Have you been keeping up with the various events taking place in Costa Rica? There is always something interesting going down, and here are five questions related to some of Ticolandia’s biggest stories this week:
1) Will it ever stop raining?
Tropical wave number 10 is presently soaking down much of the country. While that number is not out of the ordinary—in an average rainy season we may see 50 tropical waves—the amount of rain arriving with these waves has been on a level more normal for October, with roaring rivers and flooded streets being a common occurrence.
Some of the worst news comes from the coffee-growing region of Los Santos where 20–25 percent of the coffee harvest will likely be lost, meaning higher prices for our national energy drink.
2) Does Keylor Navas still have some magic left?
Costa Rica’s greatest ever fútbol player, who won multiple titles while defending the goal for two of the top teams in the world—Real Madrid and Paris St Germain—has returned to La Sele, the national team, after resigning his post a couple years back.
He is back in goal during the present Gold Cup and will likely be the starter for the qualifiers for next year’s World Cup. As he will be 39 next year, it remains to be seen if he can summon the cat-quick reflexes that took him to the top in the previous decade.
3) Will President Rodrigo Chaves refrain from campaigning in next year’s elections?
Costa Rican law prohibits an acting president from running for consecutive terms, but the Supreme Election Tribunal took it a step further recently, barring him from any behavior that might influence voters’ decision-making.
For Chaves, a populist with a fervent following who has shown no hesitation when it comes to confrontation with the long-time power structure, this may be like waving a red cape at a bull. This is one story that should only get hotter as next year’s election approaches.
4) How many people will have to make trips to the bank to exchange their old 500 colon coins?
Though it may seem hard to believe, when I first arrived here the largest banknote in circulation was the 1000 colon bill. I used to have a 1 colon coin dated 1968 that was the size and heft of an old US silver dollar.
As the currency devalued, the numbers on the bills got bigger, and what were once bills became coins. Then they changed the design of the bills, from paper to polymer, and those stuck with paper bills when the deadline for removing them from circulation had to go to the banks to exchange them.
Get ready to do the drill again as on July 1, the old 500 colon coin will no longer be usable, replaced by the bimetal coin first introduced in 2021 for Costa Rica’s bicentennial. Get those old 500 colon coins spent before then or get ready to queue up at the bank to exchange them.
5) Will Celso Gamboa be extradited to the US?
Celso Gamboa has been accused of being one of the leaders of a major cocaine smuggling ring. Who is Celso Gamboa? He was once a Supreme Court justice as well as having served as the Minister of Security a decade ago.
Right now he is in a bad way, with a DEA agent allegedly possessing recordings that show he was a kingpin, making millions by using his powerful position to allow passage of cocaine shipments through Costa Rica on the route to the north.
While it seems he may be busted, hold on—right now, from his cell in La Reforma, he claims to be suffering from all of the following: Colon cancer, celiac disease, skin cancer, personality disorder, anxiety, duodenal ulcers, stomach problems due to gastritis, insomnia, depressive disorder, and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
While he is requesting a transfer to a less spartan prison, he may also be laying the groundwork for having his extradition to the US, where he would spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted, denied on health and humanitarian grounds. Stay tuned.
