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Panama Joins 10 Worst Countries for Workers Rights in ITUC Report

The International Trade Union Confederation placed the three Latin American nations in that group in its Global Rights Index released Monday. The list also includes Belarus, Egypt, Eswatini, Myanmar, Nigeria, Tunisia and Türkiye. All three countries fall into category 5, the lowest rating in the annual survey of labor standards across 169 nations. Workers and unions in Panama lack guarantees regarding their basic rights and face constant oppression from employers and the state, the confederation said. The report marks Panama’s entry into the bottom group. It reflects a broader deterioration across the region. Argentina joined the list this year after falling to category 5, the second consecutive year of decline in its rating. Conditions for workers and unions have become increasingly repressive and hostile under the government of President Javier Milei, the study said. Authorities have instituted an anti-blockade protocol to maintain public order in the event of roadblocks, au...
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Paul McCartney Turned a Rainy Costa Rica Day Off Into a New Song

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Costa Rica’s rain has been immortalized in one of Paul McCartney’s newest songs. The legendary British musician revealed that “First Star of the Night,” featured on his latest album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane , was written during a stay in the country marked by heavy tropical rain. As McCartney recounted in recent interviews, he was enjoying a day off in Costa Rica when his plans to relax by the pool were interrupted by a downpour that lasted for hours. Rather than getting frustrated, he picked up his guitar and began writing. “It rained like tropical rain, so I had my guitar,” McCartney said, describing how the weather pushed him toward the song instead of the sun. The connection to Costa Rica made it into the finished track, which opens with McCartney remarking on the rain falling outside before the melody takes over. From there, the song evolves into an optimistic reflection on hope and on finding light amid gray days. McCartney and his...
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El Salvador Extends State of Exception for 51st Time

El Salvador’s 51st extension of the state of exception took effect Sunday, May 31, and runs through June 29, keeping certain constitutional guarantees suspended as President Nayib Bukele prepares to deliver his annual report to the nation on Monday. The Legislative Assembly, controlled by Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party, approved the 30-day extension during its 111th plenary session by a vote of 57 to 1, with the lone dissent coming from the VAMOS party. The decree suspends three guarantees: Article 12, second paragraph, on the right to defense; Article 13, second paragraph, on the maximum period for administrative detention; and Article 24, on the privacy of communications. The measure has remained in force since March 2022, when it was imposed after a surge in gang-related homicides that, according to the investigative outlet El Faro, followed a presumed rupture in an arrangement between the government and the gangs. Each renewal is requested by the Council of Minist...
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The Grocery Delivery Service Expats in Costa Rica Keep Recommending

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If you’ve lived in Costa Rica long enough, you know grocery shopping can be a half-day to full-day project.  Great things are abundant in Costa Rica. Grocery shopping, usually done efficiently, is hardly one of them, especially for healthy products and organic produce. Most expats know the routine. One grocery store for imported goods. Another for decent produce. A farmers’ market for “organic” vegetables, and you’d better arrive early. A specialty shop if raw dairy or clean meats are required. Throw in driving, checkout lines, rainstorms, and half the day vanishes in grocery shopping around town. That frustration is why so many people across Costa Rica have started relying on Market and More .  This year marks the specialty grocery delivery company’s sixth year. After talking with customers for a while and taking a look at how a successful business is built, the reasons for their growth become quite evident.  Market and More are filling ...
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Costa Rica Extends Corporate Email Rule to End of 2026

Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly approved a measure in its first debate on Thursday that extends to December 31, 2026, the deadline for commercial companies to register an official email address for legal and administrative notifications, granting a roughly six-month grace period to hundreds of thousands of firms that had yet to comply. Lawmakers unanimously backed a substitute text to bill 25.094, which reforms the Commercial Code and Law 10.597 to make the registration process free, faster and possible without hiring a notary. The change responds to mounting complaints from business owners over the cost and red tape attached to a requirement that, until now, many had been unable to meet before the original June 4 deadline. Under the approved text, companies will be able to register or update their notification email through a sworn declaration by their legal representative, submitted as an electronic document with a certified digital signature. That eliminates the ne...
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Costa Rica President Orders Polygraph Tests for Top Officials

President Laura Fernández has widened a controversial order requiring polygraph tests for officials involved in her government’s new security strategy, declaring Friday that judicial branch personnel who attend her weekly “Fuerza Élite” meetings must also submit to lie-detector exams. Speaking to reporters after a closed-door session with representatives of the Legislative Assembly and the Supreme Court of Justice, Fernández was asked whether the requirement she imposed on police commanders earlier in the week would apply to members of the other branches of government. “Polygraph for everyone. I already took it myself without any problem, and so did the vice presidents,” she said, framing the tests as a way to build “an environment of mutual trust” among the institutions joining the talks. The expansion follows the order Fernández issued Monday at the first meeting of “Fuerza Élite” (Elite Force), a weekly working session sh...
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Costa Rica Braces for Rain and Thunderstorms as Tropical Wave Moves Through

Costa Rica will see unstable weather from today through June 3, with warm mornings followed by afternoon and early-evening rain across much of pur country. The National Meteorological Institute ( IMN ) expects Tropical Wave No. 5 and the Intertropical Convergence Zone near Costa Rica to keep moisture and instability over the country during the forecast period. The pattern is typical of the rainy season’s early stretch: mornings with fewer clouds and higher temperatures, followed by growing cloud cover, downpours and thunderstorms later in the day. The Central Valley and the Pacific regions are expected to see the most frequent rainfall, especially during the afternoon and the first hours of the night. San José, Alajuela, Heredia and Cartago could see clearer starts to the day before conditions turn cloudy, with scattered showers and thunderstorms developing later. The Pacific coast should also prepare for repeated afternoon rain. The Central and South Pacific are likely to see...
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