The daily La Nación has decided not to publish a final elections poll scheduled for Wednesday by polling firm Unimer, because it is “too close” to Election Day. In six days, Costa Ricans will head to the polls to elect a new president and Legislative Assembly.
Boston Marathon bombing survivors Carlos Arredondo and Jeff Bauman were invited by the Obamas to attend the State of the Union on Tuesday. Arredondo, a Costa Rican, was captured with Bauman in the most iconic photo from the terrorist attack in April.
The Costa Rica Men's National Team – mainly playing with reserves – had an awful week, failing to score a goal in World Cup warm-ups to Chile and South Korea. But the most devastating loss for Costa Rica this week occurred in England when arguably the team's best player broke two bones in his leg during a Premier League match Saturday.
Costa Rica's offense produced another goalless game in a 1-0 loss to South Korea in Los Angeles on Saturday. Since qualifying for the World Cup last October, Costa Rica has been shut out in all three of its international friendlies in preparation for Brazil.
More than two decades after the Cold War, during which the United States backed anti-communist military rulers and pushed free-market policies in Latin America, conservative governments have virtually disappeared from the region.
Before the Europeans arrived in the Americas on the hunt for gold, the region's indigenous people used money that literally grew on trees. The tiny brown seeds that came to be known as cacao beans held real value, and the Incas, the Aztecs and Costa Rica’s Chorotega people all used cacao as currency. For them, it was worth as much as gold.
Johnny Araya, the ruling National Liberation Party's candidate for president and a poll leader heading into the Feb. 2 vote, promised Sunday to lead an administration with a "social face" if elected. Araya made the statement during a San José rally to wrap up his campaign.
At the height of the dry season, Amanda Black awoke in her hotel room to another radiant blue sky. She started the morning of Feb. 28, 2013, walking Jacó beach on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast with her father and sister, followed by a dip in the hotel pool. At 10 a.m., a beautician showed up to do her makeup, and the photographer arrived an hour later. At noon, Black met her extended family in the lobby of the Hotel Club del Mar, and they all boarded a bus.
