Monday January 24 is the date set by the Instituto Costarricense de Ferrocarriles (Incofer) to begin the San José – Belén commuter train service with a capacity of 300 passengers per trip. The Belén train service was stalled due to the bad winter season in Europer, as the locomotive and cars purchased by the Incofer are still in Spain, waiting for the weather to improve before being shipped. Read Article
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The areas of Saripiqui and Matina in the province of Limón are flooded due to the heavy rains of the last couple of days, causing the Saripiqui and Puerto Viejio rivers to overflow their banks. Read Article
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The lack of a gas station in Monteverde puts at risk residents, hotel operators, taxi drivers and visitors. And a miracle that so far there hasn’t been a major fire or accident resulting from the improper handling and storage of gasoline. The only gas station in Monteverde closed in May of 2008, almost three years […]
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Governments throughout Latin America are ramping up dengue prevention campaigns after 1.5 million people were infected and over 1,000 people in the region died of the disease in 2010. There have already been deaths from dengue fever this year, the most recent one in Perú, where the deaths are exceeding hospital capacity – and it […]
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Former president of Costa Rica, Abel Pacheco (2002-2006), told a U.S. diplomat in 2004 that his government spied on a Venezuela diplomat suspected of holding secret meeting with labour leaders, according to a cable released on Thursday by the Wikileaks website. Former president Abel Pacheco confirmed on Thursday the surveillance by Costa Rica secret police, […]
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Before the end of last year the vehicular restrictions of San José were all day during weekdays. However, starting last week, due to an administrative error, the restrictions when back to the original only mornings and afternoons. The subdirector de Tránsito, Marcelo Morera, explains that an average of 180 tickets a day are handed to […]
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Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced today that a Hyatt affiliate has signed an agreement to manage Hyatt Place San José Pinares, a Hyatt Place hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica. The new property, the second Hyatt Place under development in Latin America, will be part of Momentum Pinares, a mixed use commercial complex being developed on […]
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On Thursday, Nicaragua after a brilliant proposal by its ambassador in The Hauge, Carlos Arguello, in the Isal Calero conflict, finally pulled out its secret weapon to refute Costa Rica’s claims of an invasion: a 1971 map The map is being questioned by Costa Rica. The hearings ended on Thursday and it is expected weeks […]
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The presence of a group of armed men forcibly took possession of the property of foreigners in Drake, causing inhabitants of the area to be in fear. By early Monday, strangers, wearing military clothing (fatigues) and carrying large weapons, entered the field at about 4 am and threatened the caretaker, José Ángel Gómez Jiménez (aka […]
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Only 70 of 1,100 bridges in the national road network could be satisfied with money together for this year MOPT and the National Highway Council (Conavi). It is ¢ 31.283 million to be invested in strengthening beams, replacing tiles, railings or putting inserts improve alignment of damaged bridges. The structures were chosen to address in […]
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The divorce rate shot up in the country during the last decade to last year, an average of 31 daily separations. En el 2001, en cambio, la cifra era de 19 por día. In 2001, however, the figure was 19 per day. While in 2010 there was one divorce for every two new marriages at […]
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More than a million Panamanians are without drinking water for a month, because the December rains affected the water treatment plants that supply the capital city of Panama. According to reports, our neighbors to the south suffered the worst rain in the last 200 years and for the first time in decades, can not drink […]
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Translated Excerpt Q&A in The Hague by Pablo Gamez of Radio Netherland and Renee Castro, Minister of Foreign Relations, Costa Rica January 12, 2011 Question: You are referring to steps that this country is learning to give the light of this difficult situation. In the last few hours we heard the announcement about the creation […]
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Gringos Gone Wild – from Inside Costa Rica When you read this title the first thing that probably comes to mind are young girls engaging in nudity, indecent exposure and other sexual acts on camera like the film “Girls Gone Wild.” The kind of misconduct that that some Americans engage in here is quite different. […]
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It is not uncommon for streets in Costa Rica not to have proper signals and road markings and the reason is a simple one, the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) only spends ¢3 billion colones when it should really be spending up to ¢100 billion. At the current time only 10 percent of […]
Costa Rica is attempting to create an armed conflict with neighboring Nicaragua, Nicaraguan Army spokesman Juan Morales said citing counterintelligence information. Relations between the two countries became tense in November when the Nicaraguan military began widening the waterway in the San Juan River Delta and began establishing a military camp on the disputed Calero Island, […]
Extensive study and images of current situation. PDF’s
Spain’s Telefonica and Mexico’s America Movil have won mobile licences in Costa Rica and are set to become the first competition to the state-owned operator in the country. According to Reuters, the local regulator (Sutel) announced that Telefonica won the most desirable licence on offer with a high bid of US$95 million, while America Movil […]
Nicaragua is working at full speed to complete the dredging of the San Juan river and the construction of a canal, a situation which Costa Rica says is a serious risk of irreversible environmental damage to the area. According to the Nicaraguan daily, La Prensa, the government of Daniel Ortega hopes to have ready by […]
The answer is yes and no, depending on your lifestyle and the amount of your monthly Social Security check. The maximum Social Security benefit depends on the age a worker chooses to retire. For a worker retiring at age 66 in 2010, the amount is $2.346. This figure is based on earnings at the maximum […]
The Hotel Barceló Playa Tambor offered to pay medical expenses incurred by customers affected by diarrhea and vomiting outbreak detected in mid-December. In this way, intended to compensate those who paid for private care and bought medicines to recover. Doris Falconer, spokeswoman for the Grupo Barcelo in Costa Rica, said that people are able to […]
A Cape Coral, Florida, college student is missing after classmates say he got caught in a rip tide off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast while on a study abroad program in Costa Rica with classmates from Oglethorpe University. UPDATE: Oglethorpe University in Atlanta say a student — a man from southwest Florida — is missing after […]
Former president of Costa Rica, Luis Alberto Monge was sedated yesterday in bed trying to relieve the pain in his right shoulder, fractured by slipping on a carpet on the Juan Santamaria Airport. The expresident, 85, slipped after stepping on a rubber mat as he entered from Miami on Monday, said Dr. Clara Lieberman. Read […]
Staff of the security forces detained three individuals suspected of killing 15 lizards (much like the reptile iguana). The discovery was made possible when authorities received an anonymous call. Immediately, the police mounted a roadblock on the road where intercepted the car, a Mitsubishi Nativa black, within which located the 15 iguanas in a pot, […]
Famed chef Gordon Ramsay was covered in petrol and threatened at gunpoint in Costa Rica while conducting an investigation on shark finning as part of Britain’s Channel 4’s Big Fish Fight series. Chef Gordon Ramsay was conducting the investigation for Channel 4’s Big Fish Fight series. (Photo: Gordon Ramsay/FIS) “It is a multibillion dollar industry, […]
French telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent agreed to pay $137 million last week to settle a foreign bribery investigation spearheaded by the U.S. Justice Department over illegal payments made to Costa Rica, Honduras, Taiwan and Malaysia. Former Alcatel officials paid an estimated $9.6 million in bribes to Costa Rican officials, including former President Miguel Angel Rodriguez (1998-2002), […]
Twelve patients are under medical observation to rule out infection acquired after the emergency room where they were, in the Heredia Hospital was flooded with sewage on Sunday. The deputy medical director of St. Vincent de Paul Hospital, Johnny Alfaro Morales, reported that these people are doing exams and studies of bacteremia for the presence […]
The Ministry of Health decided yesterday to reopen the Hotel Barceló Playa Tambor, closed since 20 December, an outbreak of diarrhea and vomiting that sickened more than 200 guests. The lifting of the closure seals made this Monday, said Health Minister Maria Luisa Avila. The decision was taken after receiving the report of Carlos Venegas, […]
The Brooklyn Museum wants to return to Costa Rica several thousand pre-Columbian bowls, above, and other artifacts that have been kept in storage for decades. The national museum there wants the items, but lacks the money to cover packing and shipping. Read Article
Constitutional Court ruling allows US navy ships to enter Costa Rican waters in a joint antidrug operations with the Costa Rican Coast Guard, under the Joint Maritime Agreement in effect since 1999. The agreement permits the United States to enter Costa Rica’s waters and ports preapproved every six months by the Costa Rican legislature. Read […]
The complex and highly touted March 2010 immigration laws that were to go into effect December 2010, as of today, have not been implemented. And, it appears they will not be implemented for a few more months or even on their first anniversary date. Read Article
Cocaine In Toys From Costa Rica Seized in Nicaragua A total of 334 kg of cocaine, which entered Nicaragua hidden in a shipment of candy and toys, was seized during the Christmas weekend, officials said. The cocaine, reportedly from Costa Rica, was seized at the Peñas Blancas border crossing in southern Nicaragua, judicial support director […]
Costa Rica will be the first country in Americas to have the Mitsubishi Motors electric car called iMiEV, according to the local Mitsuubishi distributor, Veinsa. Veinsa’s Ariel Aizenman said Costa Rica was chosen to make this release in the Americas, even first that in the United States because of its environmental record, his concern for […]
While the beaches of Costa Rica were sizzling over the Christmas period, the Central Valley is gripped by a cold spell that is expected to continue for a couple of more days. The strong, cold winds have been bone chilling. Coats, scarves and gloves were the norm for going outside. Evelyn Quirós, of the Instituto […]
It is a tradition for thousands of Costa Ricans and foreigners living in Costa Rica to head for the beaches and resorts, leaving their homes unprotected. A big mistake as crime does not take a holiday. If you are going to leave your neighborhood, if you cannot obtain a live-in-guard and you intend to go […]
A luxury resort hotel on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast has been closed after more than 200 tourists were sickened in repeated outbreaks of stomach flu, authorities said. The closure of the Bracelo Playa Tambor, owned by a Spanish hotel chain, came at the peak of a Christmas season that draws flocks of well-heeled US and […]
Costa Rica’s presidenta, Laura Chinchilla, announced that cables will be placed on the Colorado river to avoid navigation after hours. Although the presidenta was short on the details like the hours of prohibition, she did make it clear that the move is a precautionary measure in the face of a threat by the Nicaraguan army […]
Nicaragua and Costa Rica have accepted Guatemala to work in the meditation process of helping to resolve the border dispute between the two countries. Mexico is to also participate as a meditator. Read Article