The Ministry of Finance (Ministerio de Hacienda) has a deep commitment to the well-being of families, companies and institutions in the country. Although the pandemic is impacting public revenue and spending, it said it has developed income and expenditure policies that ensure that the primary deficit is not greater than -3.4% of GDP and a fiscal deficit is not greater than -8.6%.
The crisis caused by the Covid-19 outbreak is causing a negative effect on the public health of the countries. This requires putting in place measures to prevent massive contagion. Unfortunately, the necessary sanitary measures directly harm the economy and people’s jobs.
Before the pandemic, Costa Rica’s public finances were improving. During the first quarter of 2020, the Ministry of Finance registered the lowest primary deficit in a decade (0.12% of Gross Domestic Product -GDP-), a reduction in current spending without interest (0.27% of GDP) and a significant increase in tax collection (0.33% of GDP).
Had this trend continued, the 2020 primary deficit would have closed at -1.3%, and the fiscal deficit at -6.2% of GDP.
The takeaway from the Ministry’s statement is that will cover all its gross financing needs this year and it will continue working to guarantee that the Government complies with the payment of all the commitments: financing of social programs, payment of the debt, payment of the payroll, payment to suppliers, strengthening of institutions and public investment.
“The financing that we require in the national financial market for the rest of the year is less than we had planned before the crisis, since we do not want to squeeze the private sector, this would allow them to access the resources available in Costa Rica and it will not put pressure on local interest rates,” said the statement.
The future of the bill that would lower interest rates for loans and cards, eliminating the current high-interest rates, will be known in a month.
Ten signatures are required to request a Constitutional consult. In the photo, Otto Roberto Vargas and María Inés Solís are two of the legislators making the written request
The bill, known as the ‘usury law’, that was approved in first reading on Monday, April 27, in the legislative assembly, is now in the hands of the magistrates of the Constitutional Court, to make a decision on the legality of the project.
On Thursday, the Court reported that the legislators opposed to the bill, managed to obtain the ten signatures required to opt for a “Constitutional Consult”.
The legislator’s concern, with the support of Óscar Cascante of the PUSC, is that a lower rate would exclude lower-income Costa Ricans to credit options.
Today, Costa Ricans accumulate more than ¢1.4 trillion colones in credit card debt with interest rates on average above 45%, according to the Ministry of Economy.
The bill would limit the interest rates on credit cards and loans in colones to 39% on debt over ¢675,000 colones. In the case of debt in dollars, the maximum rate would be 31.35%.
For loans below ¢675,000 colones the top rate would be 55% and 45.66% for dollar loans.
Rates that exceed the limits will be considered usury, which could land the lender for up to two years in prison on business loans and doubled when the usury is to the detriment of consumers.
The final rate will depend on what the magistrates decide.
The Ministry of Tourism says that this summer recorded significant increases in the number of travelers, and hopes that the situation persists despite the threat of zika. | JORGE ARCE
Reactivating tourism as soon as possible is essential for thousands of families, according to Roberto Thompson, Legislator for the Liberacion Nacional (PLN), presenting two bills before the current legislative session, which would help mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus.
Fitcation for the win! River rafting is just one of many adventure activities visitors can get into when visiting Costa Rica. It’s an exhilarating way to stay fit and healthy while on vacation.
The covid-19 pandemic forced the country to close the borders mid-March to tourists, as well as beaches and national parks.
“Extending the Value Added Tax (VAT) exemption to tourist services and moving holidays (tha fall in the week) to Friday or Monday, are measures that the sector requires in order to face the recovery stage to better conditions. We have submitted two projects to that end,” said Thompson, who prior to taking up a seat in Cuesta de Moras was the major of the canton of Alajuela, the second most populous city in Costa Rica and was also Vice Minister of the Presidency during the second administration Oscar Arias Sánchez (2006-2010)
Tourism is one of the main engines of the economy and development of Costa Rica, it employs more than 211,000 people directly and some 600,000 indirectly.
Costa Rica Health authorities project a shortage of at least 50,000 swabs to carry out diagnostic tests for Coronavirus, a figure that could increase exponentially over time. A project from the University of Costa Rica (UCR) would solve the shortage.
The proposal is promoted jointly by the Faculties of Engineering and Microbiology of the UCR, in alliance with private laboratories and with the support of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS).
To date, the process is in the laboratory analysis carried out by the Faculty of Microbiology, so there is still at least one more month to start the mass production of the swabs.
A team of experts from the Faculty of Engineering designs various swab options that are then sent to two private dental laboratories, XYZ Soluciones and Cleo Dental, which have jointly and severally joined in on this idea, so that they can create special 3D printers swabs; once made, they are sent to the Virology Laboratory and to the Laboratory Service Section of the Faculty of Microbiology so that their specialists carry out the first tests and choose the designs that best suit medical requirements.
Once the final designs are obtained, they will be sent to the Fund to undergo preclinical and clinical trials and decide which is the most suitable.
Upon reaching this last stage, the country has the help of several private laboratories that have already informed the UCR that they are willing to collaborate to massify the production of these instruments.
This synergy between the public and private sectors is the product of the work of the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE).
Telefonica is set to take legal action against Millicom in U.S. courts over the aborted sale of its subsidiary in Costa Rica, citing a submission to market securities regulator.
Millicom reached an agreement to acquire 100% of Telefonica’s mobile telecommunications assets in Costa Rica, Movistar, for US$570 million back in February 2019, a transaction approved by Costa Rica’s telecom regulator Sutel last September.
But the Spanish operator is now claiming that Millicom has refused to proceed with closing the deal, a delay it considers to be “a breach of the terms and conditions established in the contract.”
The report said Telefonica intends to file a lawsuit against Millicom as soon as US courts resume non-emergency procedures to demand compliance with the agreement and compensation for any damage caused.
However, Millicom subsequently issued a statement strongly refuting Telefonica’s allegations regarding the conditions for closing the Costa Rica deal. It added that “in the event that the pending regulatory approvals for the transaction are not issued by May 01, 2020″ it intends to terminate the agreement in accordance with the terms thereof.
Millicom also said it intends to vigorously defend itself against any action brought by Telefonica in the matter.
Millicom completed acquisitions of Telefonica’s operations in Panama and Nicaragua last year but is now claiming it needs the permission of Costa Rica’s Comptroller-General to finalize the acquisition.
Telefonica, headquartered in Madrid, Spain, one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world, has been pulling back from its operations in the Americas since late last year, aiming to focus more closely on its European markets.
Millicom owns and operates under the Tigo brand in Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Colombia and Bolivia.
TigoStar is Costa Rica’s leading pay TV operator with more than 30 years of service under different brand names dating back to Millicom’s acquisition of Amnet in 2008, at the time a leading Central American provider of broadband Internet and cable television, for US$510 million.
Millicom’s first venture in Costa Rica
Prior to the Amnet purchase, during the first administration of President Oscar Arias (1986-1990), Millicom was awarded a concession to exploit a radio frequency that allowed it to offer cell phone service outside the state monopoly (ICE).
Millicom left the country in 1995, two years after the Sala Constitucional (Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court) ruled that the original concession violated the constitutional provision that reserves for the state the exclusive right to operate telecommunications services.
The contract with Millicom was therefore nullified, and the company was forced out of business in Costa Rica in May 1995. ICE ended up taking over Millicom´s infrastructure.
(AP) — With the world pretty much devoid of sports events because of the coronavirus pandemic, boxing resumed in Nicaragua on Saturday night with a televised eight-fight card in front of a live, though sparse audience in Managua.
Fans keep social distance as a preventive measure against the coronavirus during a boxing event at the Alexis Arguello Sports Complex in Managua, Nicaragua, on Saturday. Jorge Torres/EPA
Promoter Rosendo Álvarez, a former two-time world champion, had dismissed the threat of the virus,
“Here we don’t fear the coronavirus, and there is no quarantine. The three deaths (reported so far by the Ministry of Health) came from outside and nobody within the country has been contaminated,” Álvarez, known as “El Búfalo,” said before the event.
But his offer of free tickets appeared to fill only about a tenth of the 8,000 seats in the Alexis Argoello gym. Officials did not announce attendance figures.
Spectators sit in the bleachers wearing masks and practice social distancing at the Alexis Arguello Sports Center on Saturday in Managua, Nicaragua. Nicaragua is one of the very few countries that allows sport events during the COVID-19 pandemic. Getty Images
The fights were broadcast by Nicaragua’s state-owned Canal 6 and ESPN Latin America through its ESPN KnockOut program.
Alvarez said he signed up the 16 local boxers for the card because they needed to work.
“Nicaragua is a poor country and the boxers have to eat. They can’t stay shut up in their house,” he said.
The government insists Nicaragua has been barely touched by COVID-19. The Ministry of Health reports only 11 positive cases and the three deaths. Meanwhile, in neighboring or nearby countries the regional Central American Integration System has reported roughly 13,000 cases and about 500 deaths.
Fighters wearing face masks get ready inside the locker rooms at the Alexis Arguello Sports Center in Managua, Nicaragua. Inti Ocon/Getty Images
The Nicaraguan baseball and soccer leagues are still playing, and Saturday’s local sports pages included stories on a triathlon and school wrestling tournaments. President Daniel Ortega recently ordered 1.8 million students back to school and 170,000 state employees back to work following a 15-day vacation.
This month alone, the government Tourism Institute promoted at least 81 mass events, including carnivals and parades. The government’s approach has prompted expressions of concern from the Pan American Health Organization and alarmed local experts.
Nicaraguan boxer Jordan Escobar wears a face mask during warm-ups in the locker room, before his bantamweight fight against Harvy Calero. Getty Images
“Popular celebrations, massive funerals, marches and similar activities increase the risk of multiple simultaneous outbreaks in the whole country,” warned epidemiologist Álvaro Ramírez. “I still don’t understand what the government is betting on.”
Álvarez said his organization was taking protective measures at the bouts. Spectators were told to stay at least 2 meters (6 1/2 feet) from the ring, and medics checked temperatures when they entered. Face masks were required.
Boxers also had to have “a rigorous medical checkup,” he said. But he said there were no tests for the coronavirus, because “none of them have symptoms nor have they gotten sick in training.”
A Connecticut, U.S., native and her husband quit their jobs last year to sail around the world — now they’re stranded off the coast of Nicaragua amid a global pandemic, reaching out for help.
Garrett and Audrey Ruhland aboard their 35-foot sailboat Thisldu.(Handout)
Audrey and Garrett Ruhland sailed south from Chiapas, Mexico, on March 11, hoping to meet up with friends in Costa Rica on March 26 and possibly store their boat there.
El Salvador and Panama had already closed their borders by that point. The couple sailed for 64 hours straight to Nicaragua, the only country that would take them, two days later.
On Tuesday, they learned the Avianca Airlines flight they planned to board as soon as Managua’s airport reopened on May 7 is no longer happening.
Audrey and Garrett Ruhland’s sailboat is pictured in this provided photo. (Handout)
“My husband Garrett and I just received news from the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua that all flights out of Managua have been postponed until at least June,” Audrey, 31, told the Daily News in an email sent from her 35-foot sailboat named Thisldu.
The new target date for reopening the airport is now June 4, she said.
“We are now vetting the option of sailing back to Chiapas, Mexico, but are unable to get the proper exit paperwork from Nicaragua because the offices are closed. This paperwork is required by the Mexican government,” she wrote.
In her desperation, she reached out to global shipping company UPS on Tuesday morning.
“They are still operating flights from Miami to Managua. I asked if it would be possible for my husband and I to get on one of those flights home,” she said.
“We are doing okay, just making it our priority to be able to return home,” she said.
The couple has been sheltering in place at Marina Puesta del Sol in Aserradores, Nicaragua, since March 13, as “coronavirus began spreading at a rapid rate and the world started changing around us,” she wrote in a blog post over the weekend.
“Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Costa Rica and Panama. They’re all closed to us now,” she said. “There is no telling how long we will be stuck in Nicaragua.”
In her email to The News, Audrey said she and Garrett, 32, are still pursuing the option of returning to Mexico, but flying out of Nicaragua would be safer.
“Sailing to Mexico right now is not ideal because we’re entering lightning season. Plus, the uncertainty that would lie ahead of us during that three-day sail would be harrowing. Still, it might be our best bet for getting home” to the U.S., she wrote.
The Thisldui is anchored at Isla Isabella.(Handout)
She also pointed out a line in her weekend blog post explaining how the couple’s dire situation unfolded.
“If you’re wondering why it’s taken us this long to arrange travel out of Nicaragua, I want to remind you that our sailboat is our home. It holds everything that we own,” she wrote.
She said they’ve enjoyed their time in Nicaragua “immensely,” but they’re worried coronavirus is spreading in the country without adequate detection or social distancing measures.
And she’s worried about her husband.
“Garrett is prone to asthma,” she told The News. “We do not want to be taking up the country’s already limited resources.”
She said safety is the couple’s top priority, and they’re ready to return home.
“There’s still a lot of unknown ahead of us. Being in this position of uncertainty is hard. This week has been emotionally charged and, as a result, emotionally draining. We are, though, both on the same page and are trying our best to come home,” she wrote on her blog.
Carole said Don was planning to eventually move to Costa Rica (Image: Netflix)
Tiger King star Carole Baskin has spoken out about her late husband Don Lewis, who mysteriously disappeared and he has never returned. The multi-millionaire was 59 when he vanished without a trace from his home in Tampa, Florida on August 18 in 1997.
Carole said Don was planning to eventually move to Costa Rica (Image: Netflix)
Lots of mystery has surrounded his missing person after the mutli-millionaire left behind his wife Carole and his reported US$5 million fortune.
Conspiracy theorists have been delving into the missing person’s past to try and work out what really happened to him on a reddit thread. They were sold on the idea Don had been flying his plane to Costa Rica every month because he had become tangled up in the dark drug trade.
Chatter led to discussions about claims from a so-called friend suggesting Don liked to bury cash in the ground. Theorists concluded Don was killed in a drug trade gone wrong.
The hit Netflix docu-series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” (available in Costa Rica) focuses on the rise and fall of zoo owner Joe Exotic, which closely relates to his passionate hate towards animal rights activist Carole.
Who is Joe Exotic? The true story of the “Tiger King” told in the latest Netflix docu-series. As highlighted in Tiger King, zoo owner Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, accused Baskin, his rival in the exotic animal world, of murdering her husband. Image: Netflix.
The show chronicled Joe’s downfall – including his apparent plan to have Carole, 58, murdered, seemingly as revenge for the fact she campaigned to have his zoo closed.
However, viewers were also fascinated by Carole’s own mysterious past and of her missing millionaire ex-husband Don.
Throughout the documentary Joe accused Carole of murdering her husband Don Lewis and feeding him to her tigers, to get her hands on his large fortune.
Carole has always denied murdering her husband, calling the theories “totally outlandish”.
Carole speaks out about her husband’s sexual past.
As viewers became more and more curious about just how Don disappeared, Carole has now spoken out about her husband’s sexual past.
Carole Baskin revealed some intimate details about her late husband’s sex-fuelled past (Image: Netflix)
The Big Cat Rescue star has claimed her late husband Don took frequent trips to Costa Rica for sexual dalliances.
She claimed he indulged in daily sex in Costa Rica while Carole was on her period.
In Carole’s article on Big Cat Rescue’s website titled Refuting Netflix Tiger King, Carole went into detail about Don’s hidden past.
She penned: “Don spent one week per month in Costa Rica. Don was a man who wanted to have sex daily. He would go to Costa Rica during the week I was having my menstrual cycle.
Don mysteriously disappeared in August 1997 and has not been found since. The photo seems to be taken at Manuel Antonio. (Image: Netflix)
“I accepted this as something I had to live with.
“During the week he was away, I would haul off the property as much of the junk as I could. Wendell told Don I was doing this.
“Don tried calling the police to get them to stop me. They told him he would need a restraining order. It is unclear if it was Don’s idea that to get a restraining order he should say I threatened him or if someone like Wendell suggested that.
“Don filed for the order on June 20, 1997, and it was denied.”
The animal rights activist told friends Don was planning to eventually move to Costa Rica.
In early 1997, he began transferring ownership of his properties in Florida to a Costa Rican company he controlled.
In the days leading up to his disappearance, he had bought a plane ticket to Costa Rica and he was loading equipment onto a truck destined for Miami.
Carole inherited Don’s fortune following his disappearance (Image: Hillsborough County Sherriff’s Office)
Carole penned: “Don had told me about people going to Costa Rica and disappearing. Our Costa Rican attorney, Roger Petersen, said the Helicopter Brothers (the Brothers as they were known, who ran a high monthly rate investment scheme) were the local version of the mafia and Don was loaning them money.
“Don was not easy to live with and like most couples, we had our moments. But I never threatened him and I certainly had nothing to do with his disappearance.
“When he disappeared, I did everything I could to assist the police. I encouraged them to check out the rumors from Costa Rica, and separately I hired a private investigator.”
(Image: Netflix)
Carole lashed out at the way she was depicted in the Netflix documentary and took aim at the way details of her ex-husband’s disappearance were presented in the docuseries.
She wrote in a statement: “When the directors of the Netflix documentary Tiger King came to us five years ago they said they wanted to make the big cat version of Blackfish (the documentary that exposed abuse at SeaWorld) that would expose the misery caused by the rampant breeding of big cat cubs for cub petting exploitation and the awful life the cats lead in roadside zoos and back yards if they survive.”
She slammed the documentary as “lies and innuendos from people who are not credible”.
The cat lover claimed she feared Don had developed Alzheimer’s and she had arranged for him to see a specialist.
She added: “I rescheduled an appointment for him to see the specialist Dr. Gold. But he disappeared before the appointment date.”
Source: The Mirror UK, Netflix, Wikipedia, Q Files
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board approved Costa Rica’s request for emergency financial assistance of about US$504 million to help the country meet the urgent needs stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funds will provide timely resources to support essential health expenditure and relief measures for the vulnerable populations, and to meet the urgent balance of payment need stemming from the pandemic.
The IMF says Costa Rica has taken extensive and important measures to contain the pandemic since early-March—including mandatory quarantines, closures of schools, public offices, and most public spaces, reduced work hours in the private sector, travel restrictions, and construction of a specialized hospital for Covid-19 treatment.
These necessary containment measures, coupled with the global economic downturn, are expected to take a major toll on the economy in the short term and cause a temporary deterioration in the country’s fiscal and external positions. It is estimated that the pandemic opened a balance of payments gap of about US$1.6 billion.
The IMF concluded its report saying, “To facilitate the recovery and counter future shocks, the (Costa Rican) authorities should maintain accommodative monetary policy and exchange rate flexibility and safeguard the stability of the financial system. Implementing a wide range of structural reforms underpinned by OECD accession would boost Costa Rica’s competitiveness and resilience to future shocks.”
That possibly the closure of borders extends beyond May 15, is what has generated pressure from the tourism sector to reactivate its activities and thus curb the economic impact it suffers from the Coronavirus.
Graphic by La Republica
But before lifting this restriction on foreigners entering the country, the Minister of Health says we must be cautious and talked about allowing domestic tourism first.
“We have seen that the countries that have opened borders after having them closed and with a good evaluation of the Coronavirus, have had unfavorable situations, a setback that they did not estimate.
“Opening the borders at this time would mean starting to have centers of transmission in all over the country and it would be a matter of days to have an expanded community transmission scenario.
“I understand the concern of the tourism sector, I think that the most cautious thing would be – in time and if the curve of the increase in cases allows it – start to see how we do with domestic tourism,” said Salas.
The tourism sector must carry out a protocol to resume its activities, which must be endorsed by the Ministry of Health.
The streets of downtown San Jose this holiday Friday, May 1, seemed like a victory day, the fight had been won, it is over, was there ever a pandemic? in the midst of a national health emergency by Covid-19.
Photos shared on social networks told the story. The “boulevard” was full of people everyone, few to none kept social distancing, as if there was any room and didn’t were face masks.
In the burbs, there were photos of long lines of cars waiting to enter supermarkets.
In addition, similarly, around the Josefino markets, a large number of customers were observed comparing this morning Friday morning.
But would a holiday in San Jose be like a protest march? Yes, a protest march.
A group of protesters took to Avenida Segunda in the so-called “marcha de los trabajadores” (workers’ march) for May 1 labor day, despite the sanitary restrictions by COVID-19 … but they were disbanded by Fuerza Publica and Traffic Police.
With masks and posters, several people protested the debt that the State has with the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS).
Édgar Ramírez, an independent worker, said that this year’s march was very different from the one held every May 1st.
The protest was short-lived. as police pressed to clear the Avenida.
Protesters assured that they took all necessary measures in the face of the situation in the country. However,
In various points of the capital, police operations were maintained, trying to control vehicular flow and respect for sanitary restrictions.
This Friday, May 1, the Ministry of Health, confirmed 725 cases of the covid-10, 6 more compared to the day before.
Of them 651 are nationals and 74 foreigners; by ages 687 are adults (38 of whom are seniors) and 38 minors.
According to Rodrigo Marín, director of Health Surveillance, 355 have recovered since the first case was reported on March 6, representing 48.9%.
As of Friday, the number of active case dropped to 364.
A total of 16 patients are hospitalized, of whom 9 are in intensive care.
Regrettable, 6 deaths have been reported.
According to the information provided by Health, the infected cases have been detected in 62 cantons, that is, only 20 of the 82 have not yet registered cases.
According to CCSS President Román Macaya, patients in intensive care have spent an average of 15.6 days.
However, he said, the characteristics of the patients affect how long they remain in that condition, they are usually elderly or with factors such as hypertension, obesity, asthma or cancer.
The patient with the longest stay was a month and a half.
“The exit protocol depends on a case-by-case basis, there are patients who leave the hospital directly, from the ICU to their home, there are others who take a step before leaving, to a hospital ward. At this time as we do not have saturated our services, we could be transferring patients with intermediate care to the covid center to decongest the intensive care units,” explained Macaya.
Rodrigo Marín, for his part, insisted that despite the numbers of “privilege, luxury” that the country has, the virus continues to circulate.
“We have to maintain those personal efforts of social distancing, of washing our hands, of not touching our faces, telecommuting and everything we can do to mitigate that risk.
“Until there is a vaccine the game is not over. This game changes the moment there is a vaccine. These good practices are to live in the midst of a pandemic,” said Marin.
Macaya reported that they have already completed the quality evaluation of all the materials that were donated by China, that arrived in Costa Rica by plane between Saturday and Monday.
“100% of the lots that entered on three different flights were evaluated and all the lots of personal protective equipment meet the quality standards and certifications established by the CCSS,” he assured.
Eduardo Cruickshank, becomes the first Afro-descendant to be president of the Legislative Assembly
Eduardo Cruickshank was elected president of the Legislative Assembly for the coming year, as part of the political process every May 1.
Eduardo Cruickshank, becomes the first Afro-descendant to be president of the Legislative Assembly
Eduardo Newton Cruickshank Smith has been interested in politics since he was a young man, when he studied Law at the University of Costa Rica (UCR). However, about five years ago, he was not planning to become a deputy in his plans.
But it wasn’t until 2018 when he decided to leave behind the pulpit for the ‘curul’ (legislative bench), and now at the center of Costa Rica’s Legislative power.
Before entering politics, Cruickshank was a pastor in the Colina de su Gloria church, in his native Limón, when he received an invitation from Carlos Avendaño to join the National Restoration Party (PRN), facing the 2018 elections.
His wife, Jeannette Edwards, says that the decision was not an easy one.
“He did not want to accept immediately, he consulted with his family, with God, with his brothers who know about politics, to see what they thought. However, he was very hesitant, saying: “I am going to see that God gives me some sign,” said Jeannette Edwards, a professional in Law and former candidate for mayor of Limón.
Despite his initial apprehension, on May 1, 2018, Cruickshank assumed his seat at Cuesta de Moras. Two years later, on the same date and now 62 years old, he was elected to the presidency of the Legislative Assembly.
Jeannette Edwards says that her husband, Eduardo Cruickshank (right), tries to spend as much time as possible with his family in Limón. The legislator poses here during the wedding of one of his children. Photo: Courtesy of Eduardo Cruickshank’s family.
His appointment is framed as the first time that an Afro-descendant person reaches the high office. Since he began his legislative role, Cruickshank has been characterized for including in his work the denunciation of racism.
The new leader of Congress has been married for 37 years, has two children and is a grandfather. In addition, he is the youngest of eight brothers, one of whom is Clinton Cruickshank Smith, a former legislator and former presidential candidate of the National Liberation Party (PLN).
He did primary school at the General Tomás Guardia School in Limón. Later, he moved to San Pedro de Montes de Oca, San José, where he attended the Liceo José Joaquín Vargas Calvo school. He is a graduate of law at the University of Costa Rica (UCR).
Teamwork for the protection of national security and health in this country.
Officers from the Immigration Police, the Fuerza Publica (National Police) and Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ) working together to keep the northern border with Nicaragua secure.
Teamwork for the protection of national security and health in this country.
In addition to these three police forces, taking part in the border security are Border Pollice (Policia de Fronteras) and Air Surveillance
Entering the Central Market in downtown San José through the main entrance will have now have to go through a “disinfection tunnel” installed on Thursday with the aim of reducing exposure to COVID-19.
The novel strategy caught the attention of visitors, many of them entered the tunnel without hesitation.
Johnny Arce, president of the Central Market Retail Merchants Union, explained that there is no risk to people’s health.
“It is an aspiration system, the product used is called fifth generation quaternary ammonium,” explained Arce. This substance is ideal for disinfecting surfaces commonly found in disinfectant wipes, sprays and other household cleaners that are designed to kill germs.
“There are two recommendations we give: They cannot pass food through the tunnel or with open wounds,” added Arce.
The 15-day pilot plan was started with the support of two companies, one manufacturer and the other operational. “The idea is to evaluate the benefits of the system to determine if it is worth using at entry points,” said Arce.
The sanitation tunnel has sensors that activate the mechanism when a person enters.
“It was a quite enriching experience,” said the administrator of the Central Market, Roberto Campos, about the first day of testing.
“In normal conditions, up to 5,000 people pass through here daily. Now, due to the pandemic, there is a considerable reduction, about 1,000 per day. I calculate that today, through that entrance, about 650 or 700 people passed through,” Campos said.
The proposal becomes relevant if the large number of workers who live there are taken into account.
“We are more than 500 (workers), so we try to go through the tunnel every time we go out and enter the market,” concluded Arce.
Axios – Whenever you’re ready to fly again, be prepared: air travel after the coronavirus will look and feel a lot different from the last time you boarded a plane.
The big picture: With passenger traffic down 95% during the height of the pandemic, airlines have all but given up on trying to salvage the lucrative summer travel season. The global industry expects to lose $314 billion this year, and airline executives say it could be two to three years before air travel recovers to pre-crisis levels.
In the meantime, pack your patience along with your face mask: everything is going to take longer.
Expect new procedures for everything from luggage check-in to security clearance and boarding.
You might even need to have your blood tested to prove you’re in good health before boarding.
“9/11 changed travel completely with added security checks and longer check-in times. The impact of COVID-19 on air travel will be even more far-reaching,” says airline consultant Shashank Nigam, CEO and founder of SimpliFlying, in a blog post.
The big question: How much hassle will people tolerate, or will they avoid flying altogether?
What’s happening: Right now, flights are practically empty, making it easy to spread out for social distancing.
Despite a $50 billion taxpayer-funded relief package, airlines say they’ll need to shrink to match lower demand. As they consolidate flights, planes will fill up again.
Jet Blue Airways and United Airlines say they’ll require passengers to wear face masks, and others say they’ll make them available. (Flight crews are already wearing masks on many airlines.)
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, wants the FAA to make masks mandatory for everyone.
Airlines also say they’ll limit ticket sales so that middle seats can remain open.
Masks and social distancing are only the beginning. In a new report, “The Rise of Sanitised Travel,” SimpliFlying anticipates dozens of ways air travel might change in the coming months and years. Some examples:
Online check-in: Besides choosing their seat or paying for checked bags, passengers might also need to upload a document to confirm the presence of COVID-19 antibodies before they fly.
Airport curbside: Passengers could be required to arrive at least four hours ahead of their flight, and pass through a “disinfection tunnel” or thermal scanner to check their temperature before being allowed to enter the airport.
Check-in and bag drop: New touchless kiosks would allow passengers to check in by scanning a barcode, or using gestures or voice commands. Agents would be behind plexiglass shields, and bags would be disinfected and then “sanitagged.”
Health check: Passengers would undergo a health screening, and potentially even have their blood tested. In April, Emirates became the first airline to conduct rapid on-site COVID-19 testing of passengers before boarding.
Security: Each carry-on bag and security bin would be disinfected when entering the X-ray machine, using fogging or UV-ray techniques, then “sanitagged.”
Boarding: Passengers would need to be present an hour before departure, maintain social distancing in the gate area and board only when they receive individual notifications on their smartphones to prevent crowding in the jet bridge.
On the plane: The pre-flight safety video might include sanitation procedures, as passengers wipe down their seats and tray tables. In-flight magazines will be removed, seatback pockets emptied, and passengers will likely use their own devices to watch videos. An in-flight janitor might keep lavatories and other high-touch areas disinfected after passenger use.
What to watch: Designers like Italy’s Aviointeriors are contemplating new seating arrangements or barriers between seats to minimize the risk.
Imagine the middle seat facing the other way, for example, with clear barriers between passengers.
The bottom line: If it seems hard to fathom, remember this: we never imagined we’d have to take off our shoes before passing through airport security, either.
More than 90 vaccines are being developed against SARS-CoV-2 by research teams in companies and universities across the world. Researchers are trialling different technologies, some of which haven’t been used in a licensed vaccine before.
At least six groups have already begun injecting formulations into volunteers in safety trials; others have started testing in animals. Nature’s graphical guide explains each vaccine design, Nature.com reports.
Four of the 40 Costa Ricans who arrived on April 29 on a flight from Ecuador tested positive for the new Covid-19 coronavirus, the Ministry of Health confirmed Thursday.
After arriving in Costa Rica, health authorities located at the Juan Santamaría Airport performed (without exception) the Covid-19 diagnostic tests on all returnees. In addition, they issued them the mandatory 14-day isolation order.
As reported by the Ministry of Foreign Relations, of the 40 Costa Ricans who arrived in the country, 26 of them had to travel for eight hours by bus from the city of Guayaquil, epicenter of the covid-19 in Latin America, to catch the flight in Quito. In addition, they detailed that within this group there were children, seniors and a pregnant woman.
“It is a joy to back in Costa Rica”
After a month of being stranded in Ecuador, two Costa Rican crew members of the rescue flight from Quito said that returning to Costa Rica is a great joy and relief due to the health crisis Ecuador is currently facing due to Covid -19.
Sylvia Piedra, one of the Costa Ricans who was stranded in the city of Guayaquil, said that the news of the opening of a humanitarian flight meant great joy for her and her family.
“We are very happy to be in our country, because the situation that is being experienced in Ecuador is a true martyrdom and represents an enormous risk for us and our families.
“It was a long process and I think we all thought that we were not going to make it, but it was possible and we thank all the people who allowed us to be back in our homes,” she said.
With the same enthusiasm, Raquel Brenes, another Costa Rican residing in Ecuador, mentioned that the humanitarian flight was almost a “rescue” from the nightmare that many Ticos were living in the South American country.
“It gives us a lot of peace and tranquility knowing that we are already in our country, we have been waiting for it for more than a month,” she explained.
Ticos were to get back home safely thanks to the Seven Seas Navigator cruise liner. The purpose of this ship was a humanitarian visit to the Puntarenas Pier for the return of 3 Costa Ricans who were working as members of the crew of Norwegian Joy.
The Costa Ricans, one from Frailes de Desamparados and two from Limon, said that they were transferred via water taxi from one ship to another and began their journey on April 20 from Los Angeles, California.
On arrival at Puntarenas, the INCOP proceeded to apply prevention protocols of the COVID-19 at the dock, and the immigration service proceeded with the corresponding immigration control.
Each of the Costa Ricans were issued the sanitary mandatory 14-day isolation orders as a preventive measure to prevent the spread of COVID- 19.
They were also tested fore COVID-19 tests carried out by CCSS officials.
The vessel reported on April 27 that it has no symptoms in any of its 342 crew. The ship does not have passengers.
After the landing of the Ticos, the Seven Seas Navigator will remain at the Puntarenas Pier to receive port services.
Horses joined the fight against COVID-19 in Costa Rica and will even put up their blood to defeat the virus that has the world on its knees. The horses will not suffer in the process.
Scientists at the Clodomiro Picado Institute, of the University of Costa Rica (ICP-UCR), who are working on creating the treatment against the new coronavirus, have two battlefronts, one is with the blood of patients who had COVID-19 and recovered and the other is the contribution of rucos (horses).
Dr. Mariángela Vargas Arroyo, who was awarded in 2016 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for her innovation in a new method to fractionate blood plasma more efficiently and at a lower cost.
In order not to be completely dependent on human donors, various viral proteins will be used to immunize six horses donated to the UCR and thus obtain antibodies from horses.
The method consists of the following: some of the proteins of the new coronavirus are repeatedly injected into the horse and, in three months, the animal will have produced a good amount of antibodies with the capacity to neutralize the virus.
Scientists then draw the blood and separate the blood cells from the blood plasma, which contains the antibodies.
Saving antibodies
The Clodomiro Picado Institute of the UCR and INCIENSA are working on the development of three strategies with human and horse plasma to achieve powerful antibodies against the coronavirus.
Antibodies generated by the horse against the coronavirus are then purified and finally used to prepare the medication, which is an injectable liquid kept in a vial.
Human contribution. If a person recovers fully from the COVID-19 disease, their body achieves an immunity (resistance) to that coronavirus that can be extracted from the plasma of their blood and used to save the lives of other people with acute symptoms caused by this pandemic.
That immunity, created by the human being himself, is thanks to the antibodies that cling to the virus and win the fight. This plasma has already managed to beat the virus (it is called immunoglobulin-antibody therapy).
Understanding that, as confirmed by the ICP-UCR, Costa Rica has the potential to generate a treatment based on human plasma and make it available to the country.
But ICP-UCR is not working alone.The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), the Costa Rican Institute for Research and Teaching in Nutrition and Health (Inciensa), the Clinical Laboratory and the Blood Bank of the University of Costa Rica ( LCBS-UCR), will also the effort.
This first test batch does not remove COVID-19. It is just a test to verify that the production line planned to process the plasma of convalescent people of such disease will not have any problem when the CCSS sends the input.
“Sera from convalescent patients or from hyperimmunized volunteers (a person who has a higher amount of antibodies than normal) have been used successfully in diseases such as rabies or Ebola. Reports of the efficacy of these preparations for treating COVID-19 are scarce, but some developed countries are already opting for this alternative,” explained Dr. Guillermo León Montero, coordinator of the Industrial Division of ICP-UCR.
If all goes well, the proposed project needed several institutions in the country to agree, as they are already doing. The CCSS will collect the plasma from donors who have recovered from the covid-19.
The Inciensa and the LCBS-UCR will carry out the necessary analyzes to demonstrate that this plasma (from the blood of voluntary donors) is free from SARS-CoV-2 and other important diseases that prevent this blood from being used in transfusions.
“The results obtained were very satisfactory and as expected. The characteristics are as required and therefore it is an injectable product in terms of chemical and microbiological quality,” said León.
With the foregoing achieved, the Clodomiro Picado Institute will use its experience in the production of snake antivenoms, in order to produce a preparation of purified antibodies from plasma.
The final medication will be in an antibody solution to be injected into patients intravenously and the dose will vary according to the patient’s need.
It is estimated that, per 25 liters of plasma recovered from donors, 50 vials (doses) of 50 ml can be produced. Depending on the condition of the sick person, one dose may be enough to save their life.
Labor Day or International Workers Day is celebrated annually on 1 May in Costa Rica, Latin America and around the world. It is a national holiday in more than 80 countries to celebrate the working class.
For most countries, Labor Day is synonymous with or linked with, International Workers’ Day, which occurs on 1 May. Some countries vary the actual date of their celebrations so that the holiday occurs on a Monday close to 1 May.
In Costa Rica, May 1 it is a “de pago doble obligatorio” holiday, meaning if you are asked or required to work you will be paid a double salary for the day.
Also, no person is required to work on May 1. This means that if a person refuses to work on the day, they cannot be fired.
Dark Blue: Labour Day falls or may fall on 1 May. Light Blue: Another public holiday on 1 May. Light Red: No public holiday on 1 May, but Labor Day on a different date. Dark red: No public holiday on 1 May and no Labor Day. / Wikipedia.
In the United States, Australia, and Canada, Labor Day or Labour Day is celebrated at different times of the year.
The vivazo was detained and charged with smuggling migrants. He charged ¢30,000 a head.
Foreigners leaving the country by way of the north (Nicaragua) must leave through the authorized immigration post at Peñas Blancas, Costa Rican authorities warn.
The vivazo was detained and charged with smuggling migrants. He charged ¢30,000 a head.
Among the obvious reason, those leaving the country must submit to sanitary measures by COVID-19, for example, foreigner residents will have their migratory status in Costa Rica suspended and will not be able to return during the national emergency.
For this and other reasons, there are individuals who will get you across the border, through “blind spots”, evading migratory controls.
One of those is a Costa Rican man last name Rodríguez, who was detained by the Immigration Police for being suspected of illegally removing foreigners from the country along the northern border.
According to the authorities, the “vivazo” (profiteer) charged ¢30,000 colones per person to take them in a pickup truck and then leave them abandoned, to on their own cross the border undetected.
Immigration police and offiicals of the Fuerza Publica continually patrol the borders to detect illegal entry and exit from the country
Immigration arrested the suspect on Wednesday, April 29, just as he was taking five foreigners to the border in the area of La Trocha. He now faces charges of smuggling migrants.
Other “smugglers” help foreigners get to the other side in cars, vans, even on foot. They claim to know the routes across without detection or even claim to have authorities in their pocket.
More and more people, especially health workers, wear face masks as a preventive measure to avoid contagion. Photo: Rafael Pacheco
The Guanacaste town of Bagaces joined the list of cantons with cases of covid-19 in Costa Rica, Health Minister Daniel Salas confirmed this Thursday afternoon.
More and more people, especially health workers, wear face masks as a preventive measure to avoid contagion. Photo: Rafael Pacheco
Thus, positive cases are recorded in 61 of the 82 cantons of the seven provinces.
By age, there are 681 adults (38 of whom are seniors) and 38 minors.
There are 338 recovered. The number of regrettable deaths remains at 6, all men with an age range of 45 to 87 years.
Currently, 16 people are hospitalized, of whom 9 are in Intensive Care Units.
When asked (from journalists from their home or offices) if the reopening of borders is considered in the near future to allow the revival of the tourism sector, it was clear that Minister Salas does not see it as an immediate possibility.
He recalled that countries that have opened their borders after good management of covid-19, had setbacks.
“To open the borders at this time would be to have centers of transmission and it would be like having community transmission. The most cautious thing we could see if we can open domestic tourism, but opening the borders to foreigners could fill the country with cases and prevent the traceability we have had,” he said.
On the limited reopening of the economy that begins Friday afternoon, Salas warned, “If people forgot, we are in a pandemic”.
During the afternoon press conference, a day ahead of the trial run re-opening of the economy, Minister Salas made a call to people, that if they must go out, to try not to go out at peak times.
Lissette Navas and Francisco Duarte, of Inciensa,
At the conference table Thursday, Minister Salas was joined by Lissette Navas of Francisco Duarte, of the Inciensa, who explained the implications of the genome sequencing of the virus causing covid-19, achieved by the institution.
The fourth person at the table Thursday was Geannina Dinarte, minister de Labor, who spoke about the “Bono Proteger” program, that payments to the some 304,000 are being direct deposited to their account, reminding those who have been approved and not gotten paid, to review and submit correct bank account information.
A point made by Minister Dinarte, is that people who have automatic payments on their accounts, to deactivate them, or they could their Bono going to where it was not intended.
In accordance with the measures announced on Monday, April 27 by the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, the reactivation, although minimal, of economic activities will be allowed, on a trial basis, from 5:00 pm May 1 to 11:59 pm May 15.
This is the first test to determine the behavior of the public if there is compliance with the requirements of hygiene and social distancing and if in two weeks there will be more easing of measures or go back to stricter measures.
Note that Friday, May 1, is a public holiday in Costa Rica. And although many businesses can stay open for the first time since the national emergency began, some or many may not in observance of the national holiday
Economic activities from Monday to Sunday without time restrictions:
Home delivery (express) services.
Rent-a-cars agencies only for the purpose of providing assistance services to already rented vehicles, as well as the reception of returned vehicles.
Bicycle rentals.
Gasoline stations.
Community waste collection services.
Public and private health facilities (clinics, pharmacies, hospitals, laboratories, doctor’s offices, diagnostic radiology services, emergency services, optical, macrobiotic, among others), and veterinary clinics.
Health services in mobile units complying with the provisions of Executive Decree No. 41045-S.
Public, private and mixed Comprehensive Care Centers (CAI).
Care centers for people in vulnerable conditions.
Public parking lots.
Will be able to operate from Monday to Sunday without time restriction, but behind closed doors:
Theaters (except the Melico Salazar and Teatro Nacional) cinemas, churches, municipal council sessions, district councils, meetings of commissions and transfers of powers to municipal councils and mayors, with the minimum personnel required for the development of virtual broadcasts, with strict compliance with the preventive protocols and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health.
Able to operate from Monday to Sunday without time restriction with an occupancy capacity of 50%:
Farmer’s markets.
Grocery stores, supermarkets, mini-supermarkets, bakeries, butchers, greengrocers and the like.
Sale of agricultural, livestock, aquaculture and fishing products.
Sale of agricultural, veterinary and animal feed supplies.
Sale of hygiene supplies.
Sale of spare parts and accessories for vehicles, motors, bicycles, agricultural equipment, machinery and heavy and industrial equipment.
Repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles, tires, and workshops for bicycles, agricultural equipment, machinery and heavy and industrial equipment.
Lubri centers.
Car washes (lavacar).
RTV)\.
Beauty salons, barbershops and aesthetics.
Grooming salons for pets.
Municipal management platforms.
Public or private banking and financial services.
Funeral homes and / or wake chapels.
The institutions that, due to the nature of their functions, must remain open, such as the State agencies such as immigration, customs, phytosanitary services, land, sea and air border posts, among others.
All those other establishments with sanitary operating permits that do not provide face-to-face attention to the public.
A typical day downtown San Jose pre-covid-19. Photo vtubemobi
In the case of hotels, cabinas or other accommodation, only those that provide accommodation to:
Foreign tourists who are already in the country.
Flight crews or cases of special services.
Long-stay tourists or residents of the hotel.
Provide accommodation services to public administration officials or public service providers (banking, transportation of values, communications, electricity), or in the case of people who are working in the distribution service of merchandise or food items and first-class need, medicines, agricultural or veterinary supplies.
Provide services to embassies.
Can be open for business from Monday to Sunday from 5 am at 7 pm
Foor drive-thru windows and pick up.
Can be open for business from Monday to Friday from 5 am at 7 pm
Cinemas and theaters (with measures of separation of seats of minimum 1, 8 meters between each person and electronic reservation).
Short-stay accommodation activities (motels).
Will be able to operate from Monday to Friday from 5 am at 7 pm with an occupancy capacity of 50%:
Restaurants (businesses with Bar and Restaurant patents will only be allowed to operate the restaurant area with alcoholic beverages dispenser as long as they have an occupancy capacity of fifty percent (50%).
Food trucks and food courts.
Public service offices with customer service.
Call centers.
Livestock auctions.
Shooting ranges.
Can operate from Monday to Friday from 5 am at 7m, with an occupancy capacity of 25%:
Establishments for contactless sports practice or training.
Gyms with appointment scheduling and different hours for people with risk factors.
To calculate the capacity at 50% and 25% of the maximum capacity of the establishment, it will be done in accordance with the following parameters:
In accordance with the maximum capacity established in the sanitary operating permit. Said maximum capacity includes workers and occupants.
Must guarantee to keep a space of 1.8 meters between each person inside the establishment and on the sidewalks before entering.
In case the users of the service have to wait to be entered to the premises, they should be organized in rows in which the recommended safety distance is applied.
Regarding the spaces of no access to the public, the provisions of the “General Guidelines for owners and administrators of Work Centers for Coronavirus (COVID-19)” should be applied.
In addition to what is stated regarding the capacity, establishments must guarantee compliance with the general guidelines according to the type of care they provide.
For the complete AND official list of what businesses can be open and their hours, visit the Ministerio de Salud website.
Download the Ministry of Health resolution MS-DM-3845-2020.
The search for Allison Pamela Bonilla Vásquez resumed this Thursday morning, as agents of the Cartago office of the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) searched the lake of the Cachí dam, in Paraíso de Cartago.
The work was carried out in conjunction with divers and a speedboat, officials from the Fuerza Publica (national police) and Red Cross rescuers.
The search was resumed after weeks of nothing after new information of the possible location of the missing girl was received. The operation also extended to Urasca and San Gerónimo, towns in the Cachí district.
The search by the afternoon has not returned any results.
The OIJ believes the new information to be reliable, unlike the other information it has received in the past.
Allison Bonilla, 18, was last seen on March 4. Since then authorities, family and friends have come up empty in their search for the young girl. The only evidence found so far is a pair of prescription glasses Allison wore the day she disappeared, a voice message she sent to her boyfriend, of her walking quickly headed for her home, saying she believed she was being followed by two men.
The new coronavirus that circulates in Costa Rica does not have the same genome as that found in China, the country where it originated. Its composition indicates rather that it comes from the United States and other clusters that have fallen in other countries, such as Germany or Brazil.
This image, released by the United States Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), shows a human cell (in red) being affected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes covid-19
This information is already published on the page nextstrain.org, which collects the phylogeny (origin, evolution and development of a virus) of the different organisms. By Thursday afternoon, 4,147 sequences from different parts of the world had been placed on the platform.
The information on the virus in the country emerged from the analysis of six samples taken from Costa Rican patients: five men and one woman; three from Alajuela, one from Cartago, one from Heredia and one from San José.
It is a genomic study, in other words, getting to know the virus intimately, gene by gene. In other words, sequence their entire genome (the entire genetic material).
The work was carried out by the Costa Rican Institute for Research and Teaching in Nutrition and Health – Instituto Costarricense de Investigación y Enseñanza en Nutrición y Salud (Inciensa), attached to the Ministry of Health.
The results released at a press conference Thursday afternoon are only initial data, as Costa Rica prepares a further analysis of the virus genome.
“For some years, Inciensa has used techniques to see at the DNA level what the characteristics of these microorganisms are and we were able to isolate the genetic molecule and sequence it,” said Francisco Duarte, director of genomics at Incense, one of the scientists in charge of the project.
“This allows us to use that information to know and relate viruses, where they are from, if patients share similar viruses, if cases are related, it helps us with the diagnosis,” he added.
According to Health Minister Daniel Salas, this is the first time that a virus has been sequenced. It had previously been done with bacteria.
“The idea is to do it consistently, these are just the first cases,” said the Minister.
In fact, there are only six cases of 719 patients (as of today) that the country has registered and they are only representative of the Central Valley, so the investigation must increase in quantity and variety to see how the genetic variability of the virus behaves in the country.
Continuing sequencing is necessary because the virus that causes this disease has a constant mutation. These changes are not so dramatic that thousands of different vaccines (possibly two, one per strain defined so far) are needed or that they become ineffective in a very short time.
This new virus does not mutate as fast as influenza or HIV viruses. A report from the University of Edinburgh in the journal Science explains that SARS-CoV-2 mutates two to four times slower than influenza.
Not all covid-19 causing viruses are genetically identical, knowing which one or which circulates in Costa Rica is very useful for future vaccines or very specific treatments.
The genome tells us all the highly detailed “fingerprint” of the virus and this will allow us to make better decisions.
Allan Orozco, director of the Central American Bioinformatics Network and member of the Council of Clinical Bioinformatics of the Ministry of Health, makes an analogy that it is about translating a book in an unknown language to be able to read it.
“The new coronavirus has a curved chain-shaped book and is made up of 30,000 letters that define its genetic material. This string is made up of a combination of the following characters: A, C, G, U. This text has a length of about seven letter-size pages with 10 single-spaced courier letters. We must read that book to know the genome, “said the bioinformatician.
And he added: “but current devices cannot read the entire genome, they can read fractional parts and go little by little. They read little pieces, like puzzle pieces, and then they have to be built. Once the puzzle is assembled, you can read the book. ”
Why is this important? The information obtained allows, for example, to make decisions at the level of public health policies.
The road to Montevrede, one of Costa Rica's hot tourist destinations.
It’s official, foreigners in Costa Rica as tourists and who have entered the country after December 17, 2019, can legally drive even though their stay is beyond the 90-day limit.
The notice reads:
“Also extended until May 15 inclusive, the grace period for drivers whose license has expired after March 20, 2020, so that in this period of time (from March 20 to May 15, 2020) they are notfined for this cause.It is important to clarify that the people whose license has expired before March 20, 2020, do not apply for this grace period.
The same period of time applies to accredited drivers with a driver’s license abroad, with an uninterrupted stay in the country of more than three months and who had to approve the document from March 20.
In addition, for those who are in tourist condition and have entered the country after December 17, 2019, an extension is authorized until July 17 to renew, in case the approval is expired.”See here the MOPT notice (in Spanish).
Normally, foreigners – tourists – can legally drive in Costa Rica using a driver’s license from their home country (or another country) for up to a maximum of 90 days after their arrival (based on the entry stamp on their passport).
Due to the national emergency, many a tourist decided to stay in Costa Rica, riding out the pandemic in Pura Vida or could not find a flight home. Confusion arose when the immigration service extended (for those foreigners who entered the country after December 17, 2019) their legal stay in the country until May 15, 2020, and then last week to July 17, 2020.
However, the Ministry of Transport did not pronounce on the extension, leaving many confused, can they drive legally with their expired entry stamp?
The confusion was also in the ex-pat community of foreigners who live in Costa Rica but choose to continue on their tourist visa, doing a ‘border run’ periodically to stay current and be able to legally drive.
The measures taken by the government to close the borders to foreigners (unless they are residents), changed things.
Although, as we have mentioned here, it would have been unlikely that the Policia de Transito would have, during these times, fined a tourist (or ‘ex-pat tourist’) for driving with an expired entry stamp on their passport. Although, until now, they could have.
Dutch Customs officials have found 4.5 tonnes of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas from Costa Rica after a tip-off by a company in the port of Vlissingen.
Photo: Douane.nl Read more at DutchNews.nl:
The haul is one of the biggest ever made in the Netherlands and the drugs have a street value of some €180 million (US$195 million), officials said.
The authorities were alerted after the company found ‘irregularities’ while carrying out quality controls on the fruit.
Bananas are often used by drug smugglers to hide their wares. Last October, customs officials at Vlissingen port found 1,008 kilos of cocaine hidden in a consignment of bananas from Ecuador. And five days before that, officials at Rotterdam port found 800 kilos of cocaine, also in a shipment of bananas from Ecuador.
UPDATE
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With masks and posters, several people protested the debt that the State has with the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS).
