Floridian native Robert Allen Wright has spent the last twelve years living as a Costa Rican, after having stolen the identity of Costa Rican, Jose Humberto Howell Brokke. Wright (50 years old), managed to marry a naturalized Costa Rican named Gloria Patricia Hernandez Navaez, and they had one child together. Navaez is originally from Colombia. She and Wright were working together in their own rea...

Today Costa Rica has 113 confirmed cases of coronavirus COVID-19, ranging in age from 2-87 years old. 46 are women, 67 are men, 104 are Costa Rican, and 7 are foreigners. Two men have died. 951 people have been dismissed as not having the virus. Costa Rica has been under a National Emergency since Monday, March 16th. How do you know if you have the deadly virus? According to the Mayo Clinic ...

Costa Rica, like the rest of the world, is in a full-blown war against the coronavirus COVID-19. Officials are making every effort possible to prevent this deadly virus from entering the country, and from spreading within its borders. There have been 50 confirmed cases of infection in Costa Rica. The virus first arrived via two American tourists who visited asymptomatic in early March. They quickl...

So far in Costa Rica we have had 35 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and we were the first Central American country to report the coronavirus, brought in by an American tourist couple. We have had no deaths so far (unlike Panama), but are ramping up for a possible tsunami of COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks. Does Canada have a coronavirus vaccine being developed today? Worldwide, COVID-19 has sic...

As of 6PM Thursday, March 12th, there were 23 confirmed cases of coronavirus COVID-19 in Costa Rica up from 22 on Wednesday the 11th. Authorities assured that they were prepared for a surge in that number, as has happened in other countries, Italy being a comparable small country with a well-developed medical system. Doctors, nurses and hospitals were standing by. Then the World Health Organizatio...

At 6PM Sunday night, the Government of Costa Rica announced it had declared a Yellow Alert for the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus. As of that time, the Ministry of Health declared nine confirmed cases of COVID-19 caused by the coronavirus, and 34 suspected cases. Of those confirmed cases, three are Americans, and six are Costa Ricans. This is an increase of five cases, just since Satur...

On Thursday, March 5th, Costa Rica reported its first suspected case of the coronavirus. A 52-year old Costa Rican woman from Pococi, Limon, returned on Tuesday from a family vacation to Italy and Tunisia, and began to experience symptoms of the virus on Thursday. Later that same day, her 47-year old niece also began to experience symptoms, causing the entire family to self-quarantine while they a...

A 52-year old Costa Rican woman has now been confirmed as the first person in the country suspected of having the coronavirus, or COVID-19. The woman is a resident of Pococi, and has recently returned from travel in Italy and Tunisia. She returned to Costa Rica on February 29, and soon thereafter manifested the symptoms of COVID-19, or perhaps a similar virus. Her first test for the coronavirus...

When the call came into the police precinct in Panama City, Prosecutor Rafael Baloyes groaned: another group of indigenous, newly wandered across the Costa Rica-Panama border, and already in trouble. What his men discovered once they hacked their way through the jungle to the tribe’s encampment was nothing like any of them had ever seen. They found an outdoor torture chamber, within the chapel gro...

In January 2020, a quartet of Tico microbiologists of University of Costa Rica (UCR) announced in the Journal of Entomology, that after an absence of decades, bed bugs are definitely back in Costa Rica. Horrors. Who even remembers what they look like? Bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed, before they feed. They usually feed at night, and always on human or animal blood. After ten or so mi...

On Monday, the Costa Rican Minister of Health announced that he has activated protocols to combat the new coronavirus, known internationally as COVID-19. The virus has appeared so far in countries such as China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Iran, United States, Canada and Italy. The first Latin American COVID-19 patient was identified on Monday, a Brazilian who contracted the virus in Italy. Ther...

Policia de Control de Drogas (PCD), a drug interdiction arm of the Ministry of Security, not unlike the US DEA, made the biggest drug bust in the history of Costa Rica. The operation took place on February 14th, but there was so much cocaine to process that it took them all night to examine and count. A shipping container vessel was searched in the Port of Moin, and almost six tons of cocaine were...

At about 5PM Saturday night, the word came from neighbors of missing American Tandra Joy Thorbeck, that they had discovered the remains of what they thought was Thorbeck, within walking distance of her home. The body was accompanied by personal belongings of hers, making it more likely that they had indeed found Tandra’s final resting spot. The remains were found on a side road perpendicular to th...

It reminds you of an American TV crime show. WHO TOOK TANDRA THORNBECK? Tandra is a friendly 72-year old retired American living in Matasanos, Perez Zeledon. She bakes. She works at the farmer’s market and does pet and house sitting for other Americans. She lives near her brother Casey, and his wife and son. She has a lovely smile and chats with everyone on the bus and at the feria. She could be ...

People have said that the best feria (farmers’ market) in Costa Rica is the Feria del Agricultor, in Perez Zeledon, or San Isidro de El General. The feria has row after row of amazing fruits and vegetables, all crisp and fresh, and right off the farm, for delicious/healthy eating. On Friday, February 7th, the last booth on the left was missing a kind familiar face: Tandra Joy Thorbeck, an American...

This is the fifth installment of The Costa Rica Star’s exclusives six part original series of the upcoming book, “Drug Diva”, by Carol Vaughn the story of one of Central America’s fiercest female narco-traffickers, Cristel Gomez Espinoza. You can read our previous published first installment here , the second installment here third installment here and fourth here. Cristel Yariella Gomez Espino...

This is the fourth installment of The Costa Rica Star’s exclusives six part original series of the upcoming book, “Drug Diva”, by Carol Vaughn the story of one of Central America’s fiercest female narco-traffickers, Cristel Gomez Espinoza. You can read our previous published first installment here , the second installment here and the third here. Mexican beauty Sandra Avila Beltran was having c...

The first witness to testify on Monday, January 27th, at the murder trial of Bismark Espinoza Martinez, accused killer of Venezuelan/American tourist Carla Stefaniak, was the cleaning lady at the hotel where Carla was killed, Karla Gonzalez. Both Gonzalez and Espinoza were employees at Villas Le Mas in Escazu. Karla’s best friend, Veronica Espinoza, is Bismark’s mother, and had recommended him for...

Costa Rica recently was reclassified from a Level 1 country (Take normal security precautions), to a Level 2 country (Take greater security precautions), for the year 2020. Other Level 2 countries include Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. This reclassification came as a huge surprise to Costa Rican government officials, who boast of a reduction in crimes – especially vi...

This is the second installment of The Costa Rica Star’s exclusives six part original series of the upcoming book, “Drug Diva”, by Carol Vaughn, scheduled to be released towards the end of the year. You can read the first instalment here Cristel Yariella Gomez Espinoza, aka, La Reina del Sur de Costa Rica, was born into narco aristocracy Her father, brother, uncle, husband, boyfriends and other...

Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again – and expecting different results.” This week Costa Rica’s Justice Department and Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ), announced through press releases and wanted posters that they are once again on the hunt for the American widow of John Felix Bender where they are looking at putting her on trial for the 4th...

The Costa Rica Star will be publishing an original exclusive six part series from the upcoming book "Drug Diva", by Star reporter Carol Vaughn, author of "Crazy Jungle Love". These sneak-preview excerpts document the astonishing saga of Cristel Gomez Espinoza, one of Central America's most dangerous and powerful drug capos. Look for the entire book to be released at the end of 2020. Tuesday, A...

The Star reported in May 2019 on the emergence of “Drug Subs”, semi-submersibles that are tooling the waters between Colombia and Costa Rica, bringing tons of cocaine en route to the USA. US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officials expressed concern that the number of drug subs was increasing, and in fact, it was reported in December that eight subs had been either abandoned on the beach in Costa R...

Orchid poachers are called “Materos”, from the word matas, or plants, and they operate in Costa Rica much like drug dealers, with similar profits. They live under the radar, changing their phone numbers frequently, and going into the most remote and dangerous areas of Costa Rica’s rain forests and jungles, in pursuit of rare and exotic orchids to sell on the black market. Orchid collectors’ obsess...

Coffee has been a motor for economic development in Costa Rica – now it will become one of its national symbols. The symbols we are already familiar with are: the Costa Rica flag, the national shield, the oxcart, the orchid (La Guaria Morada), the national bird (El Yiguirro), the Arbol de Guanacaste tree, and of course the national slogan “PURA VIDA”. Now, the “grano de oro” (grain of gold) will j...

People were gobsmacked when they read that two American citizens caught smuggling over $644 thousand in cash through Juan Santamaria Airport were set free – after only 12 hours. Collin Skees (25) and Benjamin Howze (41) were detained on November 28, upon their arrival at SJO in Alajuela. They had the cash in their carry-on luggage. Drug-sniffing dogs detected cocaine residue on the money, which wa...

Costa Rica has cultivated a reputation as a medical tourism mecca. Patients come from all over the world to take advantage of the highly trained medical teams operating in Costa Rican hospitals, at prices often lower than in other countries. Now there’s a return of a problem first discovered in 2017: illegal organ trafficking. The illegal organ trafficking business was first brought to light tw...

A small religious cult calling themselves “Carbon Nation” have now been thrown out of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and on December 5th, out of Panama, for endangering and threatening the national security of those three countries. They were most recently operating in San Carlos province, in western Panama, 75 kilometers from Panama City. Their Carbon Nation leader Eligio Lee Bishop was arrested – he cal...

On Thanksgiving, two American citizens were detained at Juan Santamaria Airport under suspicion of money laundering. Their names are Collin Andrew Skees (25) and Benjamin Edward Howze (41). They were traveling to the United States with $644,344 in clean bills, wrapped like drugs are often smuggled, in layers of plastic, all tucked among clean changes of underwear for Skees and Howze, in their carr...

Two American citizens were arrested at Juan Santamaria Airport on Thursday, November 28, and charged with money laundering. They arrived on a flight from Los Angeles, but were scheduled to fly out again two hours later on a flight to Atlanta. They are a 25-year old with last name of Skees, and a 41-year old with the last name of Howze. They were carrying more than turkey stuffing: between the two ...

The owner of the sportsbook company 5Dimes was kidnapped on September 24, 2018, on his way home from work after having dropped off an employee in Granadilla, Curridabat, at about 10PM. Then he disappeared. Not too many hours after Creighton’s kidnap, his wife began receiving ransom calls. The kidnappers demanded $5 million dollars. They wanted it paid in virtual currency, specifically in Bitcoi...

According to the University of Costa Rica (UCR), there are some 144 species of snakes in Costa Rica. A new one was identified last month by two nature tourist guides, during a night walk in the Drake Bay of the Osa Peninsula. Welcome snake Number 145. The snake is a Dwarf Snake of Barbour, or a Trimetopon Barburi Dipsadidae, and has previously only been seen in Panama. The guides, Gianfranco Gomez...

On Sunday, November 17th, Fox TV aired episode #669 of the famous cartoon family The Simpsons, in “Livin’ La Pura Vida”, in which the entire Simpson family and members of their Springfield community visit Costa Rica on vacation. Amazing. La Nacion newspaper commented about the episode, saying that it “without a doubt, positions tourist information (about Costa Rica) before the eyes of the world.” ...

Congratulations to Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada for his recent nomination to TIME Magazine’s 100 NEXT for his “great ambition in tackling climate change.” This honor comes on the heels of the United Nations recognizing Costa Rica this year as a “United Nations Champion of the Earth”, for its trailblazing approach and ambitious climate policies. Alvarado became president in 2018...

Between October 7 and November 7, 2019, Costa Rica has recorded 63 violent deaths – a murder every 12 hours – according to the OIJ (Organismo de Investigacion Judicial). They report a total of 476 homicides to date, an increase from the 413 homicides reported last year, despite an expanded police force and repeated pledges by the Minister of Security that homicide rates were going to drop. What...

Costa Rica (Rich Coast), has become a favorite playground for rich and famous Americans, i.e. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Gisele Bundchen, Mel Gibson, Usher, Leonardo DiCaprio, and many other celebrity Americans who visit Costa Rica to unwind, relax and have quality time with their families. Recently Kim Kardashian’s oldest daughter, North West, daughter of Kanye West, and barely 6-years old, has f...

Jamaican police reported earlier this month that the leaders of several criminal gangs in Jamaica have left their little island, and relocated to Costa Rica where they are allegedly living quite the high life, while continuing their dangerous criminal activities. The OIJ (Organismo de Investigacion) has been analyzing this situation over the last five years – especially the unusual number of Jamai...

Early Saturday morning, three American tourists and their Costa Rican van driver were killed in a head- on vehicular crash near La Cruz, Guanacaste. They were traveling in a minivan, when they were hit by a truck driven by a Salvadoran citizen, who remains unidentified. The three who were killed were a 46-year old couple by the last name of Niemiec, and their 50-year old fellow passenger whose las...

The U.S. Attorney’s office of Chicago has charged an American with conducting an illegal sports gambling operation based in Costa Rica, according to a 14-count indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Chicago, on October 11th. The accused was operating under the names Michael Frontier, Ira Goldberg, Brian Seagel, and Mathew Sullivan. He is also accused of hiding his personal gambling profits ...

Costa Rican prisons are often just temporary residences for criminals who are sentenced to extended jail time, but manage to get their sentences reduced and return to their lives of crime in short order. Many maintain their criminal activities while serving prison time, remaining the leaders of their gangs, and continuing whatever illegal activities they were involved in on the outside. Remaining ...