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A strong El Niño has taken hold over Costa Rica and will keep much of the country drier and hotter than normal through the rest of 2026, according to the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional ( IMN ), which expects the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation to persist into early 2027. The institute’s early-warning system for the phenomenon has moved from watch to advisory, the threshold at which forecasters treat the event as essentially certain rather than probable, and officials have compared its likely strength to the 2014–2015 episode. The effect falls unevenly across the country: the Pacific slope and the Central Valley face significant rainfall deficits and rising temperatures, while the Caribbean is expected to stay near or above its normal rainfall. The institute’s projections have grown more severe over the course of the year. In April, IMN director Werner Stolz estimated a nationwide rainfall deficit of between 10 and 30 percent. By mid-year, Karina Her...

Panama’s National Assembly is considering a bill that would require social media influencers and content creators to clearly identify when their posts are paid advertising rather than independent recommendations. Deputy Walkiria Chandler D’Orcy, a member of the Vamos coalition, presented the proposal to the Assembly plenary on July 13, 2026. The measure aims to stop what she described as hidden advertising that takes advantage of the trust followers place in creators. “What the user does not know is that many times behind that recommendation there is advertising, there is a contract, there is a payment, there is some product that has been given to that influencer or a commission for each sale… it seems to be an opinion, it is really advertising that was not identified as such,” Chandler said during the presentation. She linked the bill to Panama’s existing consumer protection rules under Law 45 of 2007. That law already requires advertising to be presented clearly so consumers...

Smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires has added an unexpected health and weather concern to Sunday’s World Cup final between Argentina and Spain, although improving forecasts suggest the match should go ahead without major disruption.The haze spread across the northeastern United States during the week, pushing air quality into unhealthy ranges in parts of New York and New Jersey. More than 80,000 spectators are expected at MetLife Stadium, known during the tournament as New York New Jersey Stadium, for the 3 p.m. kickoff on July 19.The open-air venue has no roof or enclosed climate-controlled environment to protect players and fans from smoke, heat or direct sunlight. Conditions around the stadium remained unsettled Saturday. Heavy thunderstorms, damaging winds and flash flooding moved through the area, forcing Spain to cancel its final outdoor training session. Argentina’s practice was delayed by about 45 minutes before the defending champions were able to take the field...

A senior San José municipal official who helped develop controversial new rules for bars, restaurants and live entertainment has resigned, days after the city government withdrew the proposal for further review. Jéssica Martínez stepped down Friday as manager of Municipal Management and Urban Development. The Municipality of San José said she resigned voluntarily for personal reasons after working for the institution for approximately a year and a half. Mayor Diego Miranda denied that her departure was connected to the public backlash over the proposed Public Entertainment Regulations. He also said he had not requested her resignation. Martínez had been one of the leading municipal officials defending the proposal, which sought to regulate live music, DJs, karaoke, dancing and other entertainment offered by businesses across the capital. The draft regulations drew strong objections from restaurant and bar owners, musicians, DJs, event producers and cultural organizations. Cri...

Former President and Nobel Peace laureate Óscar Arias has accused Costa Rica of surrendering its foreign-policy independence to the United States, telling a San José television program that it “sold itself” for the leverage Washington holds over which members of the political class keep an American visa. The remarks aired on the program La Reacción in an interview conducted by journalist Danilo Chaves. Pressed by the interviewer on whether Costa Rica had sold itself for very little, Arias framed the wave of visa revocations in recent years as a bargaining chip that has eroded national autonomy. He described the arrangement as trading the country’s standing for the “toy” of a president being able to tell Washington to strip the visa of one figure after another — a deputy, a magistrate, a former president, the president of the Legislative Assembly — adding sardonically that the only name still missing from the list was the bishop of San José. The...

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of southern Mexico this morning, setting off a tsunami alert for parts of Mexico and Guatemala. If you are on or headed to Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, the short version is that forecasters do not expect meaningful wave activity here. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center placed Costa Rica in its lowest forecast tier, with any sea-level change expected to stay under 0.3 meters (about one foot), small enough that most people at the beach would not notice it. The quake hit at 8:48 a.m. local Mexico time, roughly 48 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of Aquiles Serdán, a coastal town in Chiapas state near the Guatemala border, according to the United States Geological Survey. Mexico’s Servicio Sismológico Nacional put the magnitude slightly higher at 7.4 after initially reporting 6.8. Both agencies placed it at a shallow depth of roughly 10 to 15 kilometers (6 to 9 miles), which is part of why the shaking was felt so widely...