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Nicaragua to Brief Diplomats on Controversial Electoral Reform

Nicaragua’s government will brief foreign diplomats on a proposed reform aimed at excluding opposition parties from election s, co-president Rosario Murillo said Friday, following criticism from several countries and international organizations. The National Assembly and electoral authorities, both controlled by the government, are preparing legislation requested by President Daniel Ortega to prevent “traitors” and “coup plotters” serving the interests of the United States from taking part in elections, terms he commonly uses to describe his opponents. Congress announced Friday that the proposed constitutional reforms will be submitted to the presidential couple “for review and authorization,” with a “broad consultation process” set to begin next week. A vote on the proposal is expected in early August. “Consultations will be held with business leaders, investors and ambassadors. We are going to provide information but also consult with all sectors of our blessed homeland...
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The Forensic Tool Costa Rica Lacks in Its Fight Over Illegal Gold Mining

A forensic technique Brazilian federal police are using to trace illegally mined Amazon gold points to a capability Costa Rica has conspicuously lacked in its own long-running fight over Crucitas, where prosecutors have struggled for years to prove in court where seized gold actually came from. Inside Brazil’s National Institute of Criminalistics in Brasília, federal police have built what they call a gold lab, where forensic experts analyze samples collected in raids across the country. Gold flakes are stored in small coin-shaped vessels, and their value to investigators lies not in the metal but in the data it carries. As gold forms inside rock or a riverbed, it absorbs trace particles from the surrounding geology, including silver and copper, leaving each speck with a distinct chemical signature. That signature can be compared against stored geological data from protected areas, allowing investigators to determine whether a seized sample came from the mine its owner cl...
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Watching the 2026 World Cup Final in a Costa Rica Dive Bar

Since moving to Costa Rica in 1990, I have not missed a World Cup final. I’ve watched them from a bar, from a friend’s house, and from the comfort of my own home. For 2026, I planned on something different. I took the trip over the mountain to San José, ready to attend the huge public party at La Sabana Park. It seemed the perfect way to watch the match, surrounded by thousands of enthusiastic fans in an atmosphere of pure fiesta de fútbol. When I got to San José and informed my friend Roberto of my plans, he immediately set out to change my mind. The park would be packed with rowdy drunks and screaming kids, he said, and an older dude like myself would feel alone and out of place amid the throngs. So I didn’t go to the big party. Instead, I joined my friend at one of his favorite San José dive bars. It was a casual, unpretentious, open-air place on a narrow street in a downtown barrio, with a 12-seat bar and several tables and chairs in an area next to the ba...
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Costa Rica Celebrates 202 Years Since Nicoya Chose to Join the Nation

Every July 25, Costa Rica marks one of the defining moments in our history. Two hundred and two years ago, a decision taken in a small colonial town on the Pacific coast redrew our country’s map, expanded its economy and permanently enriched its cultural identity. The date is commonly called the “ Annexation of Guanacaste ,” but historians at the University of Costa Rica and elsewhere note that the historically accurate term is the Annexation of the Partido de Nicoya, the colonial administrative district that voluntarily chose to join Costa Rica in 1824. On July 25 of that year, the municipal council of Nicoya convened a cabildo abierto, an open town meeting, at which the communities of Nicoya and Santa Cruz voted to become part of the newly independent State of Costa Rica. Unlike most territorial changes in nineteenth-century Latin America, the decision was not the product of war, military conquest or an imposed treaty. It reflected the expressed will of the loca...
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Costa Rica Lawmaker Revives Cable Car Idea for Chirripó Summit

Costa Rica’s highest point is hard to reach, and for the past half-century that difficulty has been the policy. A proposal now circulating in the Legislative Assembly would change it. Álvaro Ramírez Bogantes, head of the National Liberation Party caucus and the deputy elected first on the party’s San José slate, said this week that he is evaluating a project to build a cable car to Cerro Chirripó , the 3,820-meter (12,533-foot) summit that crowns the Cordillera de Talamanca. Ramírez said the idea is to widen access to the peak for more people, including those with different physical conditions, and that he has presented it to the Grupo de Acción Territorial de Pérez Zeledón, a civic organization headed by Antonio Mora. He described a group of business owners and community leaders with whom he has been discussing the concept, and said he has begun conversations with other legislative caucuses about it. Beyond that, almost nothing about the proposal exists yet. There...
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Electric Cars in Costa Rica Face a Higher Sales Tax

Costa Rica’s Finance Ministry has increased the selective consumption tax applied to electric vehicles, a change Finance Minister Rodrigo Chaves announced Wednesday evening and which the country’s electric mobility industry says was already mandated by legislation approved four years ago. Chaves, who also serves as Minister of the Presidency, said in a television interview that he had signed the decree that day. He gave two figures in the course of his remarks. He said electric vehicles had been paying a 6% rate and that the government intends to bring that figure to 30%, and he said separately that the rate applied immediately is 7.5%. The minister defended the measure on the grounds that Costa Rica’s potential contribution to combating climate change is minimal. He questioned the electric vehicle incentive policies pursued by previous administrations and said the country should concentrate its resources on measures that produce direct benefits. Silvia Ro...
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Costa Rica 911 App Can Locate Users Who Cannot Speak During Emergencies

Costa Rica’s emergency services are urging residents and visitors to download the official 911 application before the August 2 Romería, highlighting features that can locate people in real time and allow them to request help without speaking. The Emergencias 9-1-1 CR app connects users with emergency operators through a standard voice call or an interactive text chat. When either option is activated, the application automatically sends the user’s location to the 911 system. The location feature can be especially useful during the Romería, when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims travel on foot toward the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in Cartago. Someone suffering an injury, medical problem or security threat may not know the name of the road or community where they are located. Instead of requiring the caller to describe an unfamiliar location, the application allows emergency operators to receive that information directly from the phone. The location continues to u...
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