All Things Panama

As I write this, Costa Rica is celebrating the changing of the guard. Laura Fernandez has been sworn in as our new President. Three days earlier, on Tuesday, she introduced her cabinet in a setting that was part reality TV show, part sporting event. Fernandez stood center stage, backed by two large screens so those …

Read more “Costa Rica Enters Fernandez Era With Chaves Still in the Room”

A long-running dispute over informal beach work in Playa Tamarindo has flared again, after residents and massage workers reported new police action against women offering massages to tourists along one of Costa Rica’s busiest beach destinations. The conflict centers on a group of women who provide massage services on the beach, many of them working …

Read more “Costa Rica Beach Labor Dispute Grows After Tamarindo Massage Raids”

Costa Rica shed more than 56,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the same period last year, while an additional 118,000 people dropped out of the labor force entirely, according to the latest Continuous Employment Survey released by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC). The figures, covering the January–March 2026 …

Read more “Costa Rica Loses 56,000 Jobs as Workforce Participation Hits Multi-Year Low”

Costa Rica’s main international gateway has closed the 2025–2026 high season with its busiest period on record, according to airport operator AERIS, underscoring the country’s continued momentum as a top travel destination in the Americas. Juan Santamaría International Airport handled 3,215,208 passengers through its international terminal between November 2025 and April 5, 2026, a 7.9% …

Read more “Costa Rica’s San Jose Airport Closes Record-Breaking High Season”

After three consecutive years hovering near or above 870 homicides, Costa Rica appears poised to break the cycle. The Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) projects the country will close 2026 with fewer than 800 homicides — a shift that, if sustained, would mark the first meaningful reversal since the record-setting violence of 2023. The judicial …

Read more “Costa Rica on Track for First Sub-800 Homicide Year Since 2022,”

Leaked audio recordings published by a digital outlet reveal an alleged plot involving the United States, Israel, Honduras and Argentina to destabilize leftist governments in Latin America, one of the people responsible for releasing them said Friday. Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was pardoned by Donald Trump while serving a 45-year prison sentence …

Read more “Hondurasgate: Audios Reveal Alleged U.S. Plot Against the Left in Latin America”

Laura Fernández was sworn in Friday as president of Costa Rica, opening a new political era with a promise to take a hard line against organized crime, drug trafficking and what she described as weaknesses inside the country’s institutions. The 39-year-old political scientist took office during a large ceremony at the National Stadium in San …

Read more “Laura Fernández Takes Office as Costa Rica President With Tough Crime Agenda”

Costa Rica’s transfer of power on Friday is bringing a new president but not a clean break from the leader who dominated the last four years of national politics. Outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves will remain inside the next government as one of its most powerful figures after President-elect Laura Fernández named him minister of the …

Read more “Rodrigo Chaves Stays at Center of Power as Costa Rica Enters Fernández Era”

Visitors planning trips to Costa Rica should keep viral illnesses in perspective: hantavirus deserves awareness, but dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases remain the more common concern for travelers and residents. Hantavirus is carried by rodents and can infect people through contact with contaminated urine, droppings or saliva, especially when particles become airborne in enclosed spaces. …

Read more “What Tourists Should Know About Hantavirus and Dengue in Costa Rica”

Liberty Empresas has been authorized to resell Starlink’s high-speed satellite internet in Costa Rica, opening a new option for businesses, schools and organizations operating in rural or hard-to-reach areas. The service, called Internet Corporativo Satelital, is aimed at hotels in rural areas, farms, agroindustrial companies, regional offices, schools and colleges that need stable internet where …

Read more “Starlink Expands Business Internet Access in Rural Costa Rica”