Jorge Mario Marín, legal representative of the inventor of the canopy and its patent holder in Costa Rica, responded to a recent announcement by the Costa Rican Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) in which they said they would follow on the recent court ruling that returned the patent to its inventor. "We find it very unfortunate that the authorities of the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) have i...

The Butterfly Palace & Rainforest Adventure in Branson, Missouri announced big plans for increasing conservation efforts for butterflies in 2017, including a major land purchase in Costa Rica. “We are committing $90,000 over this next year to help save butterflies and the rainforests they call home,” said Butterfly Palace owner, Bruce Herschend, in a press release. The money will go towa...

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. ...

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...

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 ...

A joint Eurojust-Europol press release on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 said a network of payment card fraudsters was dismantled through a cross-border action that led to numerous arrests. The credit and debit card skimming affected some 3,000 people in the EU whose information was then used to make illegal purchases in Costa Rica, Europe and other parts of the world. The victims lost at least EUR 500,0...

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...

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...

After selecting last November the Banco de Costa Rica to finance and manage a health infrastructure trust fund, the Costa Rican Social Security Agency (CCSS) which runs the country's health services and the BCR signed the agreement last month to proceed with building health infrastructure throughout the country. According to María del Rocío Sáenz Madrigal, who this week was asked to resign as e...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

Costa Rica's Emergency Medical Response Team is the first in the Americas to achieve the EMT recognition by the World Health Organization. Costa Rica's emergency response team (EMT) is now recognized among the world's emergency medical teams that can be deployed quickly when requested by countries affected by disasters or emergencies, said the WHO last week.     Meanwhile...

In the midst of protests surrounding the growing production of pineapple in Costa Rica, Friday, Costa Rica sent its first shipment of pineapples from the Pacific port of Caldera to Shanghai, China. The nine ship containers containing over 15,000 cases of pineapples marks Costa Rica's entry into the Chinese tropical fruit market, said the Xinhua news agency. "This first shipment of pineapples...

5 hammerhead sharks tagged during expedition to Cocos Island with Mission Blue Also on the expedition were Fins Attached, Ocean First Foundation and CREMA-Costa Rica The scientists removed abandoned longline fishing gear A 10-day scientific expedition led by Dr. Sylvia Earl of the U.S.-based marine conservation organization Mission Blue, just returned from Cocos Island National Park...

Researchers at the University of Costa Rica recently observed a neotropical frog that hasn't been observed for at least 30 years and which had therefore been declared extinct by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The rediscovery of the species, Craugastor escoces, or red-bellied frog, occurred in the Juan Castro Blanco National Park,  located in the province of Alaju...

The British Embassy in Costa Rica has released an updated list of lawyers and law offices in Costa Rica whose staff speak English. The list includes only lawyers who are affiliated with the Costa Rican Lawyers Professional Association (Colegio de Abogados). While the list is by no means intended as a recommendation of any lawyer or law office, the professionals on the list have expressed an ...

Costa Rica's Ombudsman's Office (Defensoria de los Habitantes) said this week that the top complaint received by their office is related to access to health services. The figure came to light in the agency's 2016-2017 Annual Report which analyzes progress and gaps in meeting recommendations of the United Nations human rights committees. Part of these recommendations refer to the need to ensu...

Costa Rican and Azerbaijani chancellors met last week to seek to increase trade, investment, tourism, and cooperation between the two nations, and announced a reciprocal opening of embassies and an agreement on diplomatic visas. Investments by the Azerbaijan Petroleum Fund in Costa Rica were an important part of the talks, said the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry. Foreign Minister Manuel A. Gon...

Costa Rica's legislature will discuss a bill proposing the exploration and exploitation of geothermal energy in the country's protected areas, reported local media recently. Studies carried out by the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) estimate potential geothermal energy generation in the country at 875 MW. The current installed geothermal capacity is 195 MW. Bill 19,233, which has ...

- Protestors took to the streets again this Monday, two weeks after a similar demonstration in San José criticized deforestation and pollution caused by pineapple farming in Costa Rica. While Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís was giving a public talk to commemorate World Environment Day, some young protestors stood in front of him with a banner reading "De Muerte" or "of death" painted o...

As the city has taken shape and built up around it, the Gran Hotel, facing onto the National Theater and Plaza de la Culture in downtown San José, has held on to its style The hotel closed in June of 2016 to begin the major overhaul that is being directed by OBP architectural firm, and under guidelines for historical buildings so that the main characteristics of the building will be preserved, ...

An emergency measure ordered by the Costa Rican Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock's National Animal Health Service (SENASA) aimed at controlling a stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans) outbreak in northern Costa Rica went into effect last week. All pineapple farms in the district of Cutris de San Carlos and San Rafael de Río Cuarto must refrain from any new plantings or soil preparations for the...