SWAT team members in Costa Rica practice rappelling. Source: Fuerza Publica Costa Rica has various characteristics that make her unique: biodiversity, ecotourism, strong democratic roots, a commitment to environmental protection, and the lack of a military force. Costa Rica's constitutional abolishment of the military took place in 1949 after a bloody civil war, and since that time the country h...

I generally do not write op-ed articles, but yesterday Costa Rica has lost a fine man who more than any other, has changed the face of professional law enforcement in Costa Rica. His name is Jorge Rojas Vargas, pictured right, and while I have never met him personally, (or professionally thank God), I would consider it a high honor if someday I might make his acquaintance and shake his hand. He is...

The magnificent Turrialba in April 2012. Source: RSN Geologists from the National Seismology Network (RSN in Spanish) of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) are keeping a close eye on the seismometers located around the Turrialba volcano in the Cartago province, coordinates 10°2′0″N 83°46′0″W. Costa Rica is located in a region known for high seismic and volcanic activity, and to this extent geolo...

Source: MOPT The sizable sinkhole that formed on the General Canas highway has dominated news headlines and caused much consternation for many people in Costa Rica. The affected highway is the most heavily transited in Costa Rica as it connects the populous cities of San Jose and Alajuela, not to mention the busy Juan Santamaria International Airport, travelers heading to the beaches in the Cent...

Source: Wikimedia Commons If conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is a man of his word, he may be visiting Costa Rica as a medical tourist in the future. In 2010, Mr. Limbaugh stated that if the Affordable Care Act legislation passed in the United States, he would come to Costa Rica. A major ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday gave the green light to the legislation some people refer t...

In a recent off-air telephone call with Piers Morgan, the host of a popular news show on cable TV network CNN, Casey Anthony denied that she was relocating to Costa Rica. Ms. Anthony was acquitted of criminal charges related to the death of her daughter Caylee Marie Anthony in 2011, but she has been serving a probation sentence for check fraud in Florida. The rumors surrounding her move to Costa R...

Are you a member of the Atari generation in Costa Rica? Do you remember feeding pesetas or "coras" (anglicism for quarters) into video game machines at Mundo Tico in Cuesta de Moras, Galactica, or the other arcades at the Omni shopping center in downtown San Jose and Centro Colon? Did you catch the premiere of Star Wars at Cine Rex? If your hair is turning gray, or you need reading glasses to sca...

A fishing vessel carrying 120 shark fins was boarded earlier today by the National Coast Guard Service of Costa Rica in the Pacific. The incident occurred in the province of Puntarenas, between Golfito and Punta Burica and not far from Punta Banco. This is the second such arrest made by the Coast Guard this month in the same area. The boarding took place during an observation voyage by patrol boa...

Source: Xbox LIVE Costa Rica Facebook Technology and software giant Microsoft has a lot riding on its Xbox video game ecosystem. The company's Xbox LIVE online multiplayer service runs across several platforms, from the Xbox 360 console to just about every version of Windows from XP onward. The Xbox LIVE global network has about 40 million subscribers, and many of them live in Costa Rica. Tico ...

Source: Sea Shepherd It has been nearly six weeks since Paul Watson was arrested by German authorities based on criminal charges filed by prosecutors in Costa Rica more than 10 years ago. Mr. Watson is the controversial founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the star of Whale Wars, the popular Animal Planet reality television show that follows him and his crew as they disrupt whali...

From July 1st to December 31st, 46 vessels from the United States Coast Guard will be allowed to patrol the waters of Costa Rica and dock at ports in Puntarenas, Guanacaste and Limon. According to digital newspaper El Pais, the resolution was passed by a majority of legislators at the National Assembly on Thursday, and it originated from a request by the U.S. Embassy made to the Ministry of Public...

Enrique Castillo, Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Costa Rica, has issued a formal statement of disapproval with regard to the lightning-fast impeachment of former President Fernando Lugo in Paraguay. Chancellor Castillo was still at the somber Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development with President Laura Chinchilla when the impeachment took place in Paraguay. Cost...

SAN JOSE – The Ministry of Science and Technology in Costa Rica (MICIT in Spanish) is making its leading indicators available in an easy-to-use platform that allows users to manipulate and visualize data at their pleasure. This initiative follows the Open Data format and it provides greater transparency in the governance process. The data in question was previously available in raw format on the ...

June has been a busy month for board culture lovers across the world. On June 20th, surfers in many parts of the world celebrated their favorite activity with special events, and the next day skaters in Detroit gathered to celebrate Emerica's Wild in the Street -an event that stands to symbolize international skateboarding. In Costa Rica, those events will be celebrated this weekend. Internationa...

Earlier this week, legislators at the National Assembly in Costa Rica found consensus on the first debate of the Transit Law makeover. For the most part, they expressed satisfaction with their work. Some legislators and analysts, however, are concerned that a couple of clauses therein may send them back to the drawing board. When legislators introduced a proposal to revamp the Transit Law of Cost...

On June 14th, Costa Rica celebrated World Blood Donor Day with a shortage. The director of the National Blood Bank, Erna Melendez, made the rounds of various media outlets and called upon Ticos to step up their donations, which earlier this year were estimated to be around 150 per day. According to microbiologist Sebastian Molina of the National Blood Bank of Costa Rica, the adequate and sustainab...

Boris Marchegiani The Costa Rica Institute of Tourism (ICT in Spanish), an important government agency, has been inflating tourism figures over the last few months -according to the president of an industry association that represents more than 500 small businesses engaged in the hospitality and entertainment sector. Boris Marchegiani, president of the Association for the Protection of Tourism ...

It was another relaxing grey day, with waist to head-high surf for the FSC 2012 Olympus National Circuit’s second day of the competition event in Jacó. Saturday and Sunday’s event rounded off the fifth of seven weekend surf competitions that will decide who are Costa Rica’s FSC 2012 National Circuit champions in two months. The surfers ripped their boards across the waves and onto the judges’ s...

Here on the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, surfing is a part of culture. It’s a way of life, almost like a religion. And this Saturday church was in session. The overcast skies and cross-shore breeze was a welcomed occurrence for the hundreds of parishioners of the Church of Surf who were sitting on the beach in front of Morgan’s Cove in Jacó on the 16th day of June. The crowds gather...

As part of Costa Rica's initiative to become a carbon-neutral country by 2021, the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) recently announced that 140 megawatts of clean electricity will be delivered to households and businesses by 2015. According to a recent article by Stephan Nielsen of Bloomberg financial media, ICE is committed to producing 100 megawatts of electricity from different wind ...

For the first time in this decade and the second in the 21st century, the sovereign debt of Costa Rica will be put up for auction in the form of global bonds issued in U.S. dollars. According to a report filed by Katia Porzecanski and Adam Williams of Bloomberg Businessweek, the debt issuance could see as much as $4 billion worth of bonds -a lot more than what was initially planned by the former ...

Taiwanese fishing vessels registered in Belize navigate the territorial waters of Costa Rica without the requisite tracking devices in violation of fishing laws. Such were the statements made before the National Assembly earlier this week by Claudio Monge, a legislator from the Civic Action political party -but who mostly acts independently. Mr. Monge added that the executive board of the Fishing...

Football fans in Costa Rica have a new home on the Internet. Goool.cr is an online social network that aims to bring together Tico fans of the world's most popular sport. According to Yariela Novo of digital newspaper Costa Rica Hoy, the idea of creating a dedicated social network for football (or soccer for some anglophone countries) began two years ago. The company behind the network is E-Way, ...

The Costa Rica Star has recently published information about receiving your permanent residency in Costa Rica to avoid border runs, wasting time, and money. Gossip and tabloid media outlets are once again churning up the sticky rumor bowl with regard to Florida resident Casey Anthony and her rumored plans to come to Costa Rica to leave her sordid plans behind once her term of probation conclude...

The Costa Rica Star has recently published information about receiving your permanent residency in Costa Rica to avoid border runs, wasting time, and money. Investigators from the Immigration Service in Costa Rica arrested three individuals suspected of operating a brazen document forgery ring that specialized in fake passports, work permits, residency cards, and even tourist visas to enter the...

The Costa Rica Star has recently published information about receiving your permanent residency in Costa Rica to avoid border runs, wasting time, and money. Author's Note: This article should not be considered legal advice. Readers with questions on the matters explained below should contact attorneys who are in good standing with the Colegio de Abogados de Costa Rica (the National Bar Associat...

The French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs announced yesterday that a high-level government official returned six pre-Columbian artifacts to Ambassador Carlos Bonilla Sandoval for repatriation to Costa Rica. According to an official release by France Diplomatie,  Jean-Paul Balzamo made the return of six ceramic and pottery objects, some made into human and animal shapes. The Agence Fra...

Pictured above is Superman renouncing his American Citizenship in the 900th issue of Action Comics. What would move an American expatriate residing in Costa Rica to renounce his or her citizenship? Would it be FATCA, or the proposed passport restriction on owed taxes? What about a Canadian citizen, could he or she do the same? The questions above come to mind as the co-founder of onli...

The Titanic will sail again, and this time she will not sink, according to a man who could pay for La Caja's public health care system in Costa Rica for the next 6 years or so. Clive Palmer is an Australian magnate whose net worth is estimated at $5.05 billion, according to some financial media circles. Considering that the official exchange rate Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Costa Rica was $...

The National Amusement Park in San Jose, where Tio Conejo and Tio Coyote eagerly wait to entertain families with young children, will soon be the new home of Boomerang, a legendary, massive roller coaster ride built by the Dutch firm Vekoma Rides Manufacturing. Boomerang is a roller coaster that sends daring riders to the highest point of its structure before launching them at a speed nearing 90 ...

Sala Cuarta (Constitutional Hall), Costa Rica's highest court, recently issued a unanimous vote on a decision that essentially orders the government to give protection and render assistance to single mothers. The decision, number 2012-5594, emanated from a case reviewed before the Court in which a single mother was denied economic benefits and assistance by La Caja, our country's public health ...

Author's Note: A previous article in The Costa Rica Star touched on the "Top 10 Things You Should Know Before Moving to Costa Rica." The most important advice on that article bears repeating at this time: "A sensible word of advice for anyone who is planning to move here, or to any other nation for that matter: the worst time to undertake a country relocation is whilst experiencing severe emotion...

Municipal Perez Zeledon was the most consistent team during the regular season of the 2012 Summer Tournament. The Southern Warriors experienced some slight setbacks at the end of the season, but fans mostly chalked it up to the fact that the team had already clinched its ticket to the semifinals, and thus was allowed to relax a bit. Many football fans in Costa Rica thought that Perez Zeledo...

Author’s Note: This is the ninth item in a series of articles that touch on the subject of sustainable practices in Costa Rica. There is a high degree of science, innovation and street smarts involved in sustainability; if you happen to know of a good sustainability tip, please feel free to share it with The Costa Rica Star. A home located on the skirts of Mount Chirripo in the Southern Zon...

Alvaro Cedeno Molinari is the Ambassador of Costa Rica in Japan. He keeps a blog about Conflict Transformation, in which he discusses various topics centered on peaceful conflict resolution. He recently published a series of opinions calling for a strategy to rescue values he believes have been lost in Costa Rica. According to the Ambassador, our country faces a critical loss of values, and he...

For both fighters, it was the best bout of their lives. For fans of boxing, it was a treat. For the judges who scored the fight, it was an unanimous decision. Floyd Mayweather Jr. took the most punishment ever in twelve rounds of boxing, and still managed to come out victorious against a strong and resolute Miguel Angel  Cotto Vasquez, who did not agree with the unanimous decision. The Puer...

Everything was set for "Cannmbio", a group that seeks the legalization of cultivation and personal use of marijuana in Costa Rica, to join in the 2012 Global Marijuana March in solidarity with hundreds of like-minded organizations around the world. The rally was called off, however, at the last minute. According to digital newspaper Costa Rica Hoy, the rally was canceled due to the discover...

There were about 500 people assembled at the induction ceremony of Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz into the Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center. When his name was introduced, a few Ticos in the crowd cheered and waived flags. He then received a greeting from President Laura Chinchilla, who spoke from Costa Rica via a satellite link provided by CNN Espanol: "Costa Rica has been an exc...

The legendary Deportivo Saprissa, a staple of first division football in Costa Rica and one of the top-ranked teams in the CONCACAF, lost unceremoniously in a tight match played against the Asociacion Deportiva Santos at the National Stadium earlier tonight. It was a surprise victory for AD Santos, an otherwise modest team from Guapiles that has played a very solid season in the Summer Tournam...

Bassariscus sumichrasti is a hard-to-spot little mammal that some people consider adorable and others dismiss as a big jungle rat. Those are the opinions of few Ticos, since this mammal is nocturnal, extremely shy, and only inhabits a small area of Costa Rica. What is interesting about cacomistles is that they are extremely dependent on their forest habitat and very sensitive to any environmental ...