Search Results for: costa rica

Costa Rica’s presidential campaign has become quite tense in the lead-up to the February 7 elections, but it also has turned rather goofy. One of the latest displays of wackiness took the form of a lie detector test, which several leading candidates actually agreed to take on national television. I was eating dinner at a … Read more

Costa Ricans’ confidence in the administration of President Óscar Arias has reached its lowest level in four years according to a poll released by Unimer Research International. An approval rating index maintained by the firm showed a significant drop in the first month of 2010 to 1,697 from 2,260 in November 2009. A drop in … Read more

“Wow, a public official actually quit on her own accord.” These words of amazement are being expressed by many Costa Ricans today in response to the decision by this country’s public works and transport minister to resign after a bridge collapsed and killed five people. Perhaps Karla González’ resignation shouldn’t come as such a shock. … Read more

Rafael Ángel Calderón led Costa Rica from 1990 to 1994 and had planned to run in the February 2010 presidential elections, but is now facing the possibility of five years in jail. The sentence—delivered on Monday—is expected to be appealed. Under house arrest since 2004, Calderón was found guilty of embezzling at least $8.6 million … Read more

If Costa Rica were to go to the polls today voters would elect the country’s first female to the government’s highest office, says the latest CID-Gallup poll. Laura Chinchilla, the ruling Partido Liberación Nacional‘s (PLN) candidate who stepped down from her post as vice president last fall to begin a race to the February 2010 … Read more

The Nicaraguan government announced yesterday that they will begin construction at the end of September to reroute the San Juan River, which runs along the country’s border with Costa Rica. Eden Pastora, the head of the committee for development of the San Juan River, said that the $1 million project is intended to “recover the … Read more

When they weren’t glued to the TV screen last night to watch their national soccer team take a lashing from the U.S., Hondurans were probably feeling the tension rise as their deposed president, Manuel Zelaya, and his entourage grew closer to crossing the border from Nicaragua. Meanwhile, the so-called San José Agreement—which it was hoped … Read more

China’s chief trade negotiator entered into a third round of negotiations with his Costa Rican counterpart on Monday to establish a bilateral free-trade agreement.  This latest round occurs only 7 months after Chinese President Hu Jintao announced the start of free-trade talks on a visit to San José in November 2008.  Both countries say they … Read more

Costa Rican politician Ottón Solís was nominated by his Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC) last night to compete in the February 2010 presidential election, drawing over 70 percent of the vote. It is his third consecutive presidential nod from the PAC, which saw Solís lose by just over 1 percent of the vote in the 2006 … Read more

Former Costa Rican President Rafael Calderón (90-94) has formally announced his candidacy in the 2010 presidential elections. He will represent Costa Rica’s Unidad Social Cristiana. His announcement was met with little surprise; rumors that Calderón was seeking his former office were numerous. Complicating his bid, however, are corruption charges from 2004, which landed him briefly … Read more

On both the left and the right a lot has been made of Mauricio Funes’ victory in the March 15 presidential elections in El Salvador. Those on the left say this is yet another vindication of the failure of the neo-liberal model—another in a string of left-leaning leaders that have come to power through the … Read more