Don't forget to read all of the articles published about Paul Watson on The Costa Rica Star. Radical ecologist, founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Captain Paul Watson, made an online statement Tuesday, claiming his innocence on charges of being an ocean marauder who'll do everything to stop whaling. “After 35 years of intervening against illegal whalers, seale...

The Worldwatch Institute and the INCAE Business School's Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development (CLACDS) are co-hosting two workshops on "The Way Forward for Renewable Energy in Central America" in Managua, Nicaragua and Alajuela, Costa Rica tomorrow and on September 3, respectively. The participative dialogues aim to promote the exchange of ideas and experie...

This article published by the UK Embassy in Costa Rica. The Odyssey 2050 youth oriented climate change film sponsored by the British Embassy and produced by Synchro Studios here in Costa Rica will be making its world premier on September 26th at the Franklin Chang Diaz building of the National Center For Advanced Technology (CeNAT) located in Pavas. The Odyssey 2050project was declared ...

In spite of protection measures by the Guatemalan Government, many children are still victims of sexual exploitation and forced labour, a United Nations independent expert warned today. “Many children are still victims of sexual exploitation and forced labour in Guatemala despite the laudable efforts carried out to prevent and combat the sale of children for illegal adoption,” said the Spec...

A US family that has spent the past 23 months on an odyssey through the treacherous terrain of Nicaragua’s legal system hopes the adventure will end soon, with Jason Puracal’s safe return home to Tacoma, Washington. Puracal, 35, a former US Peace Corps volunteer and beachfront realtor in Nicaragua, could be acquitted by an appeals court by the end of this week. That would conclude nearly tw...

The Sea Turtle Restoration Programme (Pretoma) and the Citizen Action Party (PAC) requested the Ministry of Foreign Trade (Comex) to ban the entry of shark fins from Nicaragua. According to reports provided by the Costa Rican Institute of Fishing and Aquaculture (Incopesca), between June, 2011 and July, 2012 about 500 kilograms of dried shark fins entered Costa Rican public piers from Nicar...

Don't forget to check out all of the previous articles published by The Costa Rica Star on Samsung mobile products in Costa Rica! EVENT: 80′s AWESOME FEST! WHEN: September 8th – 4:00pm WHERE: Estadio Saprissa, San José, Costa Rica If you ever wish you grew up in the 80′s… you will have one night to experience (or re-live) those good old days. Samsung presents Costa Rica with a blas...

A group of 20 public and private trade organization representatives from Costa Rica toured Port Everglades in Hollywood, Fla., last week, to observe the port's operations and facilities, and learn about its expansion plans. Costa Rica ranks as the port’s second-largest export and third-largest import trading partner, accounting for about 50,000 20-foot equivalent units, or 76 percent of Fl...

Mexican archaeologists discovered a nearly 2,000-year-old sculpture of a jaguar in the Izapa archaeological zone, the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, said in a communique. The one-ton piece - which measures 1.38 meters (53 inches) long by 87 centimeters (34 inches) high and 52 centimeters (20.5 inches) wide - "is only engraved on one of its sides with the form of a jag...

A group of US archaeologists may have uncovered a section of hull and coral-covered chests that privateer Henry Morgan lost during his 1671 raid of Panama. The team from Texas State University is led by underwater archaeologist Frederick Hanselmann. He led last year's discovery of cannons at the mouth of the Chagres River that may also have belonged to five ships Morgan is believed to have ...

A drill team with Primero Agua (Water First) returned from Honduras earlier this month. They drilled two wells and completed installing a hand pump in a remote village where, at best, people only have access to water about every three days and for only two hours. That brings the number of wells drilled this year to four, said Jay Quattlebaum, Primero Agua president and co-founder. “The ...

Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos Lopez voiced his country's support for Iran's nuclear program. "We have always supported Iran's peaceful nuclear program and believe that all countries are entitled to peaceful nuclear energy", said Lopez to reporters on the sidelines of the foreign ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran on Wednesday. He further hailed e...

Last year a gay couple returning from a trip to Costa Rica got quite a shock at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport: Luggage handlers had gone through their bags, found a dildo, removed it and taped it to the exterior of their suitcase—so all the passengers could see it as it made its way down the baggage carousel. Bilerico Project’s Michael Hamar, who knows the aggrieved couple well...

Cycling is a great way to get to know the world from a unique perspective. You are close enough to the open road to really experience the place you’re travelling in, but it’s quicker than walking and easier to pack the things you need to keep you going on a long journey. One great cycle ride is the journey from Costa Rica to Panama, which gives cyclists a chance to get to know first had on...

On the weekend of August 25 and 26, Samara filled with athletes from around the country, with about 350 participating in the various disciplines: running, mountain biking and swimming. Although it looked like it might rain, the weather turned out well for the event. A DJ played music while CREAR volunteers sold food to raise funds for their nonprofit educational programs, and local guys k...

The impact of poor dental health is greatest among children in Guatemala. Due to an increased risk of long-term damage from poor dental hygiene as their permanent teeth grow in, children are a critical factor in breaking the cycle of poor dental health. In partnership with Procter & Gamble and their Oral-B brand, Fondo Unido de Guatemala (United Way in Guatemala) is working to improve ...

7 to 10 indigenous runners will stop in Las Cruces for the night Wednesday and the public is invited to receive their prayers and blessings before they continue their journey to Central America. The Peace and Dignity 2012 runners have been running from Alaska and are on their way to the Kuna Nation in Panama. Their spiritual journey takes six months and runners travel on four routes - one g...

The two main El Salvadoran youth gangs along with the El Salvador government have exchanged the main points they wish to discuss in talks aimed at ending two decades of spiraling criminal violence. However, the media here, including legislators and the public at large remain hostile to making deals with criminal gangs. The leaders of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18, the two gangs in ...

A mapping exercise has been launched by the government of Belize as part of a coordinated strategy to address security issues through foreign cooperation according to an official press release issued today. Being mapped-out during the exercise are ongoing programs and planned initiatives that the Government of Belize intends to undertake in the short, medium and long term. The mapping-e...

Volcano Brewing Company just launched a brand new website, check it out! Driving in Costa Rica is definitely a hot topic for many of our guests! Many tourists ask us if it is safe and easy to rent a car in Costa Rica (short answer: yes it is!). We get many locals that live everywhere from San Jose to Manuel Antonio, La Fortuna to Nosara, asking for driving directions and points of inter...

The state run company RACSA has signed a contract with the Swedish company Vía Europa in order to provide optical fiber multiservices, including very high-speed Internet. Under the agreement, the company Vía Europa will construct, operate and maintain the infrastructure for a fiber optic network and manage the services market. The end customer contact will be made by the state run Radi...

President Chinchilla has learned about advances in the digitization of health services from Korean authorities, and urged the Social Security Institute to seek advice on the subject. An opinion piece in Nacion.com details that "after visiting a hospital in Korea, where she could observe the benefits of electronic medical records, President Laura Chinchilla was frankly impatient with the S...

The Caribbean surfer Gilbert Brown has been crowned the 2012 Costa Rica National Surfing champion. Brown secured his third title in front of 6000 surfing enthusiasts, at Playa Hermosa. The Gran Final Reef saw two-meter waves pumping the hearts of the finalists. Anthony Fillingim, Noe Mar McGonagle and Anthony Segura tried to stop Gilbert Brown's domination, but the rider from Puerto Viejo ...

Honduras’s police force are sitting on more than 13,000 outstanding arrest warrants issued over the last six years, highlighting the beleaguered department’s struggle to address soaring crime rates. Honduran police have acted on less than half of the arrest warrants issued since 2007, according to a report by La Tribuna newspaper, with few signs of improvement; 2011 was the police force’s w...

A protected witness at the trial of alleged drug trafficker Henry Fariñas provided grisly details of how Fariñas' organization would smuggle cocaine for Mexican groups like the Familia Michoacana, and ruthlessly dispose of drug mules suspected of stealing the cargo. The witness, a Nicaraguan anti-narcotics officer, testified in court that many Nicaraguan drug mules, used to smuggle small a...

The Panama Canal will implement more sound “Green Building” practices with regards to future constructions in order to improve compatibility with the environment. Green Construction, also known as Sustainable Building, refers to designing building structures using processes and materials that are environmentally responsible and efficient during the life cycle of the building. This concept ...

A strong magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck off the coast of El Salvador followed an hour later by a magnitude-5.4 aftershock, authorities said early Monday. There were no immediate reports of damages or injuries. A tsunami warning was put into effect for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico after the quake struck at 10:37 p.m. Sunday. The warning was late...

A group of suspected cash smugglers posing as journalists who were arrested last week reportedly traveled from Honduras to Nicaragua on several occasions since 2010, prompting an investigation into why Honduran and Nicaraguan authorities failed to apprehend the group. According to a report by El Nuevo Diario, the 18 people arrested in Nicaragua while posing as reporters crossed into Nicarag...

What is garbage for many, can be useful to others; the contaminated plastic which is recycled in Costa Rica is exported to Japan where it is used as raw material to manufacture parts for cars, pipe lines and sleepers from the train tracks. The Foundation Limpianos Nuestros Campos works together with municipalities, to give proper treatment to the packaging of agrochemicals. So far this ...

Odir Jacques resigned as manager of Herediano on Saturday and was immediately replaced by assistant coach and former Costa Rican national team striker Claudio Miguel Jara, the club announced on its website. No reason was given for the resignation of the 66-year-old Brazilian in the three-sentence release issued by the club. Herediano won its CONCACAF Champions League opener, 1-0 over Rea...

Costa Rican President Laura Chincilla celebrated the country’s 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Korea in Seoul on Monday. The relationship between Korea and the Central American country are based around the key elements of education, democracy and human rights, said Chinchilla during her reception. “Fifty years after the inauguration of relations, Korea has won its bet on the fut...

The Guatemalan congress on Thursday bestowed the Order of the Sovereign Congress in the grade of Gran Caballero upon athlete Erick Barrondo, who won the silver medal in the 20-kilometer walk at the 2012 London Olympics. Congressional speaker Gudy Rivera, after presenting the award to the racewalker, expressed his gratitude for the efforts Guatemala’s other athletes who participated in Londo...

Sol de Leon, a Panamanian woman now living in the US lights up when recalling the "incredible" meeting with her extended family in China. Her grandfather Liang Tick Fe left the village of Fa Yen - later renamed Pingshan - on the outskirts of Guangzhou for Panama in 1918 when he was 24, leaving his wife and two sons at home. China was in chaos, ruled by warlords following the overthrow of it...

The 2012 Belize Marketing Summit held August 23 in Belize City represents a “quantum leap forward” for marketing not only for this tiny Caribbean country, but for smaller organisations and developing nations worldwide, summit speaker and Chaa Creek owner Lucy Fleming said today. “It wasn’t so long ago that successful marketing, at least on a global scale, depended on a large budget and usua...

The latest numbers from the US government's Office of Travel and Tourism Industry (OTTI) show that overseas travel by Americans is growing in in all of the eight regions it has identified, with Central America, Middle East and Asia growing the fastest. According to the latest numbers published by the OTTI, a total of 23 million US citizens traveled outside their country during the first fiv...

Nearly two dozen people ran through the night in Spruce Grove to help support children in Nicaragua. The event was a part of The Good Run, spearheaded by Matt Blacklock, who was aiming to run 200 kilometres in 24 hours to raise money to build a school for 1,000 kids in Managua, Nicaragua. Blacklock ran in a Good Run event in the Canadian Rockies back in 2011, and decided to bring the eve...

If the "very good" and "balanced" negotiations between Trinidad and Tobago and Guatemala continue as expected, the two countries should be signing four agreements by December 21, 2012, in time for the change of the Mayan era of 13 Bak'tun or 144,000 days, Guatemalan Ambassador Guisela Godinez Sazo said on Tuesday. The four agreements comprise a reciprocal protection of investments agreement, a...

Note: this content is very detailed, reader discretion is advised. ABSTRACT Humans and other primates exchange sex for resources. In the case of humans, this exchange includes sexual work. There are few previous studies on sex work in San José, Costa Rica that include data on how much is paid for sexual services. We studied the price of female sex work, and how the profits are distribute...

Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA) indicated that in December 2015 the project for wastewater treatment will be completed in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM), despite delays in the execution of the work. Rafael Barboza, director of environmental improvement for the project, said the project has a total cost-to-date of $321 million. Of this amount, $150 million is financed by the Japanese Ban...

A new international agreement between U.S. National Park Service and Costa Rica’s Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservacion will step up cooperation for planning, development, management and operation of protected natural parks and cultural sites. The two agencies will also share information in fire management and control, climate change adaptation, marine protected areas and the developmen...