A Costa Rican woman of last names Mora Sibaja was arrested in Perez Zeledon, Costa Rica under charges of Human Trafficking and Human Smuggling. According to the investigation which began in 2016, the woman charged between US$8,000.00 to US$10,000.00 to smuggle people to the United States through different routes; Mora would receive 50% of the payment in Costa Rica and the balance was paid befor...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Alabama Judge Roy Moore was too hot to handle for voters who handed the U.S. Senate seat to Birmingham attorney and Democrat Doug Jones which reduces the margin of Republicans in the senate by one leaving their slim majority even slimmer at 51 to 49. Jones won ...

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 much to read-between-the-lines with FBI Director Christopher Wray’s testimony before congress centering on the FBI’s special investigation into Trump-Russian connections and Minnesota Sen. Al Franken’s defiant resignation speech before the U....

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.   God bless retired Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz – a staunch Democrat! This 79-year-old high-profile criminal and constitutional law attorney is one of -- if not the best legal mind -- contributing to the public debate concerning everyth...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Last week liberalism suffered a major shock that won’t blow over anytime soon. Kate Steinle’s killer walked away from murder and manslaughter charges in a San Francisco, California courtroom stunning the nation. All of a sudden those “not guilty” verdicts ca...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. At the White House “Merry Christmas” is in while “Happy Holidays” is out. Former President Barack Obama referred to the Christmas season as “Happy Holidays” so not to offend non-Christians in a Christian-majority nation. But that has all changed. No soone...

An American tourist died as a result of the injuries caused by a tiger shark while she was diving in Isla del Coco, Costa Rica; the dive master that was with her suffered serious injuries but survived. According to the Fuerza Pública (Costa Rican Police) the accident took place this Thursday, when apparently the tourists were in a scuba diving activity with a private company. The boat See Hun...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Since the Democrats really have no message other than ‘Dump Trump’ what is it behind the scenes that they truly want to see happen with traditional American life? Looking down the road a few miles just where does ultra-far-left thinking take you? Where would it...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. It’s time to read the tea leaves, gaze into a crystal ball and make a prediction that Republican Judge Roy Moore will win big in Alabama’s Dec. 12 special U.S. Senate election that has gained national attention in recent weeks due to repeated, unproven allegati...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. The political ‘Star of the Week’ is Leeann Tweeden who blew the sexual-assault whistle on former Saturday Night Live funny man Minnesota Sen. Al Franken – a far-left Democrat. She claims Franken “forcibly kissed and fondled” her eleven years ago. In present da...

Costa Rica was chosen as the first country in Latin America to implement the new concept of Subway restaurants. This new model will be inaugurated on Wednesday, November 15, with the assistance of senior officials of the corporation at a regional level, who will expand the details of the restaurant of the future, the evolution in the business model, from the visual, technological, experience for ...

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 arrived back in Washington on Tuesday following g a 12-day Asian tour of Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, where he met again with the one-and-only, the notorious Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who hosted ...

Costa Rican airport authorities seized a weapon and ammunition from a U.S citizen as he attempted to board an international flight, said the Public Security Ministry. The incident took place at the Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) outside of the capital city of San José, Costa Rica. The man had failed to report he was carrying a firearm and ammunition, which are not permitted on f...

A self proclaimed 5-star ocean front hotel on Costa Rica's northern Pacific was the scene of an unusual death in October, and the details are only getting stranger. Shortly after 42-year-old Shawn Edmonds was handcuffed by security guards at the Riu Guanacaste hotel after an apparent argument with hotel staff, the Kitchener, Ontario, Canada father fainted while sitting in a chair and was pronou...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Filthy-dirty, hard-ball politics are at play in Alabama as former state Supreme Court Chief Judge Roy Moore and current U.S. Senate Republican candidate -- faces last-minute bombshell allegations about sexual misconduct involving a 14-year-old girl from 38-ye...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Two elections were held Tuesday – New Jersey and Virginia – and both resulted in wins for two Democratic incoming governors in what political observers say may be the beginning of their hopes to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives and t...

This Saturday, November 11 at 8 p.m. at the downtown San José, Costa Rica National Theater, U.S. and Costa Rican musicians join together for a delightful and inspiring concert dedicated to friendship between the two countries. Award-winning U.S.-based Medical Musical Group's chorale and symphony will perform together with Costa Rica's Coro Voces de Libertad, directed by Carol Guzmán, and the Un...

Friday, November 10, the United States Embassy and Consulate in San José, Costa Rica will be closed in commemoration of the U.S. federal holiday, Veterans Day, In May 1938, this day was set as a commemoration of world peace and to celebrate what was known as Armistice Day, when it was customary to honor the veterans of World War I. "However, in 1954, after the Second World War, its name was ch...

Così, the Boston, Massachusetts-based fast-casual restaurant chain known for its homemade flatbread, opens its eighth eatery in Costa Rica this Friday, November 10. The new Così locale will be inaugurated in the northern San José suburb of Guadalupe, in the canton of Goicoechea, at the Distrito Uno shopping plaza. Situated next to Distrito Uno's new Auto Mercado grocery store, Così in Guadal...

Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Trade Alexander Mora was in Miami, Florida last week for the VII International Banana Congress organized by Costa Rica's Corporación Bananera Nacional (Corbana). Participants spanned those involved in the entire value chain, from production to sale, of the fruit, and included at least 600 representatives from 40 countries. Bananas were one of the products that...

A U.S. citizen by the last name of Krause, who is on the Interpol alert list for sexual abuse crimes in the United States, was turned back Monday, November 6, 2017 after arriving at the Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) outside of San José, Costa Rica. Costa Rican immigration police stationed at the airport saw that Krause's name came up on an Interpol alert list when they did a routi...

The U.S. Embassy in San José, Costa Rica is pleased to announce upcoming outreach sessions in the southern towns of Dominical and Pérez Zeledón. Consular staff will be on hand next week to render routine services and hear inquiries. A special information session in Pérez Zeledón will be held on visas for non-U.S. citizens. To RSVP for passport renewals, notary services, and federal...

A 41-year-old Costa Rican named Navarro Quesada pleaded guilty in the Pennsylvania Western District Court to the crimes of conducting mail fraud and money laundering. Navarro Quesada was arrested in February at the Adolfo Suárez-Barajas airport in Madrid following an alert sent to the International Police (Interpol) by U.S. authorities. The Costa Rican man admitted to having used a website d...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Four words from the 1979 movie-war-classic ‘Apocalypse Now’ are ringing out for real from south-central Texas: “The horror! The horror!” On a typically beautiful, peaceful Sunday morning in Sutherland Springs a lone gunman -- dressed all in black -- parked h...

Southwest Airlines inaugurated a new U.S.-Costa Rica route today to offer daily flights between San José's International airport (SJO) and the Fort Lauderdale International Airport (FLL) in Florida. The first flight for the new service left southern Florida at 11:30 a.m. today, Sunday, November 5, and arrived at the Juan Santamaría airport at 1:28 p.m. Southwest Airlines announced plans for ...

If you've been missing a trusted shoe source, you may be happy to know Keds has opened its doors at the Curridabat (eastern San José) Multiplaza shopping center. The new store has more than 200 shoe style distributed throughout the 50 square meter outlet. "The brand has gone through a renewal. It went from the classic silhouette, which it retains but now with a triple sole, more sporty designs...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Tuesday afternoon the ugly face of radical Islam screamed again “Allahu Akbar” in New York City claiming eight innocent lives and injuring more than a dozen. Police said the male suspect rented a truck in New Jersey and 65 minutes later plowed down pe...

In a video recently uploaded to Facebook, cult leader, Eligio “Nature Boy” Bishop, who has garnered a following of over 42,000 people on Facebook, claims his group of mostly black followers were racially discriminated against by Spirit Airlines who refused to deport the five U.S. citizens last Thursday, October 26, due to their body odor. According to Bishop, things got really real for the cult...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. “Deny everything. Admit to nothing. Maintain plausible deniability at all times.”  This is the new battle cry for former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, former Hillary Clinton presidential campaign chairman, Jon Podesta,...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Fifty-four years ago shots rang out in Dallas claiming the life of beloved U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. To this day questions persist and conspiracy theories run rampant in hundreds of books written by conspiracy theorists. Polls show 62 per...

The Consular Section at U.S. Embassy San Jose announced a Consular Outreach event in Tamarindo that will take place next Thursday, November 2. The notice sent today states: "Embassy staff will be available to accept adult passport renewals, perform notarial services, and take your inquiries on federal benefits and voting. ACS Chief Ben Peracchio and representatives of the Consulate staff will...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  There are some things going on in today’s turbulent political world that simply boggle the mind. Such is the case of Florida’s flamboyant U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson and her “set-up” of President Donald Trump as she listened in on a presidential sympat...

This might be a good time to plan some travel on Southwest, with low fares on dates from now and into 2018. These low fares have been announced between Houston and Costa Rica on Southwest, $144 one-way from Houston-San José, and $173 one-way from San José-Houston. Other low fares are available in and out of Liberia, Costa Rica in the northern Guanacaste province, announced the airline. Pu...

The U.S.-based franchise Buffalo Wild Wings (also known as B-Dubs) announced an interest in setting up shop in Costa Rican market in 2018, and hopes to find some local business partners to get things rolling. Over the past 35 years, B-Dubs has grown steadily and now has a presence in 50 U.S. states. The eatery and sports bar franchise also operates in Canada, Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, th...

Season 3 of T.V. Show “The Bachelor Canada” had some of its episodes filmed in Costa Rica. The season is just starting, at the end of Episode 1 and after saying dismissing five contestants, the bachelor and the remaining 15 bachelorettes set off to Costa Rica. According to information on the W Network site, the cast stayed in luxury vacation rental Casa Bali, located in the gated community o...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. Next week the horror of heroin-opioid-related deaths will finally and formally be recognized as a national health emergency by President Donald Trump in response to the fact the families in the United States of America are losing more than 140 of their sons...

The US Ambassador to Costa Rica, Sharon Day, introduced herself through a video published on Facebook, Day revealed she fell in love with the country during a family trip where she visited the country to enjoy its nature and biodiversity. Day was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas but lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the past 25 years. She has been part of the U.S. Republican party for ...

Representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Belize will analyze the regional anti-gang strategy jointly with specialists from the United States Federal Office of Investigation (FBI), Department of Police Los Angeles, Chicago and Fairfax; and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. This is happening at the Central American Anti-Gang Conference, an important region...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Puerto Rico office is investigating numerous complaints of fraud throughout the U.S. Territory involving the distribution and mishandling of relief supplies following the double-barrel blast from Hurricanes Irma and Maria ...

Timothy Stubbs is an American man from Grand Junction, Colorado who fled to Costa Rica in December of 2015 two weeks before receiving final sentence for tax evasion and failing to file personal and corporate tax returns. According to the evidence that was presented during the case, Stubbs was the owner of National Rebate Fund Inc., an investment fund in Grand Junction which earned over US$7 mil...