Month: April 2026

Long before Costa Rica became synonymous with cloud forests and wildlife reserves, its coastlines were contested territory in one of history’s most dramatic power struggles. During the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, the country’s remote bays, dense jungles, and exposed river mouths made it both a target and a thoroughfare for pirates, corsairs, and privateers …

Read more “The History of Pirate Raids Along Costa Rica’s Coast”

Opposition to the Bahía Papagayo development in Playa Panamá is intensifying after SINAC authorized tree cutting in the project area. The citizen group Salvemos el Bosque de Playa Panamá has called two demonstrations, one for Tuesday, April 21, at 4:00 p.m. outside the Constitutional Chamber in San José and another for Wednesday, April 22, at …

Read more “Costa Rica Activists Rally Against Bahía Papagayo Plan to Cut 700 Trees”

Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo let an early opening slip away Friday as top seed Alexander Zverev fought back from a set down to win 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 and reach the semifinals of the BMW Open in Munich. The comeback sent the German through to a last-four meeting with Italy’s Flavio Cobolli and ended Cerundolo’s run at …

Read more “Latin American hopes fade in Munich as Cerundolo falls to Zverev”

Humane World for Animals Costa Rica has partnered with Costa Rica’s National Environmental Security Commission to deliver a series of training workshops for government authorities responsible for handling wildlife rescued or confiscated in illegal trafficking cases. The workshops are part of a broader project titled “Improving Costa Rica’s Capacity to Combat Wildlife Trafficking,” funded by …

Read more “Costa Rica Authorities Train to Better Handle Rescued and Seized Wildlife”

Costa Rican security personnel are taking part in a new round of U.S.-led regional exercises in El Salvador, where more than 1,200 members of military, security and disaster-response forces from seven countries began training yesterday under the CENTAM Guardian 26 program. The exercise, hosted by U.S. Southern Command and El Salvador’s Ministry of National Defense, …

Read more “Costa Rica Joins CENTAM Security Drills in El Salvador”

Eight of the 25 migrants deported from the United States to Costa Rica in the first flight under a new third-country agreement have told authorities they fear returning to their home countries, a development that could push several of them into Costa Rica’s asylum system just days after their arrival. Costa Rican immigration chief Omer …

Read more “Costa Rica Says Deported Migrants May Seek Asylum Over Return Fears”

The United States announced on Thursday a tightening of its visa policy for Latin America and the Caribbean that initially affects 26 people, without detailing names or nationalities. “This Administration will deny adversary powers the ability to own or control critical assets or to threaten the security and prosperity of the United States in our …

Read more “US Tightens Visa Policy for Latin America and Caribbean”

Costa Rica’s Ministry of Health said that the country has confirmed its fourth positive case of chikungunya so far this year, based on results issued by INCIENSA. The latest case involves a 52-year-old Costa Rican woman from Heredia who recently traveled to Nicaragua. Health officials said she entered Costa Rica during the virus’s incubation period, …

Read more “Costa Rica Confirms Fourth Chikungunya Case of 2026”

Drivers using Route 1 near Juan Santamaría International Airport are set to get some relief after President Rodrigo Chaves ordered the removal of the unused toll booth structures at Río Segundo de Alajuela and Naranjo. The tolls have not been collecting fees since last September, but the physical booths have remained in place, continuing to …

Read more “Costa Rica Orders Removal of Toll Booths Near San Jose Airport”

An unusual eruption inside Poás Volcano on April 10 sent ash into the air, pushed the crater lake up by as much as three meters, and opened a new fumarole field, according to Costa Rican volcanologists tracking the event. Scientists say the episode was not the kind of explosion seen during Poás activity last year, …

Read more “Costa Rica’s Poás Volcano Records Unusual Crater Collapse and Lake Surge”