The National Emergency Commission (CNE) has issued a public alert for Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, warning of dangerous ocean currents expected on Wednesday morning, triggered by a tsunami generated by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the eastern coast of Kamchatka, Russia. While the tsunami does not pose a flooding threat to Costa Rica, the CNE …
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An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Far East coast on Wednesday, one of the most powerful quakes ever recorded, triggering tsunamis with waves up to four meters high and evacuation alerts from the United States to Colombia. Russian authorities reported minor injuries from the earthquake but no deaths. Officials in the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s …
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At least seven people were killed and 13 wounded in an armed attack Tuesday night at a funeral in downtown Guatemala City, which authorities have linked to gang disputes. Guatemala has long been plagued by the notorious Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs. Interior Minister Francisco Jiménez attributed the massacre to their ongoing rivalry. …
Read more “Guatemala’s Gang War Funeral Attack Leaves 7 Dead and 13 Injured”
Costa Rica has formally adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. This step positions the country as the sixth in Latin America to take such action, after Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Panama, and Uruguay. The announcement came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, highlighting the move as part of ongoing efforts to …
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Costa Rican authorities took down a cocaine smuggling operation Tuesday that moved drugs from South America to the United States, with a judicial worker caught in the mix. Police arrested about ten people, including the group’s leader, his family, a traffic officer, and the judicial employee. They faced charges of tipping off the group about …
Read more “Judicial Corruption Exposed in Costa Rica’s Latest Drug Bust”
The Nicaraguan government has placed historic Sandinista commander Bayardo Arce, economic adviser to President Daniel Ortega, under house arrest, according to exiled opposition members and Nicaraguan media in exile on Tuesday. Arce, a 76-year-old former guerrilla, had served as a presidential adviser since 2007. However, in recent years, he had been sidelined from his duties …
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Former Minister of Economy Francisco Gamboa and attorney Douglas Soto will join Laura Fernández for the 2026 elections, representing the Sovereign People’s Party (PPSO), chosen as the new political party to continue President Rodrigo Chaves’ work. The announcement was made Monday morning at the party’s headquarters in Barrio Escalante, San José, where Fernández also officially …
Read more “Costa Rica’s PPSO Backs Laura Fernández to Continue Rodrigo Chaves’s Agenda”
Costa Rica has officially surpassed 500 homicides so far this year, according to figures released Monday by the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ). As of July 28, the country had recorded 502 killings, averaging 2.4 murders per day, an alarming figure. Authorities project that by the end of 2025, the total number of homicides will range …
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A new trial against five Salvadoran environmentalists, accused of murdering a woman in 1989 during the civil war, will take place on Tuesday, announced the NGO they belong to, denouncing the case as a form of “persecution” for their anti-mining activism. The environmentalists, who were guerrilla fighters at the time of the crime, were acquitted …
Read more “El Salvador Retries Environmentalists Over 1989 Wartime Killing”
Everyone has a dark side—that little devil in your conscience that says, go ahead and do it! even though you know it’s wrong. It may manifest itself in something as minor as parking in a space reserved for handicapped drivers. Or it may come from a deeper, darker recess within—one that allows you to commit …
Read more “A Costa Rica Expat and the Devil on His Shoulder”