All Entries in the "Laws" Category

Internet and e-Commerce Industries Booming in Costa Rica

Central American countries, like Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama, are all experiencing a considerable scale of development in their telecommunication sectors.

However, Costa Rica has managed to reach a high level of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and operation advancements due to its economic policies.

Is Costa Rica a Third World, Second World or Developed Country?

There is a multi-million-dollar mega-mall in Escazú, west of San José, which sports outlets of some of the world’s most exclusive stores. But, according to the State of the Nation report in November, at least 16,000 Costa Rican homes are “without basic services,” such as electricity and running water.

A constant feature of this disparity in the makeup of Costa Rica is that, while certain areas of the country are surging ahead, there are many areas in which the country is not keeping up or is, indeed, falling behind.

El Niño and Pathogen Killed Costa Rica Toad – Not Global Warming

The Monteverde golden toad, vanished from Costa Rica’s Pacific coastal-mountain cloud forest in the late 1980s. The role that climate change played in the toad’s demise has been fiercely debated in recent years.

According to a new study, global warming did not kill a Costa Rica amphibian often cited as an example of climate-triggered extinction.

Costa Rica’s New Traffic Laws Take Effect March 1, 2010

Costa Rica’s new and sweeping traffic reform laws (reformas a Ley de Tránsito) will finally be the law of the land on March 1st, 2010.

The cornerstone of the new reform is the computerization of drivers’ license records, and the use of a strict points system to force drivers to re-evaluate and change their driving practices.

Costa Rica’s New Immigration Law Takes Effect March 1, 2010

Costa Rica’s new immigration law (nueva ley migratoria) was published in the official government publication La Gaceta on September 1, 2009 … meaning the new “Ley General de Migración y Extranjería” will be the Costa Rica immigration law of the land starting March 1, 2010.
Costa Rica is a world-wide destination for vacationers, travelers, those seeking [...]

Why and How To Do Business in Costa Rica

Investments in education and development make this Central American nation a hotspot for high-tech companies and suppliers.
Costa Rica’s vote and approval of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) put the nation of 4 million people in the spotlight as a potential trade partner for U.S. firms. But savvy global companies—and even savvier buyers—have considered [...]

Costa Rica’s “La Gloria” Guanacaste Wind Farm Now Online

Costa Rica in its quest to be the first carbon neutral country on Earth has reached new heights toward its goal with the completion of the Proyecto Eólico Guanacaste or “La Gloria” electric generating wind farm.
55 wind turbines located at a spectacular site near the Miravalle Volcano (Volcán Miravalle) in Cordillera de Guanacaste, in close [...]

My Dream is to Own a Costa Rica Bed and Breakfast

So your dream is to own a B&B in the Paradise of Costa Rica?!
Wake up; wake up from that nightmare…. Yes, shake yourself; make sure you don’t eat real late at night again.  Owning a B&B sounds romantic and great.  It seems like a real money maker and it can be.  It can also [...]

Costa Rica Gambling; In-Country or Online [but not at the same time]

Casino gambling in Costa Rica has been around for decades, for the most part doing business as they wish with few enforced regulations.

Today, there are more than 30 large casinos and well over 100 online casino, poker, sports book and bingo websites operating out of Costa Rica – available to gamblers worldwide.

Boosting Biodiversity and the Global Economy by Saving a Species

“Forty-nine”, a researcher whispers.
After counting the slimy, round white eggs just laid by a rare leatherback turtle in a hole dug in the sand under bright moonlight on Playa Grande beach in Costa Rica; researcher Tera Dornfeld marks the site of the eggs after the female turtle has filled in the hole with her giant [...]

The Agenda and Challenges of Costa Rica’s New President

Costa Rica’s first woman head of state, president-elect Laura Chinchilla, must now get to work.
For decades Costa Rica has been an oasis of stability in the troubled Central American isthmus. It is the only Latin American country to figure on a list of the world’s 22 “older democracies” compiled by Robert Dahl, an eminent political [...]

¡Felicitaciones! Laura Chinchilla – Costa Rica’s President Elect

Today, February 7, 2010 Costarricenses literally celebrated democracy as its citizens enthusiastically went to polls and voted for the next president of the Republic of Costa Rica.

During the entire day cars and people paraded through the streets waving flags representing their candidates of choice.
Once the polls closed, parks filled with citizens celebrating the election and [...]

North Dakota Tourists Narrowly Escape Costa Rica Bridge Fireball

Costa Rica and Potholes
Costa Rica is as famous for its monkeys, beaches, volcanoes and hot springs as it is for its “potholes”.
Normal driving in Costa Rica includes cars and trucks weaving along narrow roadways, often times crossing into oncoming lanes of traffic, in attempts at avoiding potholes – or at least just trying to choose [...]

Costa Rica’s San José to Caldera Pacific Highway now Open

The Costa Rica government officially opened the new Autopistas del Sol San José to Caldera Pacific highway on January 28th, 2010 … 3 months ahead of schedule; but only after 30+ years of planning, stops, starts, controversy and perseverance.
Posted speed limits on the new autopista range from 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per [...]

Paralysis Leads Arizona Boy to Costa Rica for Stem-Cell Treatment

Six-year-old Shaun Doss lost the use of his legs when a red-light runner going nearly 50 mph T-boned his family’s truck in south Chandler in 2007.
Shaun’s father, Robert, and mother, Michelle, believe there is a controversial, $50,000 stem-cell procedure that can restore some feeling to his legs, perhaps even allow him to walk again. And [...]

Costa Rica Remains an Environmental Index Leader as U.S. Falls

A new ranking of the world’s nations by environmental performance puts some of the globe’s largest economies far down the list, with the United States sinking to 61st and China to 121st.
In the 2008 version of the Environmental Performance Index, compiled every two years by a consortium between Yale University and Columbia University researchers; Costa [...]

A Night at the Del Rey – Costa Rica’s Most inFamous Hotel

It’s not nearly as famous as Amsterdam in this regard, but prostitution is legal in Costa Rica and the country has become quite a big destination for sex tourism – despite the Costa Rica government’s own efforts to discourage its promotion and growth.
Michael Paladin is an expat living in Central America who for the benefit [...]

Last-Ditch Leftwing Alliance to ‘Save’ Costa Rica from a Conservative Presidency

Political forces on the left in Costa Rica have formed a partial last-minute alliance to support Ottón Solís, the presidential candidate for the center-left Citizen’s Action Party (PAC, Partido Acción Ciudadana), in a bid to counter the conservative lead that the polls predict for the upcoming Feb. 7, 2010 national presidential election.
The governing National Liberation [...]

A Tale of Three Different Caribbean Countries

One of the happiest countries on the planet shows that protecting biodiversity has a lot to do with wellbeing
HAPPINESS IS a state of mind, but if it were a place, it might well be the central American republic of Costa Rica. Located just a few hundred miles west of the benighted Haiti, Costa Rica is [...]

Colorado MS Patient to Receive Stem-Cell Treatments in Costa Rica

Multiple sclerosis will have to try harder to get the best of Mary Posta. Thanks to an outpouring of donations in the past 10 months, the 59-year-old Ridgway, Colorado woman is slated to receive adult stem-cell treatments at a clinic in Costa Rica in the hopes of stalling symptoms of her disease.
“Everything has been [...]