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A jaguar that had not been recorded by a wildlife camera in Costa Rica since 2023 has been photographed again on the Osa Peninsula, giving researchers a rare confirmation that the animal survived a long stretch with no trace of its movements. The jaguar, known as Encanto, was first seen by Fundación Las Oncas on May 23, 2023. After that record, the animal disappeared from its camera-trap network entirely. No further photographs or video followed and researchers were left unable to say whether Encanto had died, shifted to another part of the landscape, or simply stopped crossing in front of the lenses. That silence ended on April 18, 2026, when the jaguar was recorded again, nearly three years after the first detection. The gap does not mean the animal was absent from the Osa Peninsula for that entire period. Jaguars range across large territories, and even an extensive camera network covers only a fraction of the forest at any moment. What the new image does establish is that...

Costa Rica’s public hospitals have treated nearly 10,000 gunshot emergencies since 2020, showing how the rise in armed violence is affecting far more people than homicide statistics alone reveal. Data from the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) show that 9,970 firearm-related emergencies were recorded between January 1, 2020, and July 31, 2026. That is equivalent to one gunshot emergency approximately every 5.8 hours. The pace has continued in 2026. During the first seven months of the year, the public health system handled 810 gunshot emergencies, an average of about 3.8 per day. San José recorded the most cases over the full period, with 2,584, followed by Limón with 1,848 and Puntarenas with 1,410. Alajuela recorded 1,381 cases, Guanacaste 732, Heredia 669 and Cartago 657. The figures show that the effects of Costa Rica’s security crisis extend well beyond the country’s homicide count. Many shooting victims survive but arrive at hospitals with injuries...

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck near Golfito on Friday night, the strongest of four events above magnitude 4 recorded in Costa Rica’s Southern area in roughly 32 hours. The Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN) of the University of Costa Rica placed the quake at 7:59 p.m. on September 11, with an epicenter 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of Golfito in the province of Puntarenas. The RSN described its figures as preliminary and said the magnitude, location and depth could change as analysts finish processing the data. Thirty minutes later, at 8:29 p.m., a magnitude 4.0 movement was recorded southwest of Quepos at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). Whether it was an aftershock of the Golfito event or a separate rupture has not been established. Both quakes followed a pair of movements on Thursday afternoon off the Osa Peninsula. The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (OVSICORI) at the Universidad Nacional registered a magnitude 4.8 at 12:03 p.m., some 48.2 kil...

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...