I live in the Zaragoza region, one of the poorest areas in central El Salvador. We have limited economic development opportunities for our people, yet one of the highest rates of population density in the country. While grappling with poverty, our municipality must also deal with gang activity and school violence. In order to respond to this situation, my school joined with 12 other schoo...

Retiring to Nicaragua does not have to mean that people’s healthcare will suffer, especially if they are going to be moving close to the capital city Managua and other major cities. Healthcare is very good in Nicaragua and it is also less expensive than it is in the United States. Therefore, people have the opportunities to maintain their health even if they move out of the States and retire i...

Last week, the Worldwatch Institute’s Central America team – together with our partners from the INCAE Business School – convened a working group of nearly 40 renewable energy experts and decision-makers in Managua, Nicaragua. The emphasis: access to energy for marginalized communities through sustainable energy options. With presentations and participation from the government’s renewable ener...

From exotic animals to mysterious Mayan ruins; don't miss these six stops on a trip to this underestimated Central American country 1. Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary Crooked Tree is a village rich in Creole culture and a reserve with abundant bird life. This is possibly one of the richest birding areas in Belize and Central America. It is recognised as a wetland of international imp...

Attacks on Panama’s electoral tribunal (TE) and the appointing of a new judge are part of a government plan to take over the institution and seek the immediate re-election of President Ricardo Martinelli says a leading constitutionalist. Law professor Miguel Antonio Bernal, said on RPC Radio on Tuesday, September 25, that Panama has a dictatorship and everything regarding the appointment of...

Following the exchange of notes of ratification, the Free Trade Agreement between the two nations will become effective on 19 October 2012. A press release from the Foreign Ministry of Nicaragua reads: An exchange of letters on the bilateral Nicaragua-Chile protocol, a Free Trade Agreement between Chile and Central America, was held this morning between the foreign minister, Samuel Santo...

In a Rogue’s Gallery of copyright legislation, many efforts deserve mention. The DMCA is surely there, together with Japan’s new copyright law, the Digital Economy Act, and Ley Sinde. But a new Panamanian copyright bill is giving those laws a run for their money. The excellent project at Infojustice.org have directed our attention to a new bill that has been sent to the Panamanian legislatu...

Cuban experts who will collaborate with Nicaragua in seismological and volcanological research are ready to start their work with experts from the Territorial Study Institute (Ineter) and other bodies. Upon arriving in Nicaragua, the four scientists expressed their willingness to cooperate in the complex situation the country is going through since late August, with quakes registered in coa...

Mexico’s President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto has embarked on a diplomatic tour of six countries in Central and South America in an effort to reset rocky relationships and reestablish Mexico's position in the region. Top talking points include the region’s shared security concerns, especially with Guatemala and Colombia, and smoothing trade relations with Argentina and Brazil, both of which h...

The first official meeting of the EMPRETEC Latin America Forum was hosted by EMPRETEC Panama in Panama City last week, following a regional training workshop that brought together EMPRETEC directors and trainers from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Peru and Venezuela to share experiences and discuss new developments. Participants reviewed the Empretec + material...

While scientists increasingly name new species after celebrities in order to gain much-needed attention for the world's vanishing biodiversity, researchers describing a new snake species from Panama have taken a different route. Dubbing the new serpent, Sibon noalamina ('no to the mine!' in Spanish), the scientists are hoping the multicolored snake's unusual name will draw attention to mining ...

On September 7, 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released a report that tracks the deterioration of coral reefs in the Caribbean over the past 39 years. The report indicates that live coral cover over some reefs in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Florida Keys and the US Virgin Islands has dropped to less than 10%. These losses are thought to be driven by a combination o...

To arrive to a new place in the dark is like tasting a new food with a blindfold on. You can feel the edges, but a full color appreciation isn’t possible until daylight arrives. Night time in the small town of La Pirraya on an island in Jiquilisco Bay is quiet; the fishermen and their families gather in small compounds preparing the days catch and saving energy for an early rise the next day. ...

60% of the world's population have no access to banking services, although 85% have a mobile phone. Brett King, founder of the first mobile banking service in the U.S. and the UK, and specialist in innovation in financial services, was at the XII Latin American Congress on banking automation, which is being held in Panama. He states that the key "to popularize and expand banking services ...

The Governments of the United States and Brazil today formalized a partnership with the Government of Honduras to increase agriculture production, decrease undernutrition, and promote renewable energy in Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. “By leveraging the joint expertise of the United States and Brazil we have an opportunity to help Hondurans rise out of pov...

Panama’s national soccer team took a big step forward towards its dream of playing in the Rio World Cup in 2014 when it defeated Canada for the first time on Tuesday September 12. For fans, reaching the holy grail of soccer would overshadow the opening of the Panama Canal expansion and the election of new president, both scheduled for the year in which the country marks the 100th anniversar...

Fifteen Panamanian truckers claimed they were assaulted while driving in Costa Rica from January through August, five more than all of 2011, according to the Panamanian National Cargo Transportation Chamber (CANATRACA). The most recent case involved Nicolás Araúz, a father of four who was shot twice in the head by unknown gunmen on Costa Rica’s Peñas Blancas highway while transporting a tru...

The Panamanian government has presented for review at the National Land Council a draft bill which changes current land titling legislation. The bill gives more power to the National Land Authority (Anati), such as a period of seven years for the role of administrator and the elimination of free titling in any of its forms. Through these changes, the government seeks to plug loopholes ...

The Costa Rica Star previously reported on the Albinos of Kuna Panama. Megan Leavitt, 29, is a self-described nomad. “I’ve been traveling for the last 12 years,” she said. Her travels have taken her from Glenburn, where she grew up; to Santa Cruz and the University of California where she earned a degree, on full scholarship, in Latin American and Latino studies; to Haiti; Mexico; Centra...

Guatemala has risen to become one of the world’s rum production hubs — from Ron Zacapa to Zaya, which was made in the country until moving its production (and Guatemalan recipe) to Trinidad. But a longtime player is Ron Botran, which has the advantage of several area rums in that it is aged at a high altitude and includes sugar cane grown in the country’s rich volcanic soil – touted as so-c...

Quijano pledged to continue the management model that had made the operation of the canal successful. He also vowed to redouble efforts to train operating personnel and to face new challenges, such as the current expansion project, which will double the capacity of the 80-km canal, built between 1904 and 1914 by the U.S. Quijano also highlighted the importance of expanding the capacity o...

As the boat carried our group from a coastal airstrip in eastern Panama to the Yandup Island Lodge, in the autonomous territory of the Guna Indians, I admired the timeless beauty of my surroundings. A woman in colorful traditional dress glided slowly across the glistening sea in a dugout canoe powered by a lateen sail. The shore of nearby Playón Chico island was lined with Guna huts, their can...

Young Cuban artists Jeosviel Abstengo Chaviano, Liesther Amador González, and Fernando Caluff, will represent Cuba on the first edition of Hispanoamericanos, Traveling Souls exhibition, scheduled to be held at the Albernathy Arts Center, in the US city of Georgia. The exhibition will open on October 5 and will be open to the public until the 31st. The event will be attended by some one hund...

Five months into a historic ceasefire between El Salvador's street gangs, Investigators profile the complex history of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). While the MS-13 is more commonly associated with menacing tattoos and violent initiation ceremonies,  Investigation into the gang's history shows that this was not always the case. When starting out at the bottom of the food chain in ...

Reaching out to the community in San Ramon. Source: Fuerza Publica Officials from the Ministry of Public Safety and Fuerza Publica are seeking assistance from law enforcement experts in Brazil and the Embassy of the United States of America to improve community police efforts and to combat corruption among their ranks. Costa Rica has been working towards the improvement and modernization of Fuer...

An announcement has been made of a Brazilian investment of $25 million to install a brewery in San Jose. An article in Nacion.com reports that Rui José Prudencio is the president of Grupo Mix, a company in Costa Rica dedicated to importing Brazilian products through its distributor Dibras. Rui Prudencio announced that a Brazilian consortium is to develop the beer Colônia in Costa Rica ...

An agency that monitors the U.S.-Mexico boundary is agreeing to a U.S. proposal to build border fence segments in a South Texas flood plain, a move Mexico opposes. The decision by the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission comes despite objections from its Mexican counterpart. Mexico argues the fence would deflect floodwaters to its side of the Rio Grande and violate a bi-national...

Coffee farmers in the world's top producer, Brazil, have been shielded to some extent from the sharp fall in arabica prices by rising yields, traders said on Thursday. Lower prices are compensated by much higher yields, said Carlos Brando, director at P&A Marketing International, the speciality coffee and coffee machine exporter. P&A data shows that average Brazilian coffee yields have nearly ...

The National Amusement Park in San Jose, where Tio Conejo and Tio Coyote eagerly wait to entertain families with young children, will soon be the new home of Boomerang, a legendary, massive roller coaster ride built by the Dutch firm Vekoma Rides Manufacturing. Boomerang is a roller coaster that sends daring riders to the highest point of its structure before launching them at a speed nearing 90 ...

John Stagikas is a stout man with a pale complexion and shaved head.  He is in his early 30s and is from New England, specifically from the Boston metropolitan area. He is fairly bilingual and owns a villa here in Costa Rica, which he smartly purchased years ago when the price was right. Whenever he is not enjoying his vacation/investment property in Costa Rica, Mr. Stagikas makes a living ...

Brazil, the economic colossus of Latin America, is having a hard time getting ready to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. The construction and improvement of infrastructure needed to accommodate thousands of visitors to the world's premier sporting events is constantly running into problems. The country with the largest Portuguese-speaking population in the world has...

The Office of the Chancellor has confirmed that a member of our diplomatic corps has been kidnapped in the Republic of Venezuela. The victim in question is Guillermo Cholele, who is an attaché and counsel to Nazareth Avendano, Ambassador of Costa Rica in the Republic of Venezuela. According to an official communication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Avendano explained that Mr....

Costa Rica is known as one of the happiest countries in the world, a fact that has been widely publicized and even adopted by the national tourism board (ICT)  in an effort to attract even more visitors to our nation. This happiness has been attributed to our commitment to environmental protection, and it is inferred from self-reporting among Ticos; but when it comes to more personal matters of op...

A top UN official has suggested to his own South American nation to look to Costa Rica as an example to follow in terms of biodiversity conservation and environmental protection. Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias recently joined the United Nations after accepting an appointment to the position as Chief of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Immediately upon taking charge, Dias made strong s...

SAN JOSE - The acquisition of HSBC retail banking operations in Costa Rica earlier this week was reported in several news media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and La Nacion. The latter newspaper approached the corporate offices of HSBC on January 23rd regarding the impending sale, which at that time the bank chose to label as a rumor that would later be confirmed by Efrain Forero Fonse...