Xena, a 4-month-old Labrador, will be the first assistance dog in Costa Rica to help a 7-year-old autistic boy named Aaron adapt better to his surroundings, thanks to a solidarity project undertaken by Spain's Association of Dog-Assisted Therapies, or AIAP. Miguel Angel Signes is one of the instructors in charge of training the canine, and since early this year he has been in Costa Rica wit...

Specialists with the Permanent Contingency Commission (COPECO) are now in Trojes area, in the eastern Honduran department of El Paraíso, to investigate the alleged crash of a meteorite. According to the inhabitants of that region near the border with Nicaragua, a fireball crossed the sky on Saturday night and then they heard a loud explosion. A COPECO statement clarified that no speciali...

Since the beginning of the year El Salvador has registered over 18,000 suspected cases of tropical dengue fever, with 4,800 confirmed, 2,300 hospitalizations and two deaths from the hemorrhagic type that can be fatal. The increasing number of cases pushed authorities to declare a national emergency, launching campaigns throughout the territory to eradicate the principal mosquito vector of d...

More families in Nicaragua will receive this week domestic animals for breeding, seeds and other agricultural inputs by the Food Production Bonus, to keep on reducing malnutrition and poverty, the government said. Official figures guarantee that the Bonus so far, benefited more than 100, 000 women, who are also trained for the job. This time the delivers will take place in the North Atla...

If you would love to spend the rest of your life sailing in idyllic waters and are a citizen of Australia, the US, UK or Canada and a limited list of other countries, Panama could be your destination. Many cruising sailors have reached the San Blas, decided they are already in heaven, and stayed as long as they could. Now that decision has just become easier by a recent act of the Panamanian g...

A new report examines a notorious gunfight in Honduras involving DEA agents, and offers a series of recommendations on how US officials can avoid such incidents in the future. The report from the Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR), a Washington think tank with a left-leaning slant, is titled “Collateral Damage of a Drug War”, and analyzes the events of May 11, 2012, in the commu...

Luxe Lounge is located adjacent to Tienda Play, San Rafael Escazú. Luxe Lounge is a new standard for innovative nightlife in Costa Rica. The first of its kind Luxe Lounge flaunts its size and scale at first glance with an expansive main room area featuring extensive floor to ceiling high-techery. A quick skip up a step opens to a pre-Castro era Cuban inspired outdoor terrace replet...

In the past The Costa Rica Star published an article about the oldest man in Costa Rica current living at 112 years old. Blue Zones are geographic areas with high concentrations of the world’s longest-lived people. The term was coined by journalist and explorer Dan Buettner, who, in partnership with longevity researchers, has spent the last decade traveling to the healthiest corners of the ...

Costa Rica exploded onto the adventure sports map in the last decade with its world-class surfing, sport fishing, river rafting, and motorcycle trails. Tourists from around the globe journeyed down to this safe, stable Central American country to experience the warm ocean waters, the unmatched biodiversity of the rain forests and the adventure possibilities this generous country has to offer....

Costa Rican boxer Alejandro "Timon" Martinez, who went into a coma after a fight in Mexico in 2009, passed away late Saturday night in his native Costa Rica. According to his family, Martinez died of pneumonia, ending his life at age 27. Martinez spent three years in a coma after taking a beating in his fight against former IBF super flyweight champion Juan Alberto "Topo" Rosas, in July of ...

There’s plenty of reasons why you may be considering making the move to Nicaragua. You may have been transferred there by your employer. You may be seeking a vacation home property along the coast. California beachfront properties are beyond your budget and Nicaragua offers you the same coastline but at bargain prices. Perhaps you are ready to retire, or close to retirement and you want t...

A new scientific survey has returned with good news for one of the ocean’s most loveable creatures – the endangered Antillean manatee is making a comeback in its Belizean home waters. An Oceanic Society team led by Dr Holly Edwards spotted a record number of manatees during an aerial survey over Belize’s Turneffe Atoll. Combined with results from a coastal survey undertaken by Belize’s Coas...

A Taiwanese company denied Thursday that it had sent a shipment of cocaine paste to Guatemala under the guise of its legitimate product, UV glazing oil. Heyio Enterprise said that the cocaine paste seized Monday by Guatemala's anti-narcotics officers must have been substituted for its ultraviolet glazing oil shipment en route to Puerto Quetzal. In a statement issued earlier in the day, t...

The Costa Rica Star has previously reported on Spider Monkeys in Costa Rica. The sharp decline in the population of Costa Rican spider monkeys, classified in about 70% between 1995 and 2007 by biologists from the University of Costa Rica, was the main motivation for a couple of Americans to began a rehabilitation project that will allow monkeys to return to their natural habitat. Spider ...

The announcement made by the United States about the possible use of surveillance blimps, similar to those being used on the battlefield in Afghanistan, in the border with Mexico hits the newspapers' headlines on Wednesday. According to the news released by The Wall Street Journal, Washington will decide in the next few weeks the use of the battlefield blimps to prevent the crossing of undo...

A U.S. citizen serving a 22-year prison sentence in Nicaragua for drug trafficking and money laundering, who a United Nations group has said was wrongly convicted, appeared in court on Thursday for the start of a long-awaited appeals proceeding. In a brief statement before the court, Jason Puracal maintained his innocence, saying he hoped justice would prevail. Puracal, 35, was detained ...

The Policia Nacional del Salvador has gone live with Tiburon's DispatchNow computer-aided dispatch and mobile communications solution. The El Salvador system is an enterprise solution with 109 call-taking & dispatch positions distributed across 1 main center and 13 remote dispatch sites, all using the DispatchNow application. The solution also includes over 350 mobile applications running o...

Costa Rica and China congratulated one another on progress in their five-year relationship, with the addition of several cooperation agreements during the visit to this country of President Laura Chinchilla. The agreement to develop these connections transpired at a meeting held by the President of the Latin American country with Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, at the beginning of an activity w...

Bringing together writers, thinkers, communicators, and teachers of international level to promote the development of artistic talent and celebrate the Mesoamerican letters is the objective of the 7th Mesoamerican Writing-Culture Meeting, organized by the Faculty of Letters of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and PROMESA Publishing House. 
On August 30 and 31st, the Faculty of Letters and...

McDonald's restaurants in El Salvador may have to cover up their trademark golden arches if the world's biggest burger chain fails to make a payment related to a long-running contract dispute in the country, a court said on Thursday. The brand blackout would occur if McDonald's fails to pay $US23.9 million to a former franchise owner, although the court has yet to set a date for when the co...

The Nicaragua Icaro Film Festival 2012 opened yesterday and will run until February 22 with exhibitions, creative workshops and audiovisual competitions in view of the Central American event by the same name. The festival, which has been held for 15 years, will be led by 26 Nicaraguan films to be evaluated by a jury which includes the Spanish Felix Zurita, the Salvadoran Marcela Zamora and ...

A Guatemalan police officer was arrested on charges of holding a 14-year-old girl as a sex slave for months, authorities said Friday. Marvin Florian, 40, was taken into custody on Thursday by personnel from the internal affairs unit, the national police said in a statement. The officer, who is accused of rape and torture, paid off the girl's mother to keep quiet about the arrangement, ac...

A group of women living in a remote Costa Rican village decided that they were tired of working their fingers to the bone every day. Instead, they became artists. An exhibit of their work will be on view now through Sept. 30 in the Beverly Corcoran Memorial Gallery in the Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium lobby. A public opening reception will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday. The exhibit is coordin...

In the first 7 months of 2012 revenue increased by 11.3%, but government spending continues to increase at a rate of 9.6% growth, just below the 10.4% recorded in the same period in 2011. A statement from the Ministry of Finance of Costa Rica reads: -The fiscal deficit persists despite efforts to increase revenue and reduce expenses. -Eurobonds are still a necessary source of fundin...

A humanitarian mission to Costa Rica has changed Theresa Kologe's life forever, the Indian River State College nursing student said. Kologe, 37, was one of seven students to make the trip to La Carpio, a neighborhood of 36,000 refugees from Nicaragua and other Central American countries who have been allowed to homestead in the area. Kologe, a Port St. Lucie resident, said families live ...

A hybrid military-police task force has been put in charge of providing security in Honduras' embattled northern province of Colon, home to strategic drug smuggling corridors and a violent land conflict. The Xatruch III Task Force, comprised of both military and law enforcement elements, assumed control over security in Colon on August 15, Proceso reports. Daniel Molina, official spokespers...

In the U.S. the number of people over 12 years old who use drugs increased from 5.8% in 1991-93 to 8.9% in 2008. In Mexico the war on drugs has killed over 50,000 people over the past 5 years. Juan Carlos Hidalgo wrote an article for Nacion.com in February 2012. His approach, denouncing the harmful effects of drug prohibition, was based on a proposal by the President of Guatemala, Otto Pe...

The National Institute for the Promotion of Competition (Procompetencia) has stated that there is an agreement between banks to fix interest rates on credit cards. The Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) of Nicaragua annulled the resolutions issued by Procompetencia against the practice, considered by the watchdog as abusive against consumers. An article in Laprensa.com reviewed the situation...

A new, in-depth report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and Rights Action has found glaring inconsistencies in the accounts of what occurred on May 11, 2012, when four people were shot and killed in a DEA-related counternarcotics operation in the Moskitia region of Honduras. The report notes that while U.S. State Department officials have stated that the U.S. Drug Enforc...

Both consumption and supply of these types of cheese has increased in recent years. Adrian Alonso, director of operations for the Auto Mercado supermarket chain shares the vision of gourmet cheese producers, like Maritza Solano of Santa Cruz de Turrialba and Miguel Coronado Guard on the increased consumption of specialty cheese by Costa Ricans. "Adrian Alonso, attributes it to new tren...

The lush national parks of Costa Rica have long attracted tourists from around the globe with their evergreen rainforests, white beaches and thermal springs. Recently, they have lured more unsavory visitors in the form of drug traffickers. Organized crime cartels have turned to Costa Rica's treasured nature reserves as governments wage military offensives against the gangs throughout Mexico...

Central America’s energy matrix contains an increased amount of hydrocarbon based generation, while the regional interconnection promises to reduce costs through economies of scale. In the past two decades Central America has not been too successful in achieving sufficient electricity generation with a stable supply at competitive prices. The regional matrix generation has changed from ...

Honduran Foreign Minister Arturo Corrales said Monday that the country is cooperating with the United States investigation into allegations that the new national police chief once ran a death squad and that no US funds are being handled by the police chief. It wasn’t clear what police units would be affected by what the Honduran government called a temporary hold on funds while a US group l...

Officials in Guatemala claimed that a seizure of a large shipment of cocaine paste is evidence that the Central American country is increasingly becoming a cocaine processing hub. On August 13, authorities in Guatemala's largest Pacific Ocean port discovered 80 barrels of cocaine paste in a shipping container. The container was registered to a company from Guatemala City and was supposed to...

Nicaragua on Wesdnesday accused Colombia and Costa Rica of wanting to appropriate Nicaraguan territory. Land ownership disputes continued when Nicaraguan agent Carlos Arguello presented a claim Wednesday to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Colombia and Costa Rica wanted to "own" the Inter-Oceanic Nicaragua Canal by any means possible. "The claims of Colombia and Costa Rica h...

The Latin American & Caribbean Tyre Expo recently concluded at the Atlapa Convention Center in Panama City, Republic of Panama. This year more than 3,000 tire dealers visited from over 80 countries, and more than 200 exhibitors participated from around the globe. Exhibiting companies included Sailun Tires, Triangle Tire, Bridgestone Tire Costa Rica, Tiremaxx International Corp.-Maxxis Ti...

Carlos Munoz and Lucia Martino have taken the 2012 Airwalk Lacanau Pro Junior, at the main break of La Grande Plage in Lacanau. Clean 3-4ft surf saw Carlos Munoz opening his wave count with an excellent 8.67 and backing it up quickly with a 7.17 to take the heat lead, which he never then let go. The flying Costa Rican left without pressure, started building momentum and found the best wa...

Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla arrived in Beijing to continue her official visit to China where she is expected to participate in a business forum on Wednesday and hold talks with President Hu Jintao on Thursday. Chinchilla completed the first period of her program in Shanghai, where she was welcomed by Mayor Han Zheng and made a call for increased economic ties. In that city, she a...

A two-month delay in the arrival of doses that are part of basic vaccination has about 12 000 not immunized children in Costa Rica, reported nacion.com website The website cited as source the director of health surveillance, Maria Ethel Trejos, who confirmed that the problem is attributed to a delay in the administrative process and the purchase by the Ministry of Health. The shortfall w...

Not many Boy Scouts achieve the honor of being an Eagle Scout. When Chase Hughes traveled to San Ramon, Costa Rica, to deliver hygiene kits to a Mormon mission there, he was on his way to achieving that lifelong goal. “I want to be remembered as a hard worker and a good student and citizen,” said Hughes, 15, who will celebrate his new rank at the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sai...