Search Results for: costa rica

Just over a year ago President Barack Obama first met many of his regional counterparts at the Summit of the Americas. The Summit was largely a diplomatic exercise but one idea—Obama’s proposed regional energy and climate partnership—may finally be gaining some traction.  A slew of initiatives were on display last week as representatives from 32 … Read more

A law that prohibits the use of animals in circuses will take effect this summer in Bolivia—a measure that frees the animals from captivity, but puts them in limbo as no clear plans have been made to facilitate their release. Bolivia will become the first country to ban the use of both domestic and wild … Read more

Laura Chinchilla, president-elect of Costa Rica, urged a quick return to the Organization of American States for Honduras, which was expelled following the June 2009 military ouster of Manuel Zelaya.  Chinchilla, who takes office on May 8, met with Honduran President Porfirio Lobo in Tegucigalpa on Monday during a three-day tour of Central America.  The … Read more

Once all the post-mortems of the just-completed Olympic Winter Games in Canada are written, one major success will stand out above the others: Canada’s national effort to ensure the success of their athletes on the slopes and frozen surfaces of British Columbia.  Say what you will about Canada’s “Own the Podium” initiative, but the bottom … Read more

The Colombian rock star Juanes and Ecuadorian musician Juan Fernando Velasco symbolically exchanged their countries’ flags on Thursday on the Rumichaca Bridge, one of many border crossings between their countries. Antonio Navarro, the governor of Colombia’s Nariño province was among the 500 people who attended the ceremony, which is part of a bilateral effort to … Read more

The Honduran elections on Sunday brought a decisive victory to National Party candidate Porfirio Lobo, winning 55.9 percent of the votes according to figures by the Honduran election authorities. Elvin Santos of the Liberal Party conceded defeat with 30.09 percent of the votes cast. These numbers were consistent with independent verification but a discrepancy does … Read more

Less than five years ago, few analysts could have predicted China’s role in the global economy would be as significant as it is today. But the economic recession has helped to catapult China into becoming an engine for global economic growth. China’s growing influence in the world—and particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean—is currently … Read more

The stakes for the United States in the Honduran political crisis are higher than ever. At the end of October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton celebrated the unprecedented overturning of a coup through dialogue. That assessment has now proved naïve, and the State Department finds itself in the awkward position of distancing itself from the … Read more

Home to the Panama Canal and stuck between the tourist haven of Costa Rica and an increasingly stable and prosperous Colombia, Panama has been in the middle of an economic boom for years.  But many of us don’t even know it. Even during the current economic recession, the country’s GDP grew by 9.2 percent GDP … Read more

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega moved a step closer to running for another term this week when six justices of the constitutional branch of the Supreme Court deemed “unenforceable” a term-limit provision contained in Nicaragua’s constitution. According to opposition leaders and legal experts, a 1995 amendment to the Nicaraguan constitution allows a maximum of two non-consecutive … Read more

Minor miracles can happen, after all. After beating El Salvador, Honduras qualified for the World Cup when the United States scored a goal to tie Costa Rica in the final minute. In seconds, Hondurans’ emotions flipped 180 degrees—from exasperation at thinking they had come up just short to jubilation at qualifying for the World Cup … Read more