Photo credit: Humane Society International/Latin America The Zoo technical Diagnosis of Dog Breeding Centers in Costa Rica, an investigation carried out by Mario Torres a student of the School of Zoo Technology of the University of Costa Rica confirms that 75% of the breeding centers registered in the country operate without permits. Torres obtained the date from the National Service of Anim...

Costa Rica is looking to reach 300 days of running in clean energy breaking the mark of 271 days the country achieved during 2015 and 2016. The weather conditions during the first semester of the year and the new energy generation plants will allow the country to surpass its goal of producing energy from 100% renewable sources. In the first five months of this year bunker plants have been us...

Photo Credit: Dr. Pablo Ruiz Turrialba, Poás and Rincón de la Vieja volcanoes have continued to register activity on and off throughout all week, with several eruptions sometimes including ash but mostly consisting in gases and steam. The eruptions registered in Poás volcano are non-explosive but extend for long periods of time presenting internal seismic activity and low frequency tremor that ...

In a ranking created by IESE Business School Center for Globalization and Strategy of the University of Navarra, Spain, denominated “Cities in Motion”, and particularly in the “Smartest City” Index (part of this ranking) San José, Costa Rica ranks in the lower end of the table reaching position 150 among 180 cities. The Cities in Motion Index (CIMI) evaluates a total of 66 indicators divided in...

Celebrations were held throughout Costa Rica yesterday, June 15, in honor of the international tree day, and officials as well as school children were photographed planting trees. Conservationists say that while progress has been made, efforts need to continue. Costa Rica's current forest cover comprises 52 percent of the nation's territory, detailed a report on the country's Monumental Radio s...

Miss Costa Rica 2016's first runner-up, Elena Correa Usuga, was named this week to represent Costa Rica at the 2017 Miss Universe pageant to be held later this year. The Costa Rica pageant director, where candidates are normally judged and a winner selected, announced that no pageant would be held this year, reported Channel 7 TV Teletica. The formal crowning of Correa as Costa Rica's repres...

Costa Rica's Imperial Silver has launched the sale of its beer in the U.S. state of Colorado and the makers of Cerveza Imperial will join hands with statewide water conservation campaigns as part of its larger commitment to environmental sustainability, reported the company to Businesswire. “We have committed to a revolutionary concept of being the world’s first and only ‘water positive’ be...

President Donald Trump announced today he is nominating Florida's Sharon Day as ambassador to Costa Rica, reported the Tampa Bay Times this morning. Day has been a Trump campaign loyalist, appearing at numerous rallies in Florida, and is a key figure in Republican politics, having spoken at last year's Republican National Convention in Cleveland. She has also served as co-chair of the Republ...

The President of the Republic, Luis Guillermo Solis, and now-resigned Minister of Public Works and Transport (MOPT), Carlos Villalta, together with the Executive Director of the National Roadways Council (CONAVI), German Valverde, last week carried out an inspection of National Route N606, the road linking the Inter-American Highway with Monteverde. The windy, bumpy 17.5 kilometer stretch is at...

The Santa Cruz, Guanacaste municipal government swore in a new set of leaders for its environmental commission this week. Representative from 24 local organizations, autonomous institutions, ministries and private sector companies will be coordinating the area's environmental agenda that includes recycling, reforestation, solid waste treatment, and water resource management, among other aspects. ...

Photo Credit: Rio Savegre Costa Rica Christian Lee / Fotografia Back in April costa Rica Costa Rica nominated Savegre River to be recognized as its fourth biosphere reserve, and this Wednesday afternoon the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Program that was meeting in Paris, France, recognize...

A decision this afternoon relating to Uber, Wednesday, June 14, by the Public Transport Council (CTP, its initials in Spanish) and the Public Services Regulatory Authority (Aresep, its initials in Spanish) has taxi drivers planning protests yet again. The authorities said they, "Have no legal competence to block the operation of private transportation ... in the country and that, therefore, the...

Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis will visit the southern Pacific region of Osa tomorrow, June 15, and local residents said they will hold a protest in "defense of the rights of nature and the right of future generations," reported local media today. The peaceful march will begin at 8:30 a.m. leaving the old South Pacific Lyceum and arriving at the Municipality of Osa. The motto of the...

The ADEN Competitiveness Institute places Chile, Costa Rica and Panama in the top three positions when it comes to competitiveness in Latin America. This ranking is done every year since 2010 with the purpose of establishing how the countries in Latin America rank considering ten aspects: 1. Coverage of basic needs 2. Institutional aspects 3. Infrastructure 4. Macroeconomic stability 5. ...

A donation by the United States government of US$1.3 million will turn the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) into an environmental management model, and will allow EARTH University to receive more students from all over the world, said the U.S. Embassy at a ceremony this week. The funds will be used to improve EARTH University's infrastructure and to turn the La Selva Biological Station, a ...

Farmers from a small coffee collective close to Parque Internacional La Amistad remind each other (and visitors) to come off the mountain before dark – because of possible jaguar encounters. Café Britt has partnered with the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica Conservation and Wildlife Management International Institute (ICOMVIS) in a remarkable new “Programa Jaguar”, destined to help save the end...

Last week, as part of a series of actions announced on World Oceans Day, Costa Rica unveiled a new marine protected area on the country’s Pacific coast, contributing to the global goal of protecting at least 10 percent of marine zones before the year 2020, said the United Nations Environment Program. The new protected marine area at Cabo Blanco, with an extension of more than 800 square kilomet...

The International Labor Organization (ILO) places Costa Rica first in the region in reducing labor among children between 5 and 14 years. The 2016 National Household Survey shows 12 thousand fewer underage workers. Costa Rica is committed to continue working to strengthen public policy to decrease child labor and is committed to remaining a regional leader by having the lowest index (1.1 percent)...

Monday, June 12, President Luis Guillermo Solís asked the Minister of Public Works and Transport Carlos Villalta to resign as a result of a domestic violence complaint filed against Villalta, allegedly by his former wife; reported the government press office. President Solís said to Villalta that, as a general principle, the government maintains absolute respect for laws against domestic violen...

As part of the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, the Government of the Republic of Costa Rica last week celebrated the strengthening of ties between the two countries, reported the Foreign Ministry's office. At an activity at the National Theater, presided over by the President of the Republic Luis Guillermo ...

Saturday, police surprised a nervous-looking Italian man at the Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) in Alajuela, Costa Rica. It turns out he was attempt to smuggle cocaine out of the country by carrying it in his stomach. This marks the 17th person to be caught muling drugs this year at the airport, said the Public Security Ministry. Costa Rican Drug Control Police discovered that th...

Researchers from Costa Rica's Tropical Agronomic Research and Teaching Center and the non-profit Conservation International published findings on the impact of climate change in Latin America. Climatic Change magazine's special edition in March, Climate Change Impacts on Ecosystems, Agriculture and Smallholder Farmers in Central America, detailed the negative impacts of climate change in Centra...

On Friday, the Costa Rican tourist board (Canatur, its initials in Spanish) published a statement aimed at unifying canopy business owners and informing them of the legal ambiguities surrounding a recent court decision upholding a Canadian man who has operated the system since the 1990s in Costa Rica patent rights to the canopy technology. Canatur said that a June 15 deadline announced by the l...

To celebrate the recent passage of legislation in Costa Rica regulating humane treatment of animals, the national government together with the municipality of San José held a block party with live music and plenty of fun yesterday on the main Paseo Colón in the capital's downtown. Pets had swimming pools to splash in, their own playground, hydration stations, food bags and snacks, as well as de...

This Sunday, June 11 at 5:42 a.m. the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano in Guanacaste, registered a new eruption, the column was not visible due to the cloudy conditions in the area at this hour. Neighbors of the area were able to capture the vapor in the river product of a small lahar to the North of the volcano.The Penjamo river shows a grayish coloration and a strong sulfur-like odor. The Rincón...

Using a ¨modeling agency¨as front since 2009 several Costa Rican men are suspected of taking photos and videos of underage girls and uploading the material to different child pornography sites, as part of an international child pornography and human trafficking network. The investigation began in 2015 after the mother of a young girl reported the situation. A 36-year-old man with the last names...

When we hear that Costa Rica is rich in biodiversity we usually think about birds, monkeys, felines, even snakes; spiders, however, are probably the last thing to come to mind, yet Costa Rica has more than 1,800 species of spiders, including, one of the most dangerous in the world. The Brazilian Wandering Spider (Genus: Phoneutria) considered one of the most dangerous spiders in the world is mo...

Costa Rican authorities arrested five men suspected of operating in a scam from Costa Rica through a call center operation. Initially Channel 7 news  in Costa Rica informed that the United States police was after the trace of 12 US fugitives and 1 Costa Rican: Donald Harold Dodt, Dino Nastasi, Thomas Sniffen, Sabrina Joy Mommers, Stephen Fink, Jordan Gavin, David Fairchild, Barry Harmelin, Patr...

The Costa Rican Chamber of Industry (CICR) is offering a professional training session on detecting false bills later this month. On Saturday, June 24, 2017, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., those wishing to learn the proper techniques for recognizing false U.S. dollar bills, false Costa Rican colón bills, and/or false Euro bills, can partake in this unique and helpful training. The industry recommend...

The University of Costa Rica (UCR) climbed 60 spots in the QS World University Rankings carried out by Quacquarelli Symonds Limited. “The ranking takes into consideration the institutions’ qualities, from employability of graduates to sports facilities and community engagement using the QS Stars audit which evaluated each institution against over 50 different indicators and and awards universit...

An engaging exposé on first sexual experiences was recently published in Costa Rica's northern regional bilingual news source, La Voz de Guanacaste - The Voice of Guanacaste. The story consists of short, poignant vignettes with sensual photos from a range of voices, including a elderly woman, a rape survivor, a gay man, and others who discuss the sexual taboos they grew up with, and their exper...

Ever have your plans go awry due to the license plate restrictions that limit your movement in and around the downtown San José area? Well, the newly approved traffic regulations, which include stiffer fines for several infractions, and also provisions for cars being ticketed for parking in no-parking areas, also include a perk for eco-friendly vehicles. Vehicles considered eco-friendly - el...

Father’s Day in Costa Rica is celebrated the third Sunday in June, which means this year it falls on June 18. There isn’t a particular tradition when it comes to celebrating Father’s Day, there are as many options as different types of dads. If you are looking to do something different from the traditional family lunch and the usual gifts which generally include, ties, socks or underwear, we...

The reputational risks associated with last year's financial scandals such as the Panama Papers, and the arrests and imprisonment of several high ranking Guatemalan politicians on banking-related corruption charges, are the greatest current threats to Costa Rica's and Central America's banking sector, said analysts at Central America's business strategy magazine, Estrategias y Negocios. The 180...

The Costa Rican Public Security Ministry ordered the deportation of an alleged Salvadoran gang member this week. The effort is part of a national increased policy of expediting deportations of violent or dangerous foreigners, said Gustavo Mata Vega, minister of public security. The El Salvador national, Alfaro Muñoz, 26, was identified as hailing from the La Vega neighborhood of San Salvador...

Costa Rica went up 10 positions in the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) world ranking of meetings tourism, going from position 63 to position 53 among 200 countries. The Costa Rica Minister of Tourism, Mauricio Ventura explained that efforts have been done for the past two years to develop an aggressive strategy that will allow the country to compete in this area of the ...

The Central American Security Commission approved this week a plan against organized crime and for the prevention of violence against women. Representatives of the Central American Integration System (SICA, its initials in Spanish) member countries met to discuss security and foreign affairs this week in San José. The SICA's Central American Security Commission (CSC) approved a technical...

Saturday, June 3 around 2:30 p.m., at the beach Organos, Paquera in Puntarenas, authorities were alerted to the presence of a more than 8-foot long crocodile. Though part of the animal's usual habits, to come out of nearby rivers and roam beaches, the animals do pose an increasing risk to growing numbers of tourists to some beaches. According to the communications department of the fire depa...

If you are a user of the highway between Escazú and Caldera, (Route 27), take into consideration that as of this Thursday, June 8th the payment of the toll fees will increase in 120 colones ($0.21). According to concessionary Globalvia, the raise in the fee obeys to the fluctuation of the exchange rate in the past few weeks. The toll in Escazú will go from 350 to 370 colones for passenger ve...

After spending a month trying to make an appointment at the local public health clinic (EBAIS, is the acronym in Spanish) in Santa Maria de Dota, Delvin Jarquín left a message at health center last Monday, reported Costa Rica's Spanish daily CRHoy.com. He left a sign and put a chain with a padlock around the clinic gate. Between his frustration and then a bad experience his wife and son had at ...