All Entries in the "Featured" Category
“Costa Risa” Video mocks Chinchilla Government
A group of clowns running around in circus is symbolic of the administration of Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla and her government’s plan to impose substantially higher taxes to offset deficit spending. Throughout the creative use of painted midgets, slapstick and sarcastic commentary deals with issues of government corruption, high taxes and criminal impunity. Chinchilla [...]
United States obligates foreign banks to sign agreement with IRS
Foreign banks worldwide that fail to sign an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service by June 30, 2013 will be subject to stiff sanctions. Expats also face new requirements when filing tax returns if their foreign assets exceed $50,000. A recent article in La Nacion quotes Franco Naranjo, President of the Costa Rican Banking Association [...]
Public Security and Future of Central American Youth in Peril
President Laura Chinchilla appeared before the United Nations General Assembly last week and woefully declared that the Republic of Costa Rica is seriously threatened by the problem of narcotics related crime and violence. The statement is a bold one coming from the leader of a nation that is uncomfortable airing its dirty laundry on the [...]
Catholic Church, Sex and Reproductive Freedom in Costa Rica
Slogans like, “Get your rosary beads out of my ovaries”, “illuminate the Catholic Church by burning it”, and “Jesus loves prostitutes” are a few examples of themes repeated Sunday in front of the metropolitan cathedral of San Jose. Ambivalence toward the official state religion of Catholicism is nothing new in Costa Rica, and a protest [...]
Costa Rica Invites Intel to Expand
President Laura Chinchilla recently returned from a trip to the United States, and the first item on her agenda was to pay tribute to the Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corporation. The company’s manufacturing facility in Heredia is responsible for producing 20 percent of the value of Costa Rica’s export market, and is considered vital to [...]
President Chinchilla Honors Juan Santamaría
Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla on Monday honored Costa Rica’s favorite hero Juan Santamaría while presenting a speech to bolster support for the territorial dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua over the Rio San Juan and Isla Calero. Chinchilla gave the speech in the Alajuela park named for Juan Santamaría, which has been remodeled in [...]
Costa Rica Not Paradise Raw Sewage Everywhere
An unclassified cable originating from the United States Embassy in San Jose on April 4th, 2007 is generating negative publicity for a country that markets itself as an eco-friendly tourist destination. Costa Rica treats less than 3% of human waste, dumping 97% of its sewage into the nation’s rivers that drain to the sea, making [...]
Protest Against Tax Increases in Costa Rica
As promised a group manifested itself in downtown San Jose to protest against President Laura Chinchilla’s Tax Proposal and this year’s pay raise for public sector workers. The march started in Parque Central and moved east on Avenida Segunda to arrive on the steps of the legislature. The protest took the better part of the [...]
Peak Oil to be Felt in Latin America
Costa Rica and Panama enjoy the highest levels of per capita income in Central America, and with prosperity comes a growing love affair with oil and gasoline. Costa Rica is an oil importing nation, however does have the capability to refine its own gasoline through port facilities in Moin. A recent $13.8 million dredging operation [...]
Narcopublica de Costa Rica
An estimated $4.4 billion in illicit funds enter Costa Rica annually according to an eight year study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The figure is double the $2 billion or so that the country earns annually from tourism and works out to just $1,000 per person in Costa Rica. It measures up [...]
