Manila, Oct 28 — Nearly one hundred women demonstrated in front of the United States embassy in Manila on Friday to demand that the U.S. government withdraw its troops and allow the Philippines government to pursue its own domestic and foreign policies, according to police. Authorities had put up roadblocks in anticipation of the protest, organized through social media channels by the Gabriela ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. By Britt Nelson Political Halloween costumes, Facebook. Clinton’s long-time personal aide, Huma Abedin, was hiding over the weekend, noticeably absent and out of view from accompanying Democrat Hillary Clinton on the presidential campaign trail. On Frida...

Washington, Oct 30 — The 2016 elections will be the most diverse in U.S. history and, once again, Hispanics - the country's largest minority - will play an important role. Trump does retain appeal for some Latinos, such as Raul Rodriguez Jr. of Apple Valley, California. Photo from Buzzfeed. Some 57 million Hispanics live in the United States - more than 27 million of them registered voters ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.    By Britt Nelson Facebook meme. In an unexpected move, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has reopened the Hillary Clinton email scandal investigation due to newly discovered emails involving the email accounts of now disgraced, former Ne...

By Wendy Anders After the new animal welfare law approved by the Costa Rican legislature in July was given a thumbs down by the Costa Rican Constitutional Court (Sala IV), legislators regrouped to revise the law’s text. The changes, which mainly included lowering the fines and prison terms in the original version, were accepted unanimously by the committee in charge of drafting the bill. ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson Two interviews concerning Republican Donald Trump this week stand out from all the media hype over the presidential election: One with CNN’s Dana Bash interviewing Trump on the sidewalk in front of the new Trump International Hotel in Washin...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica’s Ombudswoman, Montserrat Solano Carboni, expressed her concerns regarding proposed changes in pesticide regulations saying they were a setback for human health and the environment, her office reported yesterday in a press statement. The Ministry of Agriculture came under fire for proposing the use of reference chemicals when registering pesticides. So, instead of ...

By Wendy Anders U.S. soldiers exiting Iraq; a large portion were affected by post-traumatic stress disorder. File photo. A senior analyst at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs in Providence, Rhode Island last week expressed outrage at the slew of bombings being carried out by the U.S. throughout the Middle East in the wake of recent attacks on Yemen. ...

By Wendy Anders OAS and TSE reps sign accord before elections The Costa Rican Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE, in Spanish) ordered the national treasury to return some US$3.4 million (about CRC1.85 billion) to the general government fund, as announced by the agency in a press statement. The monies correspond to funds disbursed for the country’s 2010 presidential and municipal electoral p...

Los Angeles, Oct 24 — A life-size statue of a completely naked Donald Trump was auctioned for $22,000. (Wikimedia Commons) As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the statue of the U.S. Republican presidential nominee, created by a street artist who in August placed it on Hollywood Boulevard, was sold at Julien's Auctions to a private collector. Prior to the auction, it has been estimated ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson A Facebook meme, Clinton is dragged under by WikiLeaks revelations. Remember back on Nov. 3, 1948 when Republican New York Gov. Thomas Dewey was highly favored to win the presidency, and the Chicago Daily Tribune ran with the now famous ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson Facebook meme. Voters in the United States of America have a choice to make on Nov. 8. Red, Blue, Green and Libertarian are among the choices in almost all states. Republican Donald Trump promises to shaking up establishment politics ...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica's Legislative Assembly. The “Vamos” party, which in English means “Let’s Go,” has just joined Costa Rica’s political fray in an attempt to “fight for equal rights for discriminated groups in Costa Rica,” reported the Costa Rican news site ElMundoCr.com. This latest political party is made up of long-standing Costa Rican human rights activists who want to fight ...

By Wendy Anders Taxi drivers are making good on their promises to stage a protest tomorrow, Thursday, October 20, in downtown San José. Taxi unions stated that at 9:00 a.m. they would begin “marching” east up Paseo Colon from the La Sabana Park’s eastern edge, reported the Costa Rican mainstream daily La Nación. The drivers are planning to stop at the Department of Revenue on 2nd Avenue a...

OCTOBER 17, 2016: The Austrailian immigration department devised a proposal for Australia to take refugees from Central America as part of a U.S.-led program. Honduras peasant lawyer killing, file photo. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made the announcement during a speech to President Barack Obama's invitation-only, high-level summit on refugees and migration in New York in September durin...

By Wendy Anders Hustler's Larry Flynt, a paraplegic since the age of 35, from Facebook. Pornographer Larry Flynt announced he would pay up to $1 million for video or audio recordings of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump engaged in illegal behavior or acting in a sexually demeaning manner toward women, reported the Los Angeles Times yesterday “I have always celebrated women. Women in ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson A Canadian billboard, source, Facebook. While Democrat Hillary Clinton takes a few days off the presidential campaign trail supposedly to prepare for Wednesday’s final debate, rest up and attend fundraisers, Republican Donald Trump is ho...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson How can a voter make an informed decision about the current presidential candidates when most of the information coming out is nothing more than slander, mass media bias, and stolen emails defaming Catholics, effectively burying any real inf...

Asuncion, Oct. 13 — Representatives of political parties from 34 Latin American countries have gathered in Paraguay to articulate a shared vision against the "resurgence of neoliberalism and authoritarianism" in the region. Copppal plenary session in Paraguay, Oct. 13, 2016, Facebook post. Paraguay's former president, Fernando Lugo, made those remarks Thursday at the start of the 34th Perma...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson Cartoon by Clay Jones Despite everything that’s happened this week, from disgusting juvenile comments demeaning a woman to Sunday night’s debate, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump remains a contender in his campaign against ...

MOSCOW, Oct. 9 -- Tensions continue to rise between the United States and Russia as the Russian foreign minister said Sunday recent actions and statements threaten his country's national security. Russian marines take part in the landing operation during the strategic military exercises at the Khmelevka training range in the Kaliningrad region on the Baltic Sea in 2009. More recently, in Octob...

Bogota, Oct. 7 — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Friday he was receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in the name of all Colombians and particularly the millions of victims of the decades-long armed conflict. "Colombians, this prize is for you. It's for the victims, so there won't be one more death" from the armed conflict, Santos said in a brief statement, accompanied by his wife, Maria C...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson By most accounts vice-presidential candidate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence came across to voters better than Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine in their first and only nationally televised debate Tuesday. Coming up on Sunday evening in St. Louis will be the ...

LATIN AMERICA US/CUBA Thousands of Cuban in shelters across Costa Rica in 2015 and early 2016. (CIDH/Twitter) Panama City, Oct. 5 — Panamanian Vice President and Foreign Minister Isabel de Saint Malo said Wednesday that the United States still has not responded to the request made more than a month ago by nine Latin American governments to review its immigration policy vis-a-vis Cuba and th...

WIKILEAKS Wikimedia Commons Berlin, Oct. 4 — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Tuesday that his website will publish over the next few weeks significant documents about the U.S. election. The announcement comes on the 10th anniversary of the founding of WikiLeaks. In a video broadcast from Berlin, Assange denied speculations that the documents are meant to hurt Democratic candidat...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson Facebook meme. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is under attack from all sides since the Sept. 26th first debate with his Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton – the most watched political event in TV history. The mud-sling...

COLOMBIA PEACE VOTE  Bogota, Oct. 2 — The president of Colombia late Sunday recognized the victory of the "No" side in the referendum on the peace agreement signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and said this result would open a new political reality which could be an opportunity for the country. Juan Manuel Santos, who had promoted the "yes" campaign, ordered governme...

US ELECTIONS Wikimedia Commons Washington, Oct. 1 — The United States has invited the Organization of American States to observe its presidential election for the first time, finally taking that step after financing electoral observation missions in Latin America for more than half a century. The OAS regards this historic step as a very positive sign and believes the best way to consolid...

NICARAGUA - U.S. A Russian T-72 battle tank, similar to those heading to Nicaragua. (CC) Managua, Sept. 27 — Nicaragua's vice president spoke out on Tuesday about a proposal in the U.S. Congress that would threaten Managua's access to funding from international lenders. "It's something that in this day and age provokes embarrassment. We're in the 21st century. I believe that some gentlem...

US CONGRESS 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) Washington, DC, Sept. 27 — Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a bill to temporarily fund the federal government after Republicans refused to include funds in it to deal with the drinking water crisis in ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson As the dust settles from the first presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton during Campaign 2016 it appears Trump won last night’s face off. Four informal polls released Tuesday show Trump won the d...

Interview with political analyst Juan-Manuel Garcia-Passalacqua by Democracy Now's Amy Goodman on the 10th anniversary of the FBI assassination of Puerto Rican nationalist leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios on Sept. 26, 2005 in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico. Mural of Ojeda in Puerto Rico, photo from Facebook. For the past four decades Filiberto Ojeda Rios had been a leading figure in the fight for Puer...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson What started out as a peaceful protest of another police-involved shooting death of an allegedly armed African-American suspect has turned Charlotte, NC into a racial-war zone complete with serious injuries and one death, looting, burning, t...

By Wendy Anders Wikimedia Commons The U.S. Embassy encourages U.S. citizens in Costa Rica to take the necessary steps to vote in the 2016 U.S. elections by participating in Absentee Voting Week next week. Many recent U.S. elections have been decided by a margin of victory of less than 0.1 percent.  All states are required to count every absentee ballot as long as it is valid and reaches ...

By Jessica Farber, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs  To download a PDF version of this article, click here. In an opinion piece that appeared in the New York Times on August 11, titled “How the Most Dangerous Place on Earth got Safer,” Sonia Nazario paints a misguided picture of Honduras as a country that was once ravaged with violence, but has since been bravely resc...

New York, Sept. 18 - Countries throughout the world, led by the United States and Norway, committed themselves on Sunday to supporting efforts to remove landmines in Colombia with an eye toward ridding that country of the weapons by 2021. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at the start of a meeting on the issue held in a New York hotel that removing the landmines is an "essential" part of ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson A wave of terrorist bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend plus a mass stabbing in Minnesota have once again placed the political spotlight on U.S. national security with the first presidential debate only a week away. ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  By Britt Nelson With 11 days until the first presidential debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, and 54 days until the national general election in the USA, recent nationwide polls show Trump not only gaining on Clinton but in ...

By Wendy Anders Border police of Panama As undocumented immigrants from various regions continue to permeate Panama and Costa Rica, and present a growing concern from economic, health and social angles, the countries are scurrying to put into place official information-sharing and other essential mechanisms for tackling the pressing problem. This week, foreign ministry representatives fr...

Beijing, Sept. 12 - The U.S.-led war against terror has "led to more terrorism," and must be corrected, warned China's state-run news agency Xinhua yesterday on the 15th anniversary of the downing of the World Trade Center towers in New York City. An opinion piece by the news agency says military intervention in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and other places has led to European allies (of the U.S.) "to b...