The Ministry of Science and Technology (MICIT in Spanish) continues its initiative to support the Smart Community Centers (CECIs) across Costa Rica by donating new equipment and recognizing the efforts of the members of the community who take advantage of them. Vice Minister Keilor Rojas traveled to the CECIs in Siquirres and Limon on Friday with new hardware and certificates of achievement. Th...

Cattle ranchers in Cartago have been finding the slaughtered remains of their prized animals strewn across the fields. Such was the case with Don Vernon Montero Lopez, a dairy farmer from Buenos Aires de Pacayas, who recently set off looking for some of his missing  Holstein cows. He found them crudely slaughtered a few hundred meters away, according to community newspaper Mi Cartago. Rustl...

When the former Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi voluntarily resigned from his post in the face of mounting political pressure last year, many Italian women saw it as sign of hope not only for the future of their nation, but also for their place in society. An in-depth article in the LA Times called it the beginning of the post-bimbo era in Italy. Prior to his turn as Prime Ministe...

The Ministry of Public Safety in Costa Rica has recently been busy policing its own law enforcement agencies. From mass firings to investigations and from suspensions to arrests, the Ministry is weeding out elements that tarnish the reputation of its officers who are sworn to protect and serve. Special Agent in San Carlos Faces Two Investigations On April 18th , an agent from the Office of J...

John Stagikas is a stout man with a pale complexion and shaved head.  He is in his early 30s and is from New England, specifically from the Boston metropolitan area. He is fairly bilingual and owns a villa here in Costa Rica, which he smartly purchased years ago when the price was right. Whenever he is not enjoying his vacation/investment property in Costa Rica, Mr. Stagikas makes a living ...

In tandem with the celebration of World Press Freedom Day, Costa Rica's Ambassador to the United Nations signed the Freedom Online Declaration of the Joint Action for Free Expression on the Internet (PDF) yesterday. Don Eduardo Ulibarri met with Herman Schaper, his counterpart from The Netherlands, and handed him a document stating our nation's position on the matter. The Internet Freedom Coali...

Dumping of agrochemical pesticides and herbicides in the waters of two rivers in Costa Rica this week is suspected to be behind massive slaughters of aquatic life. A number of news media outlets have reported the events, and Fuerza Publica investigators are looking for those responsible. Dead Fish in San Pedro Creek The municipality of San Carlos, one of Costa Rica's most important agricultu...

World Down Syndrome Day was quietly observed in Costa Rica on March 21st with a legislative proposal to advance the rights of people who not only live with this condition, but also need to be protected against discrimination in the workplace. Legislator Elibeth Venegas of the ruling social democrat faction National Liberation (PLN in Spanish) recently introduced a proposal before the National A...

Environmentally-conscious architects from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) are looking to finish their dream project in Costa Rica, and they are turning to social media and crowdfunding to see it come to life. The name of the project is "sLAB Costa Rica: Building a Recycling Center for Nosara", and it is one of the current listings at KickStarter, a crowdfunding web site that is ...

Agents from the Ministry of the Environment (MINAE in Spanish) and the Office of Judicial Investigation (OIJ) are currently in the Palo Verde National Park in Guanacaste, investigating several deer carcasses found tied to trees in the area. The dead deer were found by park rangers and conservation volunteers cleaning up the network of trails through the park, which is located between the Bebedero ...

Costa Rica has the highest cost of living in Central America, a fact that is commonly reflected in the exorbitant fuel prices and the high cost of funeral services and cemetery plots. A gallon of Super Gasoline -93 octane- is almost $6.00, something which prompted the Regulatory Agency of Public Utilities and Services (ARESEP in Spanish) to recently approve a nationwide increase in bus fare...

They are known as zompopas, and they are the bane of all farmers and gardeners in Costa Rica. There are a handful of leaf-cutter ant species in Costa Rica, Atta cephalotes and colombica being the most common. Along with the lovely yiguirros (Turdus grayi), they are one of the species that farmers pay close attention to, since they tend to signal the start of summer or green season in Costa Rica, w...

Back in October of 2011, some of the hardest-working athletes in Costa Rica gathered at the auditorium of the National Rehabilitation Center (CENARE in Spanish) and were sworn in as a National Team to represent our country in the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara. President Laura Chinchilla delivered the oath to the assembled volleyball players and off they went to Mexico. Once in the hist...

Since October 6th of 2011, Costa Rica has been advertised on the pages of publications such as National Geographic, The New Yorker and USA Today about 9 and half million times. The national Tourism Board of Costa Rica (ICT by its acronym in Spanish) is satisfied with the results of the Million Dollar Gift of Happiness campaign, according to a broadcast by news station Radio Reloj 94.3 FM. Ireth...

With a victory over the towering team of Trinidad and Tobago, the Women's National Volleyball Team put Costa Rica in the quarter finals of the NORCECA Volleyball Confederation Olympic Qualification Tournament currently underway in Tijuana, Mexico. There was a clear height advantage for the Caribbean volleyball players of Trinidad on the court, but in the end the Ticas prevailed three sets to o...

These days, with all the governmental turmoil in Costa Rica, some expats and others who want to retire in this part of the world are beginning to take a closer look at Nicaragua and Panama as possibilities, many focusing on the comparative crime rates as a major criterion in their choice. Nicaragua in particular is being promoted as the future “next Costa Rica” because of its supposedly lower crim...

It was a long May Day in which the ruling National Liberation (PLN in Spanish) social democratic party asserted majority over the National Assembly, and the speech of President Laura Chinchilla earlier today was equally lengthy. Over the course of an hour, our President seemed bolstered by the PLN victory over the National Assembly -although it is important to note that a power-sharing agreemen...

Freedom House, a non-profit organization that conducts research and advocacy in matters of democracy, freedom and human rights, today announced its annual Freedom of the Press 2012 reports. According to Freedom House, Costa Rica and Uruguay are the only two countries in Latin America where members of the press enjoy true freedom to carry on their mission to report the news and inform the public. ...

At the 2012 Miss Teen Universe pageant in Managua, Nicaragua, Julissa Castro Cubillo was one of the early favorites. She made a big splash during a fashion event that took place before the finals. Entrepreneur Enrique Gonzalez, who is the main organizer of the event and the current owner of the Miss Teen Universe franchise, mentioned to La Nacion last week that Julissa impressed the audience at th...

If you were not able to attend the first-ever Costa Rica Craft Beer Festival at Avenida Escazu a couple of weekends ago, you certainly missed out on a lot. While everyone hopes that a future iteration of the Craft Beer Festival will yield more master brewers, a greater range of microbrewery products, and greater overall interest in the craft beer scene in Costa Rica, you don't have to wait unti...

The telecommunications sector in Costa Rica will now fall under the purview and oversight of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MICIT), according to a press release by that government agency yesterday. The entity also announced that the National Council of Scientific and Technological Investigations (CONICIT) has a new president. At the National Assembly yesterday, legislators over...

Molecular biologist Carlos Santamaria is a Tico researcher working at the University of Salamanca in Spain. Working with a team of microbiologists, Dr. Santamaria has been investigating several bone marrow specimens, looking for elusive proteins which could be crucial for the development of therapeutic solutions for the treatment of acute myeloblastic leukemia. This type of leukemia is the ...

Many people in Costa Rica will not report to work today in observance of May Day. Government institutions and many commercial establishments will take the day off as well. For labor unions and legislators at the National Assembly, however, today will be a busy day. Elections at the National Assembly in Costa Rica are purely political. They do not involve the vote of the citizenry, only of the l...

Starting on June 24th, 2012, perpetual tourists residing in Guanacaste and the northern zone of Costa Rica will have Panama as a sensible option for a visa run. Copa Airlines will begin flying from the new Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport in Liberia (LIR) directly to Panama. The new route will operate on Thursdays and Sundays, starting in Panama at 9:52 pm and arriving in LIR at 10:23...

Over the next seven years, 120 students -many of them from Sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world in need of careful and strategic development- will be the recipients of a scholarship program designed by the MasterCard Foundation and EARTH University. The students will learn subjects crucial to their communities, such as sustainable agriculture, natural resource management and communi...

After being convicted of the crimes of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, Minor Vargas Calvo could be sentenced to more than 100 years in a federal prison in the United States. As he is 60 years old today, he may not live to see his native Costa Rica again. In the early 21st century, Mr. Vargas was president of the prestigious Deportivo Saprissa, a football team that is c...

Today was the last day for corporations and partnerships registered in Costa Rica to pay the new corporate tax as outlined on Law number 9024, Taxation on Business Entities, which was published by La Gaceta on December 27th, 2011. True to our idiosyncrasy, thousands of Ticos scrambled to make last-minute online payments on Banco de Costa Rica's (BCR) Internet platform especially designed for that ...

All eyes are on May Day or International Worker's Day tomorrow; after all, there will be elections in the National Assembly in Costa Rica and labor unions are planning massive demonstrations. While the importance of May Day must not be overlooked, the UNESCO has declared today, April 30th of 2012, the inaugural International Jazz Day. In observance of this important day, The Costa Rica Star bri...

After a busy Sunday which culminated with a visit to the National Assembly, President Laura Chinchilla was ready to go home and prepare for the week ahead. Traveling on route 27, which connects San Jose with Puerto Caldera in the Pacific Coast, she noticed a road traffic accident near La Sabana. Her security escort tried to push through the accident and take our President home, but she ordered the...

A soldier serving in the United States Army 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) was killed during a "green-on-blue" incident at the Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. Andrew Trevor Britton-Mihalo was born in San Jose, Costa Rica and raised in Simi Valley, Ventura County, California. He was 26 years old and is survived by Jesse Britton, who is also an enlisted non-commissioned officer...

A recent press release issued by Banco Nacional on April 27th announced that its new partnership with American online payments giant PayPal was finalized after months of testing. The partnership will allow both Banco Nacional and PayPal to develop e-commerce payment solutions for small-to-medium business owners in Costa Rica. The most prominent marketing point that Banco Nacional makes on i...

The National Center of Food Distribution (CENADA) in Barreal de Heredia may seem like an unlikely location for a computer classroom. The CENADA is essentially a farmers market on steroids: a place where farmers, brokers, dealers, grocers, wholesalers, and the public converge to negotiate, bargain and otherwise haggle on the prices of produce. Information technology has crept into the vast CENAD...

The final games in the regular season of the Summer Tournament were exciting due to the different permutations that would have allowed the champion Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA) to advance to the semifinals, or Club Sport Cartagines (CSC) to get a new shot at a championship title that has eluded the team since before the middle of the 20th century. Neither LDA or CSC made it past the regular...

On Saturday night in the Cuba Creek district of Limon, officers from Fuerza Publica and members from tactical support units raided a locale known in that Caribbean rural community as a venue for cockfighting and gambling. The officers descended upon the property and surprised about 100 spectators and gamblers. Fuerza Publica rescued 55 gamecocks from the operation, made one arrest, and took dow...

In a recent conversation with Radio Reloj 94.3 FM, the President of the Sea Turtle Conservation Program (PRETOMA in Spanish) explained that the number of Leatherback and Hawksbill sea turtles that massively arrive in Costa Rica during nesting season has been reduced by as much as 90 percent over the last two decades. Costa Rica has a number of measures in place to protect sea turtles, from legi...

Author's note: You can learn more about greenwashing in a previous article in The Costa Rica Star about the Hotel RIU in Guanacaste. Fifteen students and a Spanish teacher from West Richland High School in Illinois are coming to Costa Rica later this year. According to a recent news report in the Olney Daily Mail newspaper, the summer trip is being financed in part by a donation from a farm...

Early rains and precipitation forecasts for the rest of the year will bring instability to the agricultural markets, with uncertainty for farmers and benefits to consumers in a number of produce items. Preliminary reports indicate that May will be a good month for shoppers who flock to the farmers' markets in Costa Rica, and climate change has a lot to do with it. A 2008 study by researchers at...

As you may or may not know The Costa Rica Star, the website you are reading now, is new in the English news media landscape in Costa Rica. Though the founder and people working with the website day to day have been involved with media and internet marketing for many years globally, the platform itself was only founded in December of 2011. I am often asked: why does The Costa Rica Star exist and...

Paseo Colon, Second Avenue and other main streets in San Jose were awash in orange during the morning hours of April 15. Such was the color of the shirts worn by hundreds of cyclists who took to the busy streets of Costa Rica’s capital for an event coordinated by the Embassy of the Netherlands and ChepeCletas, a group dedicated to promoting bicycle culture in Costa Rica. According to event orga...

On Friday night, Australian-born actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson appeared on the long-running Tonight Show with Jay Leno and gave a brief version and opinion of the sordid feud that has played out online between him and Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas. Mr. Gibson specifically made reference to the audio recording that Mr. Eszterhas’ teenage son secretly recorded at the actor’s palatial home ne...