On July 25, 1824, Costa Rica’s annexation of Guanacaste became official. In 1848, the territory officially became a Costa Rican province with four cantons: Nicoya, Santa Cruz, Bagaces and Cañas. Today, Guanacaste has 11 cantons.
“The winds of independence blow all the way to ... Guanacaste," wrote Broad Front Party lawmaker Ronald Vargas in an op-ed criticizing the province's secondhand treatment by the central government.
For decades, residents in Costa Rica's northwestern province of Guanacaste have been drinking water containing dangerously high levels of arsenic. Despite a 2013 order from the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, government agencies still have not provided Guanacastecos with clean drinking water.
NICOYA, Guanacaste – Thousands gathered here Friday, including President Luis Guillermo Solís, to celebrate the culture of Guanacaste and the 190th anniversary of the annexation of the Partido de Nicoya to Costa Rica.
To celebrate this year's 190th anniversary of the annexation of the Partido de Nicoya, bilingual community newspaper La Voz de Guanacaste (The Voice of Guanacaste) has put together a musical video tribute based on Guadalupe Urbina's song, "Vengo de una Tierra" ("I Come from a Land").