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Costa Rica Tourism Stays Strong Despite Exchange Rate Pressure

Costa Rica’s tourism is still drawing strong demand even as the exchange-rate debate continues to weigh on the industry. Fresh data released this week showed Costa Rica received 308,873 tourists by air in February, up 14.1% from the same month a year earlier.Total international arrivals by all routes reached 331,967 in February, while the first two months of 2026 brought 602,960 visitors into the country, extending a five-month stretch of growth. North America remained the dominant source market, accounting for 69.3% of February arrivals, with the United States leading and Canada posting especially strong gains. The numbers point to steady demand at a time when Costa Rica is deep into its peak dry-season travel period, when beach towns, volcano areas and national park gateways usually see some of the year’s strongest booking patterns. Hotel data earlier in the season showed the market still operating at healthy levels, even if not as strong as the peaks seen in prior years. A survey ...
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Oscar Arias Warns US Security Agreement Violates Costa Rica’s Constitution

Former President Oscar Arias has warned that a security agreement with the United States violates Costa Rica’s Constitution. The National Liberation Party continues to question security agreements signed by several Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, with the United States. In recent hours, both former President Óscar Arias and PLN Secretary-General Miguel Guillén have made new statements. The former president questioned the significance of the meeting and its legal validity. “Regarding the meeting of the 12 Latin American presidents with President Trump and his secretaries of state and defense, I believe that, had it been of any importance, such a meeting should have been held at the White House and not at his private club in Miami,” he wrote. “According to reports, its purpose was to form a military coalition between the United States and Latin American nations to fight criminal organizations and combat narco-terrorism. “Such an agreement is absurd for our country, wh...
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San José Central Park Faces Overhaul with Significant Updates

San José’s historic Central Park stands ready for significant updates. The Municipality of San José presented plans to add a café under the bandstand and make other changes to bring new life to the space. The project carries a price tag of 648 million colones. Officials have it out for bids now, with offers due by March 20. Construction should start in the coming months. The municipality hired Ingeniería Jorge Lizano to draw up the detailed plans and figure the costs. Those documents sit ready for final sign-off. Designers drew on input from a public survey that drew close to 1,300 replies. People asked for extra green areas, stronger safety measures, better lights, and spots with more shade. Work scheduled for this year covers several areas. Crews will put in fresh street furniture. They will grow the green sections. Plans call for an inclusive sensory garden. The café will open in the bandstand basement. Builders will add pergolas and canopies. They will update the lighting and set...
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China Presses Costa Rica for Evidence in ICE Cyberattack Dispute

China has asked Costa Rican authorities to hand over evidence supporting allegations that Chinese-linked actors were behind a cyberespionage attack on the Costa Rican Electricity Institute, opening a new point of tension in the already strained relationship between San José and Beijing. The request was made publicly Friday by Chinese Ambassador Wang Xiaoyao, one day after Costa Rican officials linked the January breach at ICE to the group UNC2814, which Google has described as a suspected People’s Republic of China nexus cyberespionage actor. Wang said China wanted the evidence so the claims could be verified and, if warranted, prosecuted under the law. She also said Beijing has been trying since 2024 to engage Costa Rica on cybersecurity through technical consultations, professional exchanges, and other cooperation channels, but had received no reply from the Costa Rican side. The Chinese embassy also said it had proposed using mechanisms tied to the United Nations cybercrime framewo...
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Costa Rica Faces Mounting Pressure as Aging Population Grows Fast

Costa Rica is moving quickly toward a demographic shift that will test some of the country’s biggest public systems. What was once treated as a long-term issue is now becoming a near-term challenge for pensions, health care, employment, and caregiving as the share of older adults rises and the number of younger workers falls. Recent projections show that about 11.7% of Costa Rica’s population is now 65 or older, and that by 2050 roughly one in four residents will be in that age group. In absolute numbers, that means the population over 65 is expected to grow from about 600,000 people in 2025 to around 1.33 million by mid-century. The shift is being driven by two powerful trends at once: Costa Ricans are living longer and having fewer children. Recent official and institutional figures place life expectancy in Costa Rica at around 80 to 81 years, with projections showing it could rise above 84 by 2050. At the same time, fertility has dropped well below replacement level, with recent da...
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Costa Rica’s Felipe Pacheco Heads to 98th Academy Awards

The 32-year-old Costa Rican music editor is making history tonight as the first person from his country ever nominated for an Academy Award. There is a particular kind of quiet that exists in a film before the music swells, a silence shaped by someone who understands exactly when sound should speak and when it should step aside. Felipe Pacheco has spent his career mastering that art, and tonight, at the 98th Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, he has a chance to walk away with an Oscar for it. Pacheco is the first Costa Rican ever nominated for an Academy Award, a landmark that would have seemed improbable to the teenager who left his hometown more than a decade ago with nothing but ambition and a guitar. Born and raised in Piedades de Santa Ana, Pacheco left Costa Rica at just 18, driven by a powerful dream of building a life in music. While his initial passion was the guitar, his path evolved as he discovered a profound interest in the technical and narrativ...
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Costa Rica Marks Century Since Virilla River Train Crash Took 385 Lives

A century after Costa Rica’s deadliest train accident, the country pauses to remember the 385 people who lost their lives and the 93 others who suffered injuries when an overloaded train derailed on a bridge over the Virilla River. The disaster struck on March 14, 1926. A special train left Heredia and stopped in Alajuela, bound for Cartago on a charity excursion organized by Father Claudio Volio. The trip aimed to raise money for a nursing home in Cartago, and demand far outstripped what organizers expected. The Northern Railway Company provided the train. Passengers filled every car well beyond safe limits. Researcher Adriana Sánchez at the University of Costa Rica reviewed records for a 2020 study and found that trains normally carried 70 to 75 people per car, including some who stood. On that day, each car held around 100 passengers, with some reports suggesting as many as 200. Sánchez determined the overload reached between 40 and 120 extra riders per car. Even then, conductors ...
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