By Wendy Anders “The last time we used a fossil fuel plant to generate electricity was June 16,” stated the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) earlier this week. That made for 76 straight days of green energy production reported on this week, as Costa Rica takes the region's lead in renewable energy. In 2015, Costa Rica generated 99 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, and...

By Wendy Anders After a two-year investigation, Costa Rica's Judicial Investigative Agency (OIJ) had enough evidence yesterday to make arrests in San Antonio de Coronado, San José of at least 11 individuals connected with a supposed car theft ring. The group, which OIJ Director Walter Espinoza described in a live press statement today, was found by investigators to be dedicated to stealing p...

By Wendy Anders Over the past 24 hours, two abandoned fetuses were discovered discarded in public streets in Costa Rica. Fetal abandonment is a more regular occurrence in Costa Rica than you might think. This year has seen its share of discarded fetuses in Costa Rica, which, Walter Espinoza, Judicial Investigative Agency (OIJ) director, said in a televised press statement today, is one of th...

By Wendy Anders 03-09-14 Piñera Agrovicces, La Unión del Amparo, Los Chiles de Alajuela Inspección del Tribunal Ambiental Administrativo a Piñeras de la zona para verficar cumplimiento de medidas cautelares y abrir nuevos expedientes Juan Sánchez, Biólogo especialista en manglares y humedales del Tribunal Ambiental Administrativo Foto: LUIS NAVARRO In July, the Municipal Council of Los Chil...

By Wendy Anders Tuesday just after midnight, residents near the Los Horcones Bar in Chachagua, San Ramón on the way to La Fortuna, Arenal heard a loud boom, reported La Nación, Costa Rica’s main Spanish daily. Etilma Ballestero, a neighbor of the bar, said after hearing the boom she “rushed into the street, and there we saw the flames on the roofs of the cabins, and we immediately called 9-1...

On September 4, 1971, the Costa Rican National Geographic Institute was taking aerial photos from 10,000 feet of Lake Cote, the small body of water that would later become the larger Lake Arenal, as part of preliminary studies for the future hydroelectric project. The study was funded by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) to determine water sources in the area for their planned hydroel...

By Wendy Ander Listed as Endangered since 1990, the Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is now listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the group that assesses and catalogues plants and animals facing a high risk of global extinction. In a recent update of their Red List of Threatened Species, the IUCN says the Giant Panda’s population has grown...

By Wendy Anders Source: International Living Want to avoid weekend traffic? Craving a quick rainy season trip to the beach? Try taking a Cessna to your favorite beach or mountain getaway on SANSA airline. Costa Rica’s domestic airline, SANSA, announced an special Costa Rican independence-month deal during September for residents (with a valid residency card) and Costa Rican nationals. ...

By Wendy Anders Japan yesterday opened its 'scientific whaling' season on the north coast of country, during which it expects to capture 51 minke whales, said the Japanese Fisheries Agency to the Spanish newswire EFE. The season will end late October in the North Pacific, and it’s stated aim is to help manage maritime resources based on an analysis of the stomach contents of captured whales. ...

By Wendy Anders Monday, the public prosecutor for La Fortuna de San Carlos, Natalia Álvarez, described the miserable living conditions of 13 foreign women who were held in dingy, dirty rooms at the back of bars for forced prostitution, reported La Nación, Costa Rica’s main daily newspaper today. In order to leave the sites, the women were forced to pay CRC10,000 and had a set return time, sa...

By Wendy Anders Yesterday morning, a 62-year-old Costa Rican man by the last name of Chavarría was stabbed in the chest in the main park in downtown Escazú, a western San José suburb. He died from the wounds shortly after being rushed to the San Juan de Dios Hospital in downtown San José. The attacker, a 38-year-old man by the last name of Salas, was detained three blocks from the park immed...

By Wendy Anders Anti-crime efforts in Costa Rica’s southern Caribbean region are getting a boost with recent funds pledged by the U.S. government, said the Ministry of Security in a press statement this weekend. During a visit to the National Guard Substation in Sixaola, canton of Salamanca, in Limón province, Minister of Public Security, Gustavo Mata, as well as several police chiefs, met w...

By Wendy Anders This morning at 7:02 am, 8 miles northwest of Pawnee in northern Oklahoma, U.S. near the Arkansas River, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake was registered by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Hazards Program. Only one injury was reported by a man who was hit by bricks falling from a chimney inside his home, said The Oklahoman, Oklahoma’s daily. One building lost its brick facad...

By Wendy Anders  Coincidentally, as I sat down to report on this morning's 5.6 magnitude Oklahoma, U.S. quake, I was rocked by the 5.3 magnitude quake that was just registered 15 km north of Domincal, Quepos, in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. Over 100 Facebook comments were posted on the Dominical quake in the first 10 minutes after it was posted on the Ovsicori site. It was felt str...

By Wendy Anders Interpol estimates that human trafficking earns between $5-6 billion a year, said EFE today. The United Nations Fund for Children said in a statement today that an estimated 500,000 children used traffickers to reach Europe over the past year and a half, reported EFE today. Meanwhile, the United States Department of States placed Costa Rica on its Tier 2 Watch List for the...

By Wendy Anders Today, Costa Rica's official government bulletin, La Gaceta, published an executive directive that eliminates the requirement of providing a paper copy of your personal or business identification, the infamous “cédula,” for government administrative transactions. The directive was signed by President Luis Guillermo Solís in July in order to eliminate what is defined as an “un...

By Wendy Anders Last night at 7:00 pm, during a routine police stop on Route 27 near the exit for Multiplaza Escazú, police detained a white cargo pick-up truck driven by a 29-year-old Colombian national by the last name Betancourt, stated the Security Ministry in a press release this afternoon. Police flagged the pick-up truck when they noticed the driver seemed nervous as he approached the...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica Colones currency The Guatemala-based Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (ICEFI) in a recent report states that while good public debt management can be a tool for promoting a country's development, if the debt goes beyond the country’s ability to pay, it can stress public finances and divert resources from social programs and other essential needs. C...

By Wendy Anders Marketwire reported today that Toronto, Canada-based Bravo Multinational Incorporated earlier this year partially acquired the Centro de Entretenimiento y Diversion Mombacho S.A., located in Managua, Nicaragua. Bravo to date has purchased 150 of a total contracted 500 slot and video poker gaming machines to be operated and managed under a long-term national license throug...

By Wendy Anders Wikimedia Commons Qualy TV, Costa Rica’s Direct-to-Home television service, announced today it will be ceasing its operations. The announcement comes just under two years after its commercial launch in Costa Rica, reported The Netherlands’ digital Telecompaper. “In the last few months we have experienced various difficulties beyond our control, prompting us to take the de...

By Wendy Anders High-level Costa Rican judicial, police, immigration, and other government officials met today with Canadian experts to discuss and plan actions towards a stronger and more coordinated effort on curbing human trafficking in the country, stated the judiciary branch in a press release. The experts reviewed a report on the human trafficking mapping project which began in Septemb...

By Wendy Anders During the upcoming two weekends, visitors can take part in whale and dolphin watching tours, as well as recreational and cultural activities, during the southern Pacific Bahía Ballena Marine Park's annual whale and dolphin festival. From Sept 2-4 and again from Sept 9-11 visitors can participate in activities such as foot races, cycling, family walks, a sand sculpture contes...

By Wendy Anders Oxfam Germany’s recently published report detailing working and living conditions for Costa Rica’s pineapple and Ecuador's banana workers, “Sweet Fruit, Bitter Truth,” does not mince words. “This investigation reveals (too) many violations of human and labour rights in the production of bananas and pineapples,” said the report based on numerous interviews conducted with worke...

By Wendy Anders The Costa Rican Professional Accountant’s Association (CCPCR, in Spanish) will be holding a free consultation session tomorrow, Wednesday, August 31, at the Central Park in downtown San José from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. for micro, small, and medium businesses who have tax filing questions. The actividad is called “Free Certified Public Accountant for a Day,” and is timed one mo...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica’s Ministry of Transportation and Public Works (MOPT, in Spanish) and the National Roadways Council (CONAVI) gave orders yesterday to begin the design and construction of an access road to the new Moín Container Terminal (TCM, in Spanish) at Costa Rica’s largest port in the Atlantic coast region of Limón. The four-lane Moín port access road of 2.1 kms in length must...

By Wendy Anders http://www.teletica.com/Noticias/134976-Video-muestra-detencion-de-sospechoso-de-decapitar-y-mutilar-a-nino-de-8-anos-en-Guacimo.note.aspx After an all-night search Saturday night, yesterday morning police arrested a man in Edén de Guácimo, Limón as the prime suspect in mutilating and decapitating an 8-year-old boy Saturday night after the boy went to visit a neighbour early ...

By Wendy Anders For the fifth year in a row the Universidad Latina (ULatina) has awarded five youth ages 18-29 for heading up projects that have a positive social impact, stated ULatina in a press statement. The Yo Creo Premio (I Believe Award) awarded five $2,500 grants on Friday to talented young people who have shown a demonstrated and measurable impact in addressing problems facing their...

By Wendy Anders Barva, a small coffee-growing town north of Heredia, inaugurated a spacious new clinic last week. The Costa Rican Social Security Board (CCSS), the country’s public health services agency, said at the opening that the new facility expands their capacity to meet with health needs of Barva’s 42,464 residents. Outfitted with previously unavailable services such as a clinical ...

By Wendy Anders  With no end in sight to Guanacaste's ongoing potable water shortages as wells throughout the region face very low levels, some businesses and also the government are turning to sea-water processing as an alternative. Last month, Reserva Conchal hotel inaugurated the first desalination plant in Costa Rica which produces 23 liters of potable water per second by processing ocea...

By Wendy Anders Yesterday the Costa Rican daily, La Nación reported that the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) has opened a disciplinary investigation against a 40-year-old female teacher named Rojas at the Technical Professional High School in San Isidro de El General, Pérez Zeledón, in southern Costa Rica, after she married a 15-year-old student of hers on July 4. La Nación confirmed the ...

By Wendy Anders Source: US Embassy Next week, the American Citizens Unit of the United States Embassy in Costa Rica will be in Puerto Viejo, Limón for two main events of interest to U.S. citizens living the area. Several times a year, the Embassy holds such outreach events in different parts of the country to facilitate access to their citizens services. Next Thursday, September 1 fro...

By Wendy Anders Police on duty in Limón on Costa Rica’s Atlantic coast may feel more like environmentalists than public safety workers lately. Since leatherback sea turtle eggs they have held in a protected area started hatching a few days ago, the officials have been busy getting the hatchlings to the beach in the evening and night hours for their entry into the sea, reported the Ministry o...

By Wendy Anders Yesterday, on National Parks Day, President Luis Guillermo Solís met with park guards on a visit to Tenorio Volcano National Park in the northern Guanacaste mountain range. Tenorio National Park is where Costa Rica's enchanting Río Celeste, or Blue River, is located. Park rangers had been threatening to close one or more national parks if their repeated requests for increa...

By Wendy Anders This afternoon, the Washington Post reported from Havana, Cuba that an agreement was reached by the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) leftist rebel group to end the continent’s longest conflict after after 52 years of fighting. After nearly four years of negotiations and a ceasefire announced in June, “'We have finished fighting with w...

By Wendy Anders The country's largest housing fair, ExpoCasa, starts today, Wednesday August 24, and will run until Sunday 28 at ParqueViva in La Guácima de Alajuela. New homes starting at 35 million colones (about $63,000) are available as is financing for up to 40 years. Davivienda Bank is the main sponsor of the event which has brought together 84 real estate companies, 16 banks, two i...

By Wendy Anders Over the past month, leaders from about 20 unions and civic groups have held a series of meetings to define a common agenda to defend the rights of the country’s public sector employees, announced the Communication and Energy Industry Employees Union (ASDEICE). After their third meeting yesterday at the Ambassador Hotel in San José they announced a protest planned for Thursda...

By Wendy Anders MSP file photo Monday, the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) arrested seven more members of a marijuana cultivation and distribution network based in Costa Rica’s southern Perez Zeledón region, stated Walter Espinoza, OIJ Director, in a press conference yesterday. The operation was led by five brothers by the last names Vargas Hidalgo who 21 years ago almost to th...

By Wendy Anders This morning in Geneva, Switzerland, Costa Rica’s Security Minister Gustavo Mata reiterated Costa Rica’s wholesale commitment to the effective implementation of the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is a multilateral treaty regulating international trade in conventional weapons, according to the United Nations website that entered into force in Dec...

By Wendy Anders Costa Rica’s President Luis Guillermo Solís and U.S. Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd, commander of U.S. Southern Command, greet each other prior to the opening ceremony for the Central American Security Conference April 7 in San Jose. Photo by Jose Ruiz, SOUTHCOM Today President Obama and Vice President Biden received Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis at the White House. Enc...

By Wendy Anders Police carried out a multi-town operative Saturday night in Guanacaste Province's counties of Santa Cruz and Carrillo to “recuperate public spaces and return them to the community,” stated Costa Rica's Public Security Ministry in a press document Sunday. Officials were aided in their efforts in the towns of Belén, Playas del Coco, Playa Hermosa and Santa Cruz by the police's ...