Category Archives: Editorial

As the economic realities sink in to the central government and lawmakers wrestle with revisions to a proposed value-added tax plan, the nation faces the possibility of unrest that has not been seen since the consideration of the free trade … Continue reading →

A news story Friday shined the spotlight again on the complexities of property ownership here. The uncertainties of keeping a property represent a drag on the expat real estate market. An investment in Costa Rica can lead to years of … Continue reading →

Today is the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Most who heard the startling news in the United States that Sunday afternoon are dead. Some died as a direct result of the sneak attack by the forces of … Continue reading →

The discussion and final vote over next year’s national budget was very revealing. Among the items cut was one for 356 million colons, about $712,000. The money was supposed to purchase new cars for magistrates in the Corte Suprema de … Continue reading →

his newspaper has supported consistently the Las Crucitas mine. We did that not because we love open pit gold mines, but because Industrias Infinito S.A. already had a permit when this newspaper arrived on the scene. Costa Rica has to … Continue reading →

The Laura Chinchilla Miranda administration has done little to stop the increase in the national deficit and the country’s budget. The Ministerio de Hacienda defends the lack of action by saying that the national budget is rigid. The administration has … Continue reading →

The fiscal general has made public what has been practiced for nearly a year by the nation’s prosecutors. Possession of small amounts of drugs will not result in criminal prosecution. The fiscal general, Jorge Chavarría, said this was a financial … Continue reading →

President Laura Chinchilla’s push for more taxes stems from her belief that government has to be the nanny. In her independence day speech she said that Costa Rica’s level of taxes is below its level of development. The idea that … Continue reading →

President Laura Chinchilla sees Costa Rica as an innocent party between South American drug producers and the United States, which she characterizes as the major consumer. This was a diplomatic way to tell the U.N. General Assembly “It’s not our … Continue reading →

There was a crowd at the Registro Nacional in Zapote Monday. Documents that are supposed to be available online are not because the Registro shut down its system. The Registro did so because the Sala IV constitutional court forbade it … Continue reading →

President Laura Chinchilla really led with her chin Monday when she told an audience in Nicoya that if they wanted something done they should talk to legislators. Ms. Chinchilla’s point was that opposition party members control the Asamblea Legislativa and … Continue reading →

President Laura Chinchilla told Guanacaste residents Monday to take their demands to legislators because opposition lawmakers now control the Asamblea Legislativa. The president showed some frustration during her speech at the annual Anexión del Partido de Nicoya celebration, in part … Continue reading →

For a country that prides itself on respect for human rights, the concept of innocent until proven guilty is frequently overlooked. Depending on the crime, a suspect may be tossed into the general prison population for months, even years, without … Continue reading →

President Laura Chinchilla met with executives at Intel Corp. in California earlier this month and invited the company to expand its operations in Costa Rica. Exports of Intel microprocessors account for 20 percent of value of the nation’s trade, which … Continue reading →

Today Luis Milanes will be back in court trying to buy his way out of a fraud trial. Costa Rican law allows a suspect to settle privately with crime victims to avoid a judicial process. Milanes, the operator of a … Continue reading →

Government-sponsored gambling is centuries old. Still, politicians cannot come to grips with the industry. When New York authorized a state lottery in 1967, cautious lawmakers required lottery players to purchase their tickets at a local bank. Eventually that dumb rule … Continue reading →

A wave of juvenile crime is seeping the country, and the existing laws are insufficient to handle the problem. The entire Costa Rican penal code is base on redemption, but some criminals cannot be redeemed. That goes for young criminals. … Continue reading →

How do Costa Rican officials justify ignoring the Hague Convention on Child Abduction? Time after time runaway moms from the United States come here with a child and try to get the courts here to block U.S. arrest warrants and … Continue reading →