All Entries in the "Ministerio de Seguridad Publica - Security Ministry of Public Safety" Category

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 [...]

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 [...]

Thriving Sex Industry Bumps Costa Rica from List of Most Ethical Destinations

When travel magazines and sites come out with top ten “eco” lists they’re usually the top ten places who did a good job marketing themselves as green. Okay, maybe that’s too harsh. They are usually places that are actually doing things responsibly because no editor wants to get a stack of hate mail or a [...]

Break Me Off A Piece Of Costa Rica

Nicholas Kristof has a happy-go-lucky column yesterday in the New York Times about Costa Rica that reads as part tourism advertisement, part political common sense.
He goes on and on about how the country is consistently ranked high in “happiness” surveys. This is true. How, then, did they get that way?

What sets Costa Rica apart [...]

Laura Chinchilla Still Commands in Costa Rica Presidential Polls

A month before the Costa Rica presidential election, National Liberation Party (PLN, Partido Liberación Nacional) candidate Laura Chinchilla remains the front-runner polling at 36.7% according to the latest survey by Borge & Asociados, published in the Revista Poder.
However, support for the incumbent PLN ‘green & white’ party and its candidate, former vice-president “Laura”, has been [...]

Comedian Joan Rivers “Held Hostage” in Costa Rica – “Never” Will She Return

U.S. Comedian, QVC jewelry mogul and celebrity red carpet mercenary Joan Rivers, along her semi-celebrity daughter Melissa Rivers, friends and family welcomed in a new decade by celebrating New Year’s 2010 in beautiful Costa Rica.
But like all vacations, there comes a time to return home … even for celebrities.
However, when Ms. Rivers attempted to board [...]

Costa Rica 2010 Tourism Forecast

Costa Rica is a premier point of destination for travelers and vacationers.  Despite worldwide declines in tourism due to fragile economies, Costa Rica has held its own due to many factors.
Forecast:  Costa Rica tourist numbers to increase in 2010 and grow to 3.5 million arrivals in 2014.
After increasing from 2.06 million tourists in 2006 to [...]

2010 Social and Political Unrest for Latin America – The Failure of Lula?

This map lifted from The Economist will do fine to introduce a Latin American forecast of 2010 because it explains a lot.
If you observe well, All of Hispanic America is In Trouble, besides Costa Rica, Uruguay and Cuba (then again, how could trouble start in totalitarian Cuba?). Flanking this zone of probable social unrest there [...]

U.S. ATF Rolls-out Newest Firearms Anti-trafficking Tool in Costa Rica

The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today announced a two-phase rollout of eTrace 4.0, the newest version of ATF’s web-based firearms tracing software, to the governments of Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

The bilingual firearms tracing software edition commonly called Spanish eTrace, will allow law enforcement agencies in those countries to [...]

T’was the Week Before Christmas and All Through Costa Rica…

…drivers continue to engage in road-combat during the holiest of holidays in this Catholic country.
Kids are out of school, government employees are off work, many are on vacation for most of the month and churches can become standing room only gathering places for several generations of entire families.
The mood of Costa Rica as a whole [...]

Costa Rica Police, Crime Fighting and Security are Not Often Considered Synonymous

U.S. ‘expats’ that now reside in Costa Rica try to explain the Tico culture to their families and friends back home as, “Costa Rica is like the United States was 40 years ago”. In other words, many of the social norms and government problems the U.S. went through in the 1960’s are still experienced [...]

Drugs, Guns… and Eggs?

“She’s got eggs!” shouted the police officer behind mirrored aviators from the bow of the boat. Dressed in dark blue SWAT-style fatigues, the officer held up a wet, woven plastic sack at arm’s length.
I was in one of the three water taxis departing Tortuguero, Costa Rica at 11:30 a.m. which were all stopped mid-stream. Blocking [...]

Costa Rica Latest Stop for Mexican Drug Gangs

Mexican drug gangs are increasingly using Costa Rica as a pick-up point for South American cocaine headed north and the problem is likely to get worse, President Oscar Arias said on Monday (Dec. 14, 2009).
Costa Rican police have seized close to 93 tons of cocaine between 2006 and 2009, nearly twice the amount the Central [...]

Costa Rica Firearms Review Complete – 26 Foreigners Lose Gun Permits

The Costa Rica security ministry has pulled the permits of 26 foreigners so that they no longer are able to carry firearms.
The minister also established additional rules for foreigners who seek these carry permits.
No U.S., Canadian or British citizens were among those foreigners who lost their permits. There were 11 Nicaraguans, eight Colombians, two Cubans [...]

Costa Rica Libertarian Presidential Candidate May Force Runoff

A new poll published December 1, 2009 by Costa Rica’s daily La Nación shows that Libertarian (Partido Movimiento Libertario -ML) presidential candidate Otto Guevara has 30% of support among likely voters, trailing the candidate of the incumbent Social Democrat party (Partido Liberación Nacional – PLN) Laura Chinchilla, who has 43% support.
The news here is that [...]

Costa Rica Police and Immigration Crack Down on Jamaica Gangs

Jamaicans living in Costa Rica are facing more visa restrictions today as that country’s government responds to an upsurge in crime, allegedly linked to gangs from the island.
With the new regime, Jamaicans living in Costa Rica will be required to submit their cases to the Immigration Administration in downtown San José for special review.
Though not [...]

Costa Rica Reviews Gun Permits – Suspends Licenses to Foreign Nationals

Current Costa Rica law allows citizens and legal residents to qualify and obtain licenses to carry concealed firearms.
However, as of Wednesday (4 November 2009) Costa Rica President Oscar Arias declared a moratorium on the issuance of any new permits to foreign nationals.
The catalyst for this specific action was a shootout between Jamaican drug gangs and [...]