Costa Rica

The Chinese Foreign Ministry berated the administration of President Donald Trump, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in particular, on Friday for addressing the threat of Chinese regime influence during a tour to Central America and the Caribbean this week.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves on Monday agreed to create a “League of Nations,” a bloc of like-minded smaller developing countries with common objectives in security, economy, and other areas.

Amir Rockman, Israeli Consul to Costa Rica, said in an interview on Tuesday that his government has reason to believe that Iranian-linked terrorist groups are freely operating in Nicaragua, a country that recently broke ties with Israel.

A soccer player in Costa Rica was killed by a crocodile last week after jumping off a bridge into waters known to be infested with the killer reptiles.

Balloon-mania spread across the world this weekend as South Korea reported an incursion by a North Korean balloon into its territory, and the Colombian military confirmed a sighting of a “balloon-like object” within its airspace.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — The RSG Group of gym outlets, including Gold’s Gym and McFit, confirmed Monday that founder and CEO Rainer Schaller, family and friends were aboard a small plane that disappeared from radar just off Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast.

The government of Costa Rica declared a state of emergency this week after a massive ransomware attack locked down computer networks across multiple government agencies, paralyzing tax collection and leaving the private information of Costa Rican citizens vulnerable.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) is facing criticism for taking a tropical holiday vacation in Costa Rica, a country that the State Department is cautioning Americans to “reconsider” traveling to because of coronavirus cases. At the same time, New Jersey has one of the highest case rates per population in the country.

Costa Rican gymnast Luciana Alvarado paid tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement at the end of her first-floor routine at the Toyko Olympics on Sunday.

The U.S. State Department is helping Panama smuggle U.S.-bound illegal migrants from Haiti, Cuba, and outside the Americas.

The Brazilian newspaper O Globo noted on Friday that Joe Biden, who will presumably take the office of the U.S. presidency in January, has not made any calls to the heads of state of Latin America’s largest nations, skipping Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia and, instead, reaching out to the socialist leader of Argentina.

The misadventures of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter with Chinese Communist money men and Ukrainian oligarchs are far from the only time the Biden family cashed in on Joe’s political career. Joe Biden’s younger brother Frank leveraged the Biden name for lucrative deals in Costa Rica and Jamaica, while Hunter used his father’s name to push through a massive deal in Colombia involving a vast Chinese energy corporation. 

The global coronavirus pandemic originating in China is leading conservative Latin American leaders to question key tenets of the region’s foreign policy.

Frank Biden, the youngest brother of former Vice President Joe Biden, saw his business interests benefit from millions of dollars in taxpayer loans to Caribbean nations during the Obama years. 

The death toll has risen to 25 due to alcohol laced with poisonous methanol in Costa Rica, according to reports. 

Tainted alcohol is the suspected cause of death of at least 19 adults in Costa Rica earlier this month, local officials confirmed this weekend.

The Costa Rican Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that legislation banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, citing a ruling last January from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

A single-engine plane that crashed in Costa Rica on Sunday killed 12 people, including 10 Americans, officials said.

Costa Rica authorities arrested a 22-year-old Colombian man who allegedly threatened to attack an Ariana Grande concert, less than two months after a suicide bomber killed 22 people during the pop star’s Manchester, England, show.

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Investigators said the trafficked women – who were shipped in from Central and South America – were forced to have sex with over 100 men per week.

A bride and groom headed to Costa Rica for their wedding got kicked off a United flight set to leave Texas on Saturday afternoon.

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The Air and Marine unit of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service along with agents of the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 14 Cuban refugees on Mona Island, Puerto Rico. The Cubans had recently completed a very dangers boat trip from Cuba through the treacherous Mona Passage.

The city of Laredo, Texas, is becoming a turnstile for Cubans seeking asylum in the U.S. Hundreds of Cuban refugees coming from Central America to Mexico are being passed through into Texas will little, if any, screening. Hispanics in South Texas appear to be resenting the special treatment of the Cubans.

Thousands of Cuban refugees are stranded in Costa Rica and are now being moved into Mexico so they can illegally cross into the United States. Once on American soil, Cubans receive automatic immigration status adjustment and full welfare benefits. Texas is becoming the epicenter of this influx of Cubans.

A group of Cubans, said to be vulnerable, have reportedly been flown from Costa Rica to northern Mexico where they are expected to cross the border into the United States. They will then apply for an immigration status adjustment as Cuban refugees.

The Zika virus has reached Canada in the form of four Canadian travelers confirmed to have contracted it by visiting Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

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The more than 8,000 Cuban refugees stranded in Costa Rica after Castro ally Nicaragua rejected their legal visas will fly over Nicaragua to El Salvador to commence their voyage to the United States, a coalition of Central American nations announced this week.

Investigators in Costa Rica are working feverishly to find out why the children of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán were in their country as recently as last year.

In a meeting between U.S. and Cuban diplomats, the Cuban government urged American officials to change the legal status of Cuban refugees to make it more difficult for those fleeing communism to find asylum, and easier for the communist regime of Raúl Castro to restrict its citizens’ mobility.

Nearly 2,000 Cuban refugees are stranded on the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border after the former nation, an ally of Cuban dictator Raúl Castro, refused them entry despite possessing legal visas from the Costa Rican government. The Nicaraguan military used tear gas and water cannons in the Cubans, injuring many.

An El Chapo sighting of the famed drug lord at a hospital in Mexico led that country’s military and federal police forces to carry out a series of searches. The operation comes just as an unconfirmed Twitter account claiming to be that of El Chapo’s son, Alfredo Guzman, tweeted a photo from Costa Rica where he claims to have been eating with his father.