Category: Blog

A Costa Rican oversight body is warning that the country risks repeating human rights violations if it moves ahead with a new agreement to accept migrants deported from the United States. The alert comes after President Rodrigo Chaves’ government signed a nonbinding migration deal with Washington that would allow up to 25 third-country deportees per …

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Four Artemis II mission astronauts blasted off Wednesday aboard a massive NASA rocket on a journey that will take them around the Moon, the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years. With a thunderous roar heard far beyond the launch pad, the orange-and-white rocket lifted off carrying three Americans and one Canadian from …

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Costa Rica’s public health system is again weighing a move that would have seemed unthinkable a few years ago: paying private doctors directly to help relieve pressure inside the CCSS. The latest proposal would allow some patients to receive care from private physicians when the public system cannot offer a timely appointment. The version now …

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Nicaragua denied Wednesday that it is prohibiting Holy Week celebrations, countering accusations from the United States and opposition voices that public processions have been banned. The government of spouses and co-presidents Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo faces claims it is cracking down on the Catholic Church, which it accuses of backing 2018 anti-government protests. The …

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Pura Vida may be the unofficial slogan of Costa Rica, but Vivir y Deja Vivir– Live and let live– would be equally fitting. Everywhere I have lived here, from urban San Jose barrio to remote rural areas accessible only by 4-wheel drive, my personal space has never been seriously invaded. What goes on inside my …

Read more “What It’s Like to Be Agnostic in Costa Rica”

Semana Santa, or Holy Week, remains one of the most important religious observances here in Costa Rica, especially in a country where Catholic traditions have shaped public life and family customs for generations. For many Costa Ricans, the week is still marked by processions, prayer, and church services. But alongside official religious practice, an older …

Read more “The superstitions and traditions that still mark Easter Week in Costa Rica”

Costa Rica has been folded into a new U.S. strategic concept that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calls “Greater North America,” a label the Trump administration is using to describe what it sees as Washington’s immediate security perimeter. In a speech at the Americas Counter Cartel Conference in Doral, Florida, Hegseth said the map runs from …

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Costa Rica took over the rotating chair of the Organization of American States Permanent Council today, placing Ambassador Alejandra Solano at the head of one of the body’s main political forums through June 30. The handover took place at OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., as Costa Rica assumed the three-month post under the organization’s alphabetical …

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Three men and one woman are set to leave this Wednesday on the first crewed journey to the Moon since 1972, a historic odyssey intended to push the United States into a new era of space exploration. NASA’s Artemis II mission has been years in the making, with repeated setbacks along the way. But it …

Read more “The historic Artemis II mission to the Moon is ready for launch”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday urged El Salvador to review the life sentences approved for minors who commit murder, rape, or take part in “terrorism,” arguing that the measure violates children’s rights. El Salvador’s Congress, controlled by the ruling party, amended the juvenile criminal law to apply that punishment to …

Read more “UN Urges El Salvador to Review Life Sentences for Minors”