From July 1st to December 31st, 46 vessels from the United States Coast Guard will be allowed to patrol the waters of Costa Rica and dock at ports in Puntarenas, Guanacaste and Limon. According to digital newspaper El Pais, the resolution was passed by a majority of legislators at the National Assembly on Thursday, and it originated from a request by the U.S. Embassy made to the Ministry of Public...

Earlier this week, legislators at the National Assembly in Costa Rica found consensus on the first debate of the Transit Law makeover. For the most part, they expressed satisfaction with their work. Some legislators and analysts, however, are concerned that a couple of clauses therein may send them back to the drawing board. When legislators introduced a proposal to revamp the Transit Law of Cost...

After successfully completing an unprecedented march in downtown San Jose, the Invisible Movement activists were able to meet with government representatives to advance issues related to the project of Societies of Coexistence, something Laura Chinchilla’s administration had ignored so far. The meeting took place yesterday at around 3 pm at the Presidential House with activists representing gro...

Law enforcement may get a little bit better here in Costa Rica. The European Union has donated €13 million ($16 million) to the Costa Rican Ministerio de Seguridad Publica (Ministry of Public Security). The funds are supposed to go to the construction and equipment of a new National Police Academy (Escuela Nacional de Policia) in Guapalis. Reports say that the new academy should be ready to tra...

After a tense week due to the strike in the Caribbean region of Costa Rica and a long day of negotiations, the Japdeva union and the government reached a resolution at 2 am yesterday, which allowed to reopen the docks of the Port of Limon which -so far- had remained closed and guarded by police. However, this solution was not entirely satisfactory, especially for the plaintiff. Union secretary ...

The Anti-corruption act of 2004 was set into force to stem dishonesty within Costa Rican seats of power. The idea is a simple one. To add a measure of control and accountability, persons such as Mayors, Deputies, government executives, municipal councilmen, etc. are to report their worth to the office of the Comptroller General. If an official has a much higher net worth (shown by liquid as...

The Costa Rican Ambassador to India was in Kolkata, Bengal this past Saturday. Along with eight other ambassadors from Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, El Salvador, Panama, Ecuador, Chile, and Peru. The Ambassador expressed interest in investing in the Indian state. Most of the investment talk from the nine Latin American countries was about Bengal’s Information Technology, Tourism and Food Processing m...

After discarding he would run for Presidency in the 2014 elections back in December  of last year and after being heavily questioned by reporters about his intentions, it seems Ex-President Jose Maria Figueres Olsen has changed his mind and would be announcing his candidacy in the upcoming weeks. Sources inform that the announcement will be held on Tuesday June 26th, following the participation...

On the International Labor Organization’s 11thannual World Day Against Child Labor, among representatives of the Costa Rican Civil Society and with President Laura Chinchilla present, president of the Commission of Social Matters, Deputy Elibeth Venegas called upon the three political powers of Costa Rica (legislative, judicial and executive) to unite against unhealthy child labor. According to...

On Thursday June 14th, the head of MINAET, Dr. René Castro Salazar’s proposal “Politicas Azules Y Vice Ministerio de Agua y Mares” (Blue Policies and Vice Ministry of Water and Seas) was accepted creating a new Ministry of Water and Seas. The restructuring will give direct oversight of Costa Rica’s oceans, fresh waters and water resources to this new sub division of the MINAET. Costa Rica’s...

La Marcha de los Invisibles (March of the Invisibles) will take place today in protest of a Secular State, the right to assisted reproduction, and a society with diverse sexual orientation without discrimination. Protesters have been summoned today, June 16th at the Central Park in San Jose at 9 a.m. and will march from there to the National Assembly of Costa Rica. Speakers for the movement ...

President Juan Manuel Santos from Colombia visited Costa Rica to meet with President Laura Chinchilla in order to launch the initial negotiations  for a Free Trade Agreement between these two nations. The meeting took place this past Friday in San Jose after Santos arrived at the Airport at approximately 10:15 a.m. local time. According to ElPais.cr, Chinchilla expressed that Colombian governme...

Taiwanese fishing vessels registered in Belize navigate the territorial waters of Costa Rica without the requisite tracking devices in violation of fishing laws. Such were the statements made before the National Assembly earlier this week by Claudio Monge, a legislator from the Civic Action political party -but who mostly acts independently. Mr. Monge added that the executive board of the Fishing...

It was a tense night in the Caribbean Zone of Costa Rica as striking dockworkers, agitators and Fuerza Publica officers faced off in La Cieneguita. A special riot unit from Fuerza Publica deployed tear gas canisters against rioters who set two shipping containers on fire in La Cieneguita. A Red Cross ambulance posted at the scene was struck by a stray bullet (picture) and its side view mirror was ...

Source: Ministry of Public Safety Earlier this week, officers from the National Coast Guard Service in Costa Rica boarded a fishing vessel off the Pacific coast and arrested three individuals suspected of shark fin poaching. According to an official press release issued by Sergio Lopez Murillo of the Ministry of Public Safety, 58 shark fins were confiscated and will serve as evidence against the...

The Global Peace Index (GPI) is the world`s leading measure of national peacefulness. Now in its sixth year, it ranks 158 nations around the globe. In the latest study (GPI) by The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), "Tiquicia" is located within the 40 most peaceful countries in the world today occupying 36th place, only surpassed in Latin America by Chile (30) and Uruguay (33). Althoug...

The General Direction of Immigration in Costa Rica announced last week that people who need passports or residency identification cards in Braille will be able to obtain them, according to an article by Jarmon Noguera Gonzalez on La Prensa Libre. Kathya Rodriguez, Director of Immigration, said this is part of an effort to provide more choices for people with disabilities in Costa Rica: "We i...

Three labor unions and a few student organizations in Costa Rica have agreed to hold a nationwide strike for Tuesday 26 June, in defense of the public health care system, La Caja, and against the newly amended Fiscal Reform Plan. The call was made six days ago by a national coalition that brings together the Association of Teachers of Secondary Education (APSE in Spanish), the Caribbean dockworke...

Kevin Iraniha is a 27-year old American who recently completed a graduate program at the University of Peace in Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica. Proud of his academic achievement, his family arrived from San Diego to attend his graduation ceremony. Mr. Iraniha was ready to return home to California earlier this week, bu he was denied boarding by Frontier Airlines and security personnel at the Juan Sant...

Justo Orozco is a legislator and Protestant minister who also leads the Committee of Human Rights at the National Assembly of Costa Rica. According to an article recently published by Act Up, Mr. Orozco spoke to national newspaper La Nacion and categorized homosexuality as a sin with a cure. The Act Up site describes itself as a "perspective from over 60 countries and 50 languages highlighting our...

The number of homicides in Costa Rica in 2011 was lower than in 2010 by a margin of 53 cases, according to a blog post in the Christian Science Monitor by Mike Allison, an associate professor in the Political Science Department and a member of the Latin American and Women's Studies Department at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. Citing news sources from the Agence France-Presse (AFP) an...

Friday was a very busy day at the National Assembly in Costa Rica. Legislators approved six projects, five on second debate and one pending final hearing. According to an article by Fernando Francia of digital newspaper El Pais, the Friday session was one of the busiest and most fruitful of the current Assembly. Taxes on Sportsbooks and Casinos This was the only law passed on first debate. It se...

Author's Note: This article has been adapted from a note published on the Facebook Timeline of Terapia Fisica y Rehabilitacion, an organization that contacted The Costa Rica Star and asked for publishing space. Any questions regarding services or assistance for people living with disabilities in Costa Rica should be directed to the National Council on Rehabilitation and Special Education (CNREE ...

On Friday, June 1st, the director of Fuerza Publica, Commissioner Juan José Andrade met with the Head of Air Surveillance Services, Captain Alex Romero, and together announced a new initiative for combining land and air operation's in the battle against crime in Costa Rica. Commissioner Andrade explained that, with the support of Air Surveillance Services, Fuerza Publica has apprehended a few s...

The prized tourism industry in Costa Rica could be threatened by the surge in criminal gang activity that is sweeping through other countries in Central America, according to various news reports and the general sentiment of the population over the last few years. Such fears have already come true in Belize, a Central American nation that by all accounts should surpass Costa Rica as the ultimate t...

Two Colombian men suspected of trafficking in illegal substances are now in custody after they offered a bribe of 5 million colones (about $10,000) to Fuerza Publica officers in Costa Rica. The incident took place last night in the northern suburbs of Tibas, in the capital city of San Jose. Officers on patrol noticed a suspicious vehicle parked in the darkness of a cemetery. The Fuerza Publ...

Author's Note: Costa Rica is a signatory in the Panama Declaration of 1995 -the "dolphin-safe treaty." The declaration and its updates can be reviewed at the European Union's Treaties Office Database , where it can be found as the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP). According to an online petition started by Shawn Larkin on change.org: "Dolphin superpods and mu...

A couple of weekends ago, the men and women of the Coast Guard service of Costa Rica celebrated their 12th anniversary with a series of events in the coastal communities they are sworn to protect. Once the festivities were completed, the members of our Coast Guard got back to work and apprehended three suspects who were caught smuggling leatherback turtle eggs. In Costa Rica, the Coast Guar...

The governments of Costa Rica and Colombia met earlier this week in Bogota to ratify their commitment to protect marine resources, particularly with regard to their collaboration in the battle against shark finning, according to an official communication by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Central American nation of Honduras also ratified her commitment to shark protection by celebrating the f...

Sala Cuarta (Constitutional Hall) has issued an order to the Costa Rica Fishing Institute (INCOPESCA in Spanish) and the Secretary of Environmental Affairs (SETENA) to provide, within three working days, an explanation for the lack of environmental impact studies on the practice of shrimp trawling. The order was issued by the Court after a plea for relief was filed by Frente por Nuestros Ma...

The Minister of Public Safety Mario Zamora Cordero recently confirmed that Costa Rica is currently in diplomatic talks with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to formalize an offer made by the Asian nation to donate a National Police Academy. The offer by the Chinese leadership was revealed by Minister Zamora during a recent Committee of Revenue Affairs Meeting, where he was called upon to gi...

Thanks to an initiative by the National Printing Office, public school students in Costa Rica will soon be able to access all their mandatory reading assignments online. The project named "Editorial Digital" was presented to the government weeks ago, and according to Jarmon Noguera Gonzalez of La Prensa Libre, the initiative also aims to foster good reading habits among citizens of Costa Rica. ...

According to the Beckley Foundation's Global Cannabis Commission Report, marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug in the world. Where is Costa Rica relation to consumption, production and legal status of the world's favorite and most commonly used illicit drug? The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) puts the annual rate of pot smoking among people in Costa Rica between the a...

The Costa Rica Star has recently published information about receiving your permanent residency in Costa Rica to avoid border runs, wasting time, and money. Investigators from the Immigration Service in Costa Rica arrested three individuals suspected of operating a brazen document forgery ring that specialized in fake passports, work permits, residency cards, and even tourist visas to enter the...

SAN JOSE – A group of 100 teachers in Costa Rica ignored the call of their labor union and opted to receive academic training and orientation in the new math curriculum that the Ministry of Public Education (MEP in Spanish) will implement in the 2013 school year. The Minister of Education Leonardo Garnier -better known for his hairstyle- was one of the instructors, and he praised those in attendan...

Earlier today, President Laura Chinchilla was at the Holy See -the State of the Vatican City- and she met with Pope Benedict XVI and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. According to the official press release from the Presidential House of Costa Rica in Zapote, the meeting was brief and cordial, and the Pope extended to President Chinchilla his admiration for the people of...

While President Laura Chinchilla visits political and business leaders in Europe, the Executive branch of Costa Rica has issued an official announcement regarding its position on the controversial construction of route 1856, the Juan Rafael Mora Porras highway that runs parallel to the San Juan river on the border with Nicaragua. In a matter of just a few weeks, the highway project has been tra...

Central America and the Caribbean were hotbeds of insurrection and powder kegs of the proxy wars fought between the United States and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. As much as Costa Rica tried to distance herself from the conflict and turmoil all around, she was part of the cloak-and-dagger antics of the warring world's powers at the time. A photo exhibit at the historic Freed...

Once again Alajuela is the birthplace of Costa Rican heroes. Drummer boy and infantry rifleman Juan Santamaria became our national hero when he made the ultimate sacrifice for his country back in 1856, when he set fire to the farmhouse where American filibuster William Walker and his gang of mercenaries had taken positions. The latest hero in Costa Rica is also from Alajuela. His name is Jua...

The animal death toll in the fight against illegal cock fighting rings in Costa Rica increased by 102 yesterday. According to an article written by Maria Cuesta of national newspaper La Nacion, the 102 roosters had suffered deeply traumatic injuries during their lives as gamecocks. The mass humane action took place after a raid by Fuerza Publica on an underground cock fighting venue in Desampar...