Costa Rica's tourist minister, Mauricio Ventura, announced today a new direct route on Southwest between Florida and Costa Rica. Starting November 5, just in time for winter travel from the U.S., the airline will operate a daily connection between the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and the Juan Santamaria International Airport in San José, Costa Rica. To celebrate this new r...

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 That leaked ‘memo’ -- supposedly written by former FBI Director James Comey to himself concerning a meeting he had with President Donald Trump in which the subject of fired former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn came up -- may ...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  The swamp is on fire. Flames are spreading throughout the executive and legislative branches of government. There’s not enough water in the Potomac River to put out all the fires engulfing Washington, D.C. ignited by the mainstream media which is fanning the f...

According to a report yesterday in The San Pedro Sun, a daily publication of San Pedro Town on Ambergris Caye, Belize, Canadian national, John DeShaines, remains under police investigation as the main person of interest in a double murder in Corozal in the north of the country. The bodies of 52-year-old Canadian Francesca Matus and 36-year-old American Drew DeVoursney were found Monday, May 1 n...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  FBI Director James Comey learned he had been fired by President Donald Trump without warning on Tuesday afternoon first on TV ‘Breaking News’ and then in a phone call while he was at the FBI’s Operations Center in Los Angeles, according to news reports which s...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Just like Hollywood’s Academy Awards for movies or the Tony Awards for theater or the Grammy Awards for music it’s time for the Costa Rican Expat Media Awards -- Roses, Thorns, Prickly Thorns and Magic Mushrooms – are at stake. Roses get a solid-gold nec...

Drug-related violence is as much a fact of life in Central America’s Northern Triangle as it is in some parts of the urban U.S. But its impact in these small Central American countries is huge, with up to 10 percent of the population of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador having fled violence and its associated poverty and insecurity according to the Washington-based Atlantic Council. This viol...

Multiple reports in U.S. and Canadian media have revealed the details currently known about the gruesome murder of a Canadian woman and her U.S. boyfriend near the northern Belize town of Corozal. Belize police determined that theft was not the motive of the murder as no money or jewelry were stolen from the couple. Of two people detained this week as suspects in the murder, one Canadian man...

A draft of President Donald Trump's new counterterrorism strategy demands that U.S. allies shoulder more of the burden in combating Islamist militants, while acknowledging that the threat of terrorism will never be totally eliminated. The 11-page draft, seen on Friday by Reuters, said the United States should avoid costly, "open-ended" military commitments. "We need to intensify operations a...

Panama’s Public Prosecutor’s Office this week charged the police officer responsible for accidentally shooting a 22 -year-old American tourist in the capital's historic district April 28, reported local Panamanian media. In the incident, an agent from the Institutional Protection Service (SPI), a special police unit assigned to protecting the president and the presidential palace area, fired at...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  One small chip from the base, then another and another led to a U.S. House vote against former President Barak Obama’s signature accomplishment -- ‘ObamaCare’ --  when on Thursday Congress narrowly passed the American Health Care Act of 2017, effectively...

As it is tradition now in the United States, the Cinco de Mayo celebrations usually include a big boxing event involving of course, a Mexican fighter. This year it includes not one but two Mexican warriors, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Julio César Chávez Jr., the fight will take place on Saturday, May 6 at the T-Mobile Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo Alvarez is one of boxing’s biggest stars to...

In the first four months of the year the price of the dollar on the Monex wholesale market has increased almost 2 percent, according to financial reports. At the beginning of the year, the price of the U.S. currency was 556.06 colones to the dollar, but on Tuesday, May 2 the day closed at 566.97 colones to the dollar, a gain of 10 colones in only four months. "In the banks' windows, the refe...

On April 5, 2017, Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen introduced legislation into the U.S. House of Representatives to "oppose loans at international financial institutions for the Government of Nicaragua unless the Ortega administration takes effective steps to hold free, fair, and transparent elections," according to information on the U.S. Congress website. The bill, termed the Nicaraguan Investment ...

A 22-year-old American woman tourist is in stable condition in Panama City's Santo Tomás  hospital after a shooting incident in the downtown historic center, called Casco Viejo. In the early morning hours of Friday, April 28, the woman was unintentionally shot by an Institutional Protection Service (SPI) agent, reported the local media El Siglo. SPI director Eric Estrada was quoted as saying...

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 filled all 11,000 seats in Harrisburg, Pa., Saturday night for a celebration rally of his first 100-days in office while at the same time the annual White House Correspondents Dinner with its liberal comedians and Hollywood actors ...

The North American-Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) urged Costa Rican entrepreneurs to work within the U.S. government's framework of expanding bilateral trade as Trump steers the U.S. away from multilateral agreements that have generated a trade deficit. San José, April 28, 2017. On the Trump Administration's 100th day, political and economic analysts the world over are sizing things up....

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  There is a growing trend of vulgarity in public statements coming from U.S. Senate Democrats and those representing the Democratic National Committee. This trend toward filthy language is disturbing. Studies show people are cussing more than ever, includ...

British singer Elton John was forced to cancel his shows in Las Vegas and Bakersfield, California after facing a serious infection that had him hospitalized and in intensive care. Elton John fell violently ill after finishing his tour through South America. According to reports, he boarded his plane after his concert in Chile on April 10 and began filling ill, “he contracted a harmful and unusu...

Copa Airlines announced they will offer the only nonstop direct airline service between Denver, Colorado and Panama, with convenient connections to more than 55 destinations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean through the airline’s Panama hub. The service will consist of four weekly flights between Denver and Panama beginning Dec. 11, 2017. Denver will be Copa's 13th U.S. de...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  This Saturday is a big day. Four big things will happen on April 29. It’s President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, it’s the annual White House Correspondent’s Dinner in D.C., it’s the date of the president’s next political rally to be held in Penn...

Doctors from the Costa Rican Social Security Agency (CCSS) are joining a medical mission from Texas this week to provide a variety of health services to residents of several indigenous villages in the Chirripó de Turrialba region, said Heylin Quesada Alvarado, medical director of the Turrialba-Jiménez Health Area The medical team with visit the Cabecar indigenous communities of Boyei, Grano de ...

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 The entire world’s attention has been drawn to the rogue country of North Korea and its young leader Kim Jong-Un, but who is this man, why is he so determined to have nuclear weapons, and why is he threatening the entire Pacific Ocean ...

Canadian singer Justin Bieber who will be giving a concert in Costa Rica next Monday, April 24 at the National Stadium, will be staying in the same beach mansion in where the Kardashian-Jenner clan stayed when they visited the country back in January, perhaps Bieber was following a recommendation from Kourtney Kardashian, since several entertainment sites have implied the two have a very close rel...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Conservative political commentator, Tomi Lahren, has been sidelined and silenced by in-house politics involving ultra-right-winger Glenn Beck and his ‘The Blaze’ online news service out of Dallas. She was suspended indefinitely and taken off the air rece...

After Colorado native Cody Oser was found dead in a creek earlier this month near his Peace Corps site in northern Panama, local residents and Peace Corps members have rallied to pay tribute to the young idealist. His death has been determined accidental. Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela said at a memorial service held at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on Wednesday, April 12...

Southwest Airlines says Volaris Costa Rica’s application for permits to start U.S. flights should be discounted as they claim Volaris doesn't fulfill ownership requirements under the existing U.S.-Costa Rica air transport agreement, as reported in airline industry news recently. The Dallas-based airline file an objection with the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT), arguing that the bilateral ...

A Utah man and his fiancée say they got the booted from a United flight Saturday out of Houston en route to their Costa Rica wedding after changing seats, reported local Utah media, the New York Daily News, and other national media outlets. The company has been spotlighted for a series of recent customer service disasters in recent weeks, including an incident where a 69-year-old doctor was dra...

The Boston Globe detailed a report released yesterday on alleged cases of sexual abuse and assault on Choate Rosemary Hall students by former educators at the New England private boarding school over the past more than four decades. One of the cases detailed includes jaw-dropping allegations by a former female student whose story was confirmed by eyewitnesses about how her former Choate Spanish...

With growing demand for organic produce in the United States, Texas-based Pasco Foods is stepping up to fill the niche market. The company, which began packing private label French-Fried onions and Crispy-Fried Onions for U.S. retailers, wholesale clubs and industrial customers in 1999, has since expanded to supply pineapple and hearts of palm imports from Costa Rica to U.S. consumers, accordin...

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 Every time President Donald Trump leaves the White House in Washington for his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the mainstream media gets all fired up about the taxpayer expenses incurred by such trip. Critics are right in that the...

Max Machum started learning Spanish when, at age 7, he and his parents relocated to Guanacaste, in northern Costa Rica, from Alberta Canada's Rocky Mountains. By the time he was 12, the Canmore native had pioneered a local effort to eliminate plastic straws from restaurants and hotels to protect Guanacaste's Pacific beaches and wildlife from the often deadly effects of human pollution. After...

Neil Gorsuch on Monday was sworn in as the country's latest Supreme Court justice after being nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate, thus filling the high court seat that had been vacant for more than a year. At a public ceremony in the White House Rose Garden with the other high court justices and assorted other officials in attendance, Justice Anthony Kennedy adminis...

North Korea on Tuesday condemned the deployment of a nuclear aircraft carrier and its strike group by the United States near the Korean peninsula and warned that the country was prepared to respond to a "pre-emptive strike," authorities reported. "If the US dares opt for a military action, crying out for preemptive attack and removal of the headquarters, the DPRK is ready to react to any mode o...

The body of U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama, Cody Oser, was found in a creek in the Comarca Ngäbe Bugle district in Northern Panama and identified on Sunday, April 9. The 24-year-old left his home town of Broomfield, Colorado for his Peace Corps tenure on July 5, 2016, according to posts on his Facebook page. He and 46 other volunteers in Panama were sworn in September 20, 2016 by U.S. Amb...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  With the U.S. Congress out for a 2-week Easter break, President Donald Trump has time to kick some ISIS butt – especially in Egypt – before asking Congress for a declared war against radical Islamic terror in whatever countries it is known to exist. It’s...

Experts say 2017 will bring a below-normal hurricane season, as a potential El Niño may limit the development of storms. Last season spawned 15 named storms, seven of which were hurricanes. The 2017 season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, follows the deadliest in over 10 years for the Atlantic basin. Last year's was also the costliest Atlantic hurricane season since 2012, and Costa Rica saw ...

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: The United States launched dozens of cruise missiles on Thursday into Syria, in the first direct military action by the US on President Bashar al-Assad's regime since the civil war began. The strike came in response to a chemical attack that struck a town in northern Syria on Tuesday which killed around 80 people. The US fired dozens of Tomahawk missiles at the Sha...

A U.S. Navy strike group will be moving towards the western Pacific Ocean near the Korean peninsula as a show of force, a U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday, as concerns grow about North Korea's advancing weapons program. Earlier this month North Korea tested a liquid-fueled Scud missile which only traveled a fraction of its range. The strike group, called Carl Vinson, includes an aircra...

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 Love him, despise him or just plain can’t stand him President Donald Trump is on the move everywhere you look around the world and at home. World headlines are screaming from Syrian gas attacks killing children, North Korea’s nuclear threats...