Closing arguments are scheduled to last until May 1. A ruling could come later this year.

Public Works and Transport Minister Carlos Segnini on Wednesday announced the creation of a new agency called the National Infrastructure Institute (INI), and the imminent closing of the National Roadway Council (CONAVI) and the National Concessions Council (CNC). Employees who don't do their jobs could eventually be dismissed, he said.

With the theme “Silence is not an option for us,” Solís called for a more proactive Security Council and criticized the use of vetoes by permanent members of the council to obstruct conflict resolution.

Costa Rica's Foreign Minister Manuel González Sanz on Thursday expressed concern over the country's chilly relations with the Sandinista administration of Daniel Ortega to the north. González spoke about Costa Rica-Nicaragua relations during a two-hour hearing at the Legislative Assembly’s International Affairs Commission.

Judicial Investigation Police also announced another 1.9 metric ton seizure of cocaine in the Pacific beach town of Playas del Coco.

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís on Friday visited the isolated and impoverished border area in northern Costa Rica, the site of a troubled road project plagued by scandals and initiated by the previous administration of Laura Chinchilla.

Five days after being elected the presidential candidate of the ruling National Liberation Party, then-San José Mayor Johnny Araya flew to Panama in a private jet with Carlos Enrique Cerdas, the CEO of MECO construction, which has been awarded several public works projects, the weekly newspaper Semanario Universidad reported in its cover story on Wednesday.

Harsh prison conditions, domestic abuse, and human trafficking were among the top concerns the United States State Department’s 2013 Human Rights Practices report found in Costa Rica.

Construction of the road parallel to the Río San Juan not a real problem for the environment, court unanimously finds.