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Costa Rica’s Independence Day is Tuesday, September 15 so some holidays here get moved to the nearest Monday to make a long weekend, but this one does not. The Labor Ministry has confirmed it stays on the 15th. That means Monday the 14th is a regular workday, and the celebrations run across both evenings. This year marks 205 years of independence so expect a torch relay over the weekend, lantern parades Monday night, school parades Tuesday and rain on and off the whole time. The Independence Torch crosses from Nicaragua at Peñas Blancas around 11 a.m. Sunday, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. About 22,000 students will carry it roughly 378 kilometers (235 miles) to Cartago, the Ministry of Public Education says. The relay passes through Liberia, Cañas, Esparza, Palmares, Naranjo, Alajuela and Heredia before reaching San José on Monday evening. The national anthem will be sung at 6 p.m. at Plaza de la Democracia. The flame is due at the ruins in Cart...

The U.S. dollar has fallen to its lowest level on record against Costa Rica’s colón, extending a decline that is increasing the purchasing power of the local currency while putting more pressure on expats, retirees and businesses that earn their income in dollars. The weighted average exchange rate in Costa Rica’s Monex foreign exchange market closed yesterday at ₡447.93 per dollar, the lowest level since the Central Bank of Costa Rica began the current historical series on December 6, 2007. The previous record had been set just one day earlier, when the dollar closed at ₡448.17. The decline has continued to show up in the rates consumers see at banks and other financial institutions. For Friday, September 11, the Central Bank’s official reference rate is ₡444.22 for buying dollars and ₡450.06 for selling them. Actual rates offered by individual banks and exchange houses vary. The latest figures mark a substantial change from the start of the year. On January 2, the first Monex se...

Global oil prices climbed back above $100 a barrel this week, and the increase is on course to reach Costa Rica’s gas stations within weeks. Brent crude, the international benchmark, settled at $101.21 yesterday after a 3.4 percent single-session gain. West Texas Intermediate settled at $96.05. The trigger was a fresh escalation in the US-Iran conflict, now in its seventh month. US Central Command said American forces destroyed five Iranian crude tankers on Tuesday after attempted attacks on a US warship. A senior Iranian official, speaking to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity, said Tehran was ready for a more intense war rather than back down in the face of the US naval blockade. The rally is not new territory for this conflict as Brent traded around $72 a barrel on February 27, the day before the war began, and peaked above $126 at the end of April. By early July it had slid back to pre-war levels, and this week’s climb leaves it roughly 40 percent above where i...

An employee of Costa Rica’s immigration agency was arrested this morning on suspicion of manipulating official records to push through a residency card renewal for the partner of an alleged leader of a criminal organization operating in Limón. The Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería said its Policía Profesional de Migración detained the woman, a Costa Rican national surnamed Blandón Reyes, and carried out two simultaneous raids in Limón province. One targeted the agency’s Atlantic regional office, where she worked, and the other her home. According to the agency, the investigation indicates the employee used the functions assigned to her post to enter documents and false data into the institution’s systems. The purpose, investigators allege, was to complete the renewal of a DIMEX residency card for a Nicaraguan woman surnamed White Rankin, who was entering Costa Rica at the time. The documents allegedly entered relate to a criminal background record, ...

Snoop Dogg will perform in Costa Rica for the first time on Thursday, December 3, at the Centro de Eventos Pedregal in Belén de Heredia, promoter Don Stockwell of Stockwell Entretenimiento announced at a press conference Wednesday. The show falls under the rapper’s The Next Episode tour and is restricted to adults 18 and older. It is being presented by DAVI BANK and produced by Stockwell Entretenimiento. Tickets will go on sale through Publitickets in the coming days. Stockwell Entretenimiento told reporters it will release more than 38,000 tickets across a footprint of just over 13,000 square meters (roughly 140,000 square feet). Prices and sale times have not been announced. Costa Rican artists Banton and Toledo will open the night, with DJP also on the bill. Toledo told reporters the booking is a rare opportunity for a local performer, describing Snoop Dogg as the most famous rapper in history and comparing his cultural reach to Bob Marley’s. The San José-area da...

President Laura Fernández has passed her first 100 days in office with the approval of nearly two-thirds of Costa Rica. She has also passed them with most Costa Ricans convinced that the man she replaced is still making the decisions. The Center for Research and Political Studies at the University of Costa Rica ( CIEP ), released its first opinion study of the Fernández administration today. Sixty-four percent of respondents rated her performance as good or very good, 25% called it bad or very bad, and 11% described it as average. By recent standards that is a solid opening. It is not, however, where her predecessor stood at the same stage. Rodrigo Chaves registered 79% approval in August 2022, fifteen points above the figure Fernández holds now. Her number instead matches the 64% Chaves carried in May of this year, in the last CIEP measurement taken during his term. The picture shifts when respondents were asked about the government as an institution rather than about the pre...