasion of September 15, Costa Rican Independence Day, announced the U.S. Embassy in San José, Costa Rica. The statement reads as follows: "On behalf of the United States Government, we congratulate Costa Ricans on the 196th anniversary of independent living. The deep and strong relationship of our countries is eviden...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Hillary Rodham Clinton’s new book entitled “What Happened” is stirring up a lot of controversy plus it shows an underlying seething anger about losing the 2016 presidential election to New York real estate tycoon Donald Trump -- who had never held an ele...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  The federal emergency management response to both Hurricanes Harvey in Texas/Louisiana and Irma in Florida will seal the fate of President Donald Trump and his team at FEMA. They will be judged on how well they coordinate with state officials on all leve...

Costa Rica's Ombudsman's Office (Defensoria de los Habitantes) conducted a technical study on the country's mobile phone and internet market and in a public address today expressed serious concerns over a plan to open the market, saying the market has not evolved into a competitive market. The Telecommunications Superintendency (Sutel) in an August 31, 2016 report determined that the Costa Rica...

Two reforms to Costa Rica's weapons and explosives law that have recently been proposed are being met with opposition from the country's libertarian party. One project aims to reduce the number of weapons that can be registered by an individual, and would limit that number from a current total of three to only one. Likewise the number of weapons corporations would be allowed to register under t...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  From Costa Rica to Washington, governments continue to wrestle with issues of undocumented immigrants as people young and old flee situations of despair with dreams of reaching the United States of America. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announce...

On a tour in East Asia since last week, Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Gonzalez Sanz has visited Indonesia and also Brunei to strengthen diplomatic and trade relations with both nations, said the foreign ministry this week. After meeting in Jakarta with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Gonzalez presided over the formal inauguration of Costa Rica's embassy which opened ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Hot-shot political commentator Tomi Lahren has entered the national media arena. So has White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. These two women are making waves in similar ways. Fox News announced Sept. 30 the 25-year-old Lahren will join ...

The Costa Rican government is distributing a final draft of a document that sets out a "dialogue mechanism" to the country's 24 indigenous territories for their input, said the vice minister of the presidency earlier this month. "This stage will allow us to refine details of the mechanism that we have built together with indigenous peoples, so that the result is a document that responds to the re...