Source: Fuerza Publica A man in a trio of illegal hunters in Costa Rica took aim at members of Fuerza Publica (Costa Rica's national police force) in La Cruz, province of Guanacaste, causing a standoff that culminated in the arrest of two and the escape of one. The officers, however, could not rescue two wild rabbits that the hunters had already killed, gutted and skinned. The incident occu...

When German Alberto Jimenez Paniagua started delivering fruits and vegetables around Nosara seven years ago, he did so in a pickup truck. Then he upgraded to a small “camion” truck, and now he is driving around in an innovative bus, which allows him to expand his route to include Ostional and San Juanillo. Jimenez bought the bus on July 23rd from a man in Nicoya, and just two days later he had ...

The teak wood plantation of Panamerican Woods, located in the mountains of Santo Domingo between Samara and Carrillo Beach, is out of mature trees and has dismissed some of its employees while waiting for more trees to mature. Martin Barquero Perez, manager of the plantation, assured that the project is sustainable and continues but that they will have to wait four or five years for more trees ...

With World Championship dreams. In this way the Samareño Alex "Choco" Gómez, ranked second in national standings in the longboard category, departs to participate in the next World Longboard Championship 2013, organized by the International Surfing Association (ISA) and held in Peru from September 22nd to the 28th. Gómez , who will turn 38 next Monday just as the tournament starts, gives surfin...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on how Costa Rica views the conflict in Syria. Not surprisingly, former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has a somewhat different view of U.S. President Barack Obama's acceptance of a Russian proposal to act as negotiator in the poison gas elimination in Syria. Arias gave the Spanish press an earful Friday. Arias claims it was not just Russia and China ...

Personnel at 45 EBAIS clinics in Montes de Oca, La Union and Curridabat intend to go out on strike Thursday, to protest the transfer of administration from the University of Costa Rica (UCR) to that of Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE). EBAIS are clinics set up by the Social Security system (Caja) and contracted out to private sources for their administration. They attend chronic and routine m...

Deportivo Saprissa remain top of the Costa Rica Primera Division with a game in hand after a 2-1 win at Santos de Guapiles. Midfielder Diego Estrada secured a 30th minute lead for Saprissa, which they held until the half-time break. Three minutes after the restart, Santos levelled the game as Cristan Lagos scored this third goal of the campaign. But the division strugglers could not hold ...

Update: Jamie Panas, a PR Manager from Guinness World Records recently emailed The Costa Rica Star to correct some of the information within this article: "Fees are only incurred if an application needs to be expedited or an organization requests the onsite presence of an adjudicator to verify the record on the spot. Any organization or record hopeful may send their evidence in manually. There is ...

The National Emergency Commission – Comisión Nacional de Emergencia (CNE) – has declared a “green alert” for the areas of Sarapiquí (Caribbean coast), north Pacific and the Central Valley, that is affected by a low pressure system dumping large amounts of rain in those areas. The alert follows a forecast by the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) – national weather service – to expect some 6...

Source: Nature Air Facebook A weighty matter transpired at the Tamarindo Airport on August 19th. Luis Fernando Sanchez, a portly man who tips the scales at 136 kilograms (about 300 lbs) was charged twice the normal airfare on Nature Air, Costa Rica's first carbon-neutral airline. The incident left Mr. Sanchez with a heavy heart, and thus he chose to go public with his story. Mr. Sanchez tol...

A Nicaraguan representative, Carlos Arguello, came before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and formalized the new lawsuit against Colombia to declare the “exact path” of the maritime boundary between the two countries. “This lawsuit is intended finish defining the maritime areas of Nicaragua bordering Colombia in the Caribbean,” the Nicaraguan executive said in a statement. ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The proliferation of corporate parks and free trade zones, coupled with an expectation of increased productivity and upward mobility, are causing people in Costa Rica to yearn for simpler times not long ago. According to a 2013 survey by polling firm Unimer for national newspaper La Nacion, the infamous Tico Times is disappearing and giving way to stress and dissatisf...

Source: Cosechas CR Coming to a fridge near you: Delicious frozen smoothies made from a careful combination of kiwi fruit, watermelon and red grapes mixed in water; or maybe orange, peach and mango mixed with vanilla ice cream or yogurt. Sound familiar? They are beverages designed by the Cosechas chain of Costa Rica. After an explosive growth phase experienced between 2008 and 2012 in Costa...

Three years is the prison sentence handed down to former legislator Maureen Ballestero Vargas (photo right) for personal use on two separate occasions of airplanes from the Ministry of Security. However, the former PLN legislator won’t see a day behind bars. The sentenced was handed down by the judge Hugo Porter of the Tribunal Unipersonal de Hacienda (Ministry of Finance Court), but commuted t...

In Costa Rica, the hammerhead sharks of the Sphyrnidae family are not yet terribly endangered, but conservationists and public officials are proactively moving towards a protective stance. According to online news media site CRHoy.com, steps towards comprehensive conservation of hammerhead sharks are being implemented. Mision Tiburon (Shark Mission), a non-profit organization in Costa Rica that...

Spurred by the closure of the Circunvalación between Hatillo 8 and Pavas, the government has put forth a plan to ease the traffic chaos of San José, with flexible work hours for all government employees. Starting Thursday (19th) all public servants – save for hospital, police and emergency response units like the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) and Bomberos (fire department) – will work from 7am to 3pm, ...

The Costa Rica Star recently reported on how the closure of the Circunvalacion is crippling traffic flow in San Jose during the next 2 months. The high command of the Ministry of Public Works (MOPT) and the highway agency CONAVI have decided to ignore the advice of their own expert engineers and two outside bodies that merely replacing the culverts under the road is inadequate, reported La...

While Costa Rica’s tourism officials spend millions telling the world how “esencial” Costa Rica is, images like the above published in the New York Times have a greater impact. Published on Thursday Sept 5 in the New York Times Travel section, is the story about Santa Teresa’s unpaved roads by Dave Seminara, titled “In a Costa Rican Beach Town, the Road Less Paved”. In the article, S...

The Costa Rica Star previously reported on how the proposed Chinese funded oil refinery clashes with Costa Rica's climate policy. Costa Rica’s legislative assembly is considering a new climate change law introduced by MP Alfonso Pérez Gómez. The proposed law aims to establish the country’s goal of carbon neutrality, reduce the economy’s carbon footprint and improve measuring and reporting sy...

This is a guest article by Sys-Con Media. The Costa Rica Star has previously reported extensively on all areas related to Costa Rica technology and business outsourcing. In our research over the past couple of years, we've looked at 14 countries in Latin America. The three top performers are Chile, Uruguay, and Costa Rica. The first two of these also rank ahead of the United States. Chile also ...

The questions is: How is it that the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Sea Turtle has come back into the Gulf of Fonseca, a species that many scientists considered virtually extinct? The answer to that question, for now, is unknown. This amazing discovery is being investigated by the Scientific Committee of the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles (IAC), which ju...

Stylish Outfit By Stradivarius In recent months, three new stores in Costa Rica have opened their doors to the stylish and tragically hip. Express, Forever 21 and Stradivarius are among the new shopping options for trendy Ticas and fashion-conscious expats wanting to look their best with the latest in clothing and accessories. Although all three stores offer clothes and accessories for both...

Source: Flickr CC When traveling to a foreign country, how much attention do you pay to travel advisories issued by your government? For example, if you follow the news releases published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Costa Rica, you would know that travel to Syria at this time is absolutely not recommended. Costa Rica does not publish travel warnings per se, although officials from...

A Wave Pool in an unrelated Wet and Wild Park Over the last few decades, surfing has been a major attraction for visitors arriving in Costa Rica. The strong sets at Jaco Beach in the Central Pacific and Salsa Brava in the Southern Caribbean will test the skill of board riders, and the clean, smooth conditions often seen at Witch's Rock and other breaks in Guanacaste make Costa Rica a prime sur...

Why do most expats form a corporation (sociedad anonima or S.A.) in Costa Rica? Is it just because attorneys want to make extra legal fees? The truth is that a large percentage of the assets and bank accounts controlled by foreigners are owned by their local corporations that mostly act as holding companies, but is it really necessary? Let’s first look at the pros that would justify creating a ...

The Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica, Anabel Gonzalez, said the Special Economic Zone (EEZ) that China and Costa Rica are implementing in Costa Rica, could be underway “in under a year.” This was stated by Gonzalez in an interview with EFE in Beijing, after inaugurating the Forum ‘Foreign investment and Tourism Opportunities in Costa Rica’. The minister is visiting in China to promote...

Every country has its own anthem. It's a song of pride, unity and strength. It brings neighbors together and reminds them that they're all equals abiding by the same set of rules and guidelines. It's mark, a highly esteemed symbol of identity, unique to every country in message and origin, particularly Costa Rica's. In the mid 19th Century, ambassadors from Great Britain and the United States a...

The National Federation of the Fisheries Sector (FENAPES) and the Costa Rican Fisheries Federation (FECOP), launched a campaign to collect signatures to back a proposal to regulate tuna fishing with purse-seine nets in the first 370 nautical miles (662 km) of Costa Rica’s territorial waters. Under the concept of “Costa Rican Tuna for Costa Rican Fishers”, the Office of the President of the Repu...

Dressed in white gloves, pants in the style of the Prince of Wales and a cap with a gold Costa Rica coat of arms, tailored by Marlow White, who has been making uniforms for the US Armed Forces since 1879, is the Guardia de Honor (Honour Guard of Costa Rica). The special unit is made of 40 men and women of the Fuerza Pública (police) that have been for the past decade the special escort of the P...

Source: Zoo Ave Officials from the Zoo Ave Wildlife Rescue Center in Costa Rica are hopeful that a rare Puma yagouaroundi that was struck on a highway by a vehicle will fully recover. According to daily tabloid La Teja, the small wild cat was found in Pilas de Canjel, in the Lepanto community of the province of Puntarenas. This town is located on the shores of the Gulf of Nicoya, near the s...

Source: OVSICOR As the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica reawakens from a two-year slumber, digital photographers are rushing to capture stunning pictures of the spectacular steam column, vapor trails and overall beauty of the prettiest colossus in our country. Most of these photographs, however, are not being taken with expensive digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) equipment; instead, they ar...

We are starting a new article series as of today (1 hour from now), sharing songs and music videos that inspire us. Enjoy. Happy Music Monday, and you can expect many more selections in the coming weeks and months, each Monday morning. If you want to suggest some music for this article series, contact us. Turn it up loud. Pow! *Hero cookie if you can make it through this playlist without gettin...

Child at the Independence Day parade in Jacó, Costa Rica.A friend of mine invited me to some big parade that was going on today here in town so I decided to check it out. Did not know until the last minute that it was to celebrate Independence for Central America! Very cool. While I am pretty easily entertained, this was going to be something substantial to see, so I was pretty excited to wa...

Source: Wikimedia Commons From May 1932 to February 1933, Beatriz Zamora Lopez de Jimenez Oreamuno graced Costa Rica as an elegant First Lady, fluent in the English and French languages and very attuned to cultural, political and historical matters that she learned as an autodidact. She had a sordid past, however, one that the crude Central American aristocracy of the time constantly chastised...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The cold-blooded murder of an Asian man in Downtown San Jose is renewing fears that Chinese Triads and other Asian organized crime groups might be increasing their presence in Costa Rica. According to a press release by the Judicial Investigation Organization (Spanish initials: OIJ), agents on duty responded to an incident in a coin-operated gambling machine establ...

Source: ANDRÉS GARITA, La Nacion It has been 192 years since the final defeat of the Spanish in the Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821) when the authorities in Guatemala declared the independence of all of Central America. And so now, every year a flaming torch is carried from Guatemala starting on Sept. 11 all the way to the former colonial capital of Costa Rica in Cartago, symbolizing th...

Bank customers who do not update (actualicen in Spanish) their personal information with their local bank, within the next three months, could face possible closing of their accounts. The Asociación Bancaria Costarricense (ABC) – Costa Rican banking association – is asking customers of public and private banks to update as soon possible. The measure is in prevention of bank fraud, money lau...

The Costa Rica Star previously published about a group of people trying to pass legislation for medical marijuana in Costa Rica and the amount of marijuana consumed around the republic. In a surprising turn in the presidential election campaign, both Jose Maria Villalta of the Wide Front party and Otto Guevara of the Libertarian Movement came out in support for medical marijuana legalization in...

It appears that the Cartago municipality is suffering from MOPT-Conavi disease. A sinkhole developed suddenly on one of the old capital's busiest streets near Colegio Universitario de Cartago after a truck had passed over it Thursday morning. The 10-meter wide by two meters deep yawning hole was apparently caused by the collapse of antique storm drain pipes plugged by garbage -- the same situat...

Starting on Monday, September 16, the vehicular restrictions of San José will be four license plates, two with full restriction on one day, and two with partial restrictions the following day. As has been for some time each week in San Jose, vehicles with license plates ending in 1 & 2 are restricted from circulating in San José between 6am and 7pm; on Tuesdays plates ending in 3 & 4; Wednesday...