The average family in Costa Rica will see a break in the ever increasing cost of living in the country. With a reduction in the electrical consumption rates between ¢1,200 and ¢2,600 monthly, if the consumer uses less than 200 kilowatt hours per month. The Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) approved Monday a decrease of 13.6% for all electrical energy distributors, due ...

Source: Remembering Justin It has been more than two years since Justin Johnston was shot and killed in Costa Rica. His killer, a security guard who thought the teenager from Kansas was breaking into a hotel, is facing 15 years in prison. The retrial was ordered by the Appeals Court of San Ramon, province of Alajuela, under the doctrine of iuris tantum -rebuttable presumption. As explained ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Employees and shoppers at Cooperativa Dethan, a fish and seafood retail shop in Cieneguita, in the Caribbean province of Limon, lived a very scary moment on Friday, September 22nd. A routine retail transaction was suddenly interrupted when a hand grenade landed on the floor of the shop and rolled to a stop, sending shoppers and employees screaming and running to find ...

Source: US Navy About a month ago, the Ministry of Public Safety in Costa Rica issued a press release that indicated no more cocaine would be sent to Miami, at least for the time being. That statement, however, did not apparently extend to other major cities in the State of Florida, such as Jacksonville. Nearly a ton of cocaine seized by the United States Navy and Coast Guard from a fishing...

Shark fin market, Taiwan. Source: Wikimedia Commons Five fishing vessels (FVs) that were once used by alleged shark fin poachers in Costa Rica continue to receive fuel subsidies from the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Institute (Spanish acronym: INCOPESCA), a government agency under the purview of the Ministry of the Environment. Such was the report compiled by Alvaro Sanchez of online ...

British Embassy to host a talk on Chevening Scholarships on Monday 30 September at the University of Costa Rica. The British Embassy announces that applications for 2014/15 Chevening Scholarships, the prestigious global scholarship programme of the UK government, are being accepted until November 8, 2013. The Chevening scholarship programme operates in 118 countries worldwide, and this year ...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on the burgeoning unemployment industry in Costa Rica. The latest survey by the Instituto de Estadísticas y Censos (INEC) – statistics and census – shows that the unemployment rate in Costa Rica is in excess of 10%. The specific data for the second quarter of 2013 states that 10.4% of workers in Costa Rica are unemployed. According to the data, 56 out...

The government’s plan to alleviate the chaotic traffic congestion of San José, partly from the temporary closure of the Circunvalación and partly for the lack of forward thinking and growth of Costa Rica’s vehicular fleet, it is proposing promoting car pooling and the start of the intersectoral bus service. On Thursday, all – well almost all – government employees began the day one hour earlier...

Source: Wikimedia Commons An amazing video posted by online news daily CRHoy.com shows a car thief walk up to a Nissan D21 pick-up (or hard-body) truck, discreetly manipulate the lock on the driver's side door to gain entry, jump behind the wheel, hotwire the vehicle, and speed off in just 20 seconds. The incident occurred in the neighborhood of San Juan de Tibas, in the northern suburbs of...

This article is a press release from the US Embassy in Costa Rica, if you would like The Costa Rica Star to publish your announcements, please contact us. The Embassy of the United States in Costa Rica welcomes last night’s strong statement of support from the Government of Costa Rica regarding the Framework Agreement for the Elimination of Syria’s Chemical Weapons. Costa Rica, recognized ...

Students at the National Police Academy in Costa Rica got an unexpected practical lesson on September 18th thanks to the hard work of the Directorate of Police Intelligence (Spanish acronym: DIPOL) and members of the Operational Support Group (GAO). A band of thieves who specialized in armed robbery of pulperias (small-town convenience stores) and residential properties were surprised and arrested...

Source: Fuerza Publica A man in a trio of illegal hunters in Costa Rica took aim at members of Fuerza Publica (Costa Rica's national police force) in La Cruz, province of Guanacaste, causing a standoff that culminated in the arrest of two and the escape of one. The officers, however, could not rescue two wild rabbits that the hunters had already killed, gutted and skinned. The incident occu...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on how Costa Rica views the conflict in Syria. Not surprisingly, former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has a somewhat different view of U.S. President Barack Obama's acceptance of a Russian proposal to act as negotiator in the poison gas elimination in Syria. Arias gave the Spanish press an earful Friday. Arias claims it was not just Russia and China ...

A Nicaraguan representative, Carlos Arguello, came before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and formalized the new lawsuit against Colombia to declare the “exact path” of the maritime boundary between the two countries. “This lawsuit is intended finish defining the maritime areas of Nicaragua bordering Colombia in the Caribbean,” the Nicaraguan executive said in a statement. ...

Three years is the prison sentence handed down to former legislator Maureen Ballestero Vargas (photo right) for personal use on two separate occasions of airplanes from the Ministry of Security. However, the former PLN legislator won’t see a day behind bars. The sentenced was handed down by the judge Hugo Porter of the Tribunal Unipersonal de Hacienda (Ministry of Finance Court), but commuted t...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on how the closure of the Circunvalacion is crippling traffic flow in San Jose during the next 2 months. The high command of the Ministry of Public Works (MOPT) and the highway agency CONAVI have decided to ignore the advice of their own expert engineers and two outside bodies that merely replacing the culverts under the road is inadequate, reported La...

The Costa Rica Star previously reported on how the proposed Chinese funded oil refinery clashes with Costa Rica's climate policy. Costa Rica’s legislative assembly is considering a new climate change law introduced by MP Alfonso Pérez Gómez. The proposed law aims to establish the country’s goal of carbon neutrality, reduce the economy’s carbon footprint and improve measuring and reporting sy...

Every country has its own anthem. It's a song of pride, unity and strength. It brings neighbors together and reminds them that they're all equals abiding by the same set of rules and guidelines. It's mark, a highly esteemed symbol of identity, unique to every country in message and origin, particularly Costa Rica's. In the mid 19th Century, ambassadors from Great Britain and the United States a...

The National Federation of the Fisheries Sector (FENAPES) and the Costa Rican Fisheries Federation (FECOP), launched a campaign to collect signatures to back a proposal to regulate tuna fishing with purse-seine nets in the first 370 nautical miles (662 km) of Costa Rica’s territorial waters. Under the concept of “Costa Rican Tuna for Costa Rican Fishers”, the Office of the President of the Repu...

Dressed in white gloves, pants in the style of the Prince of Wales and a cap with a gold Costa Rica coat of arms, tailored by Marlow White, who has been making uniforms for the US Armed Forces since 1879, is the Guardia de Honor (Honour Guard of Costa Rica). The special unit is made of 40 men and women of the Fuerza Pública (police) that have been for the past decade the special escort of the P...

Source: Wikimedia Commons From May 1932 to February 1933, Beatriz Zamora Lopez de Jimenez Oreamuno graced Costa Rica as an elegant First Lady, fluent in the English and French languages and very attuned to cultural, political and historical matters that she learned as an autodidact. She had a sordid past, however, one that the crude Central American aristocracy of the time constantly chastised...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The cold-blooded murder of an Asian man in Downtown San Jose is renewing fears that Chinese Triads and other Asian organized crime groups might be increasing their presence in Costa Rica. According to a press release by the Judicial Investigation Organization (Spanish initials: OIJ), agents on duty responded to an incident in a coin-operated gambling machine establ...

Source: ANDRÉS GARITA, La Nacion It has been 192 years since the final defeat of the Spanish in the Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821) when the authorities in Guatemala declared the independence of all of Central America. And so now, every year a flaming torch is carried from Guatemala starting on Sept. 11 all the way to the former colonial capital of Costa Rica in Cartago, symbolizing th...

It appears that the Cartago municipality is suffering from MOPT-Conavi disease. A sinkhole developed suddenly on one of the old capital's busiest streets near Colegio Universitario de Cartago after a truck had passed over it Thursday morning. The 10-meter wide by two meters deep yawning hole was apparently caused by the collapse of antique storm drain pipes plugged by garbage -- the same situat...

Starting on Monday, September 16, the vehicular restrictions of San José will be four license plates, two with full restriction on one day, and two with partial restrictions the following day. As has been for some time each week in San Jose, vehicles with license plates ending in 1 & 2 are restricted from circulating in San José between 6am and 7pm; on Tuesdays plates ending in 3 & 4; Wednesday...

Well, this definitely goes into the odd news category, however it's a very kind gesture from a little country in the Middle East within the Persian Gulf. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain had the following to say about Costa Rica's Independence Day celebrations today, through the official Bahrain news Agency: "His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa dispatched a congratulatory cabl...

This year, acts in celebration of the arrival of the torch of independence will take place earlier in the streets of Nicoya. The tour began at 6 am this Saturday morning, September 14th at the Fray Bartolome de las Casas School (Friar Bartholomew of the Homes) in Nambí, where the torch will be lit symbolically to begin the journey that will conclude at the town hall of Nicoya. There, more st...

Transport Minister Pedro Castro says he has no regrets about the works on the Circunvalación, and that all decisions were made based on monitoring supervisions by experts of MOPT. The MOPT (Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes) minister told ADN 90.7FM radio that the experts were in full control and supervision of the culvert that collapsed completely and ended up forcing the closure of m...

Recently the Government of Costa Rica celebrated the 70th anniversary of the country’s labor code, while the business sector urged changes that allow more flexible working hours. The president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, starred in a formal ceremony in commemoration of the social reforms achieved in the 1940´s under President Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia, and the Communist leader Manuel M...

Costa Rica elections will take place on Sunday, February 2nd 2014 and for the first time Ticos will be able to cast their vote from abroad through a digital form. The electoral body estimates that the figure may reach 15,000 registered voters by October 2nd 2013, the deadline for Costa Ricans to register and change their voting address. However, they will be able to vote only for the Presid...

Young people attending a United Nations (U.N.) conference in Costa Rica have called on world leaders to "support innovation and technology as methods to advance broader development, drive positive change and bring citizens closer to their Governments." Around 700 young people attended the three-day BYND 2015 Global Youth Summit, convened by the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in...

Nicaragua cannot catch a break. After bringing a conflict with Colombia to the United Nations and having a tiff with Costa Rica over a border town, Panama announced on Thursday it had a bone to pick with its northern neighbor: President Ricardo Martinelli said Panama would be joining Colombia in its dispute with Nicaragua over territorial waters. Martinelli accused his Nicaraguan counterpart, D...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on how the President of Costa Rica is working her charm with social media to regain confidence in the republic. Laura Chinchilla Miranda (Twitter) is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in, even if her beliefs go against the tide of popular opinion. Like her Facebook page to stay up to date on her lifestyle and thoughts. Chinchilla is the president...

Source: Wikimedia Commons A group of inmates in the maximum security cell block of La Reforma , Costa Rica's largest correctional institution, enjoy the company of cats that they take in as companion animals and eventually use as drug couriers, messengers and even as bargaining chips in conflicts among criminal groups. These cats travel freely through the prison and often carry marijuana, c...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on a mysterious paramilitary group arriving on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, could this article be somehow related? Indigenous people and farmers from the canton of Talamanca rejected their mayor’s demand to allow incursions by the United States Southern Command within the Bribri Indigenous Territory. In a letter to Costa Rican President Laura Chinc...

Some 300 workers in the nation's child welfare agency PANI marched Monday to the building housing the Constitutional Court chambers to pressure the President and her Minister of Finance Edgar Ayales to include in the 2014 budget the 7% of tax revenues that chamber ordered last year should go to fund children's welfare. The court (Sala IV) ruled that the funds should be earmarked for PANI by law...

Surveyors are working along route 160 to draw up the property registration plans in order to progress with the long-awaited project to pave Route 160 from Samara to Nosara, marking important points where the road needs to be widened or where curves need to be straightened. Once the surveying is completed, cost estimates will be calculated and property owners will be contacted to discuss assessment...

There are two important dates to celebrate in September: the first is Children’s Day on September 9 and the second is the Celebration of National Independence on September 15. For Children’s Day every year the David Kitson Library holds a spelling bee, mathematics games and science quests for the third through sixth graders of Serapio Lopez Fajardo Elementary School. This year we will extend t...

Currently, prison overcrowding in Costa Rica is at 37%. However, in Liberia the situation is even worse at 67.9%. With 1256 being held there, the center has 508 more prisoners above capacity, according to Carmen Vargas Hernandez, spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice. The Citizen Action party (PAC), the Public Defender (Defensoría de los Habitantes) and the National Association of Public ...

If you live, visit, work, travel or move from one side to the other side of San José get ready for traffic congestion galore, as the Circunvalación will be closed between Pavas and Hatillo 8 for the next two months. That is the word from the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) and the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Conavi) yesterday afternoon after evaluating the risk of the slopes...