Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís doubled down on his country's pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2021 during an address at the U.N. Climate Summit in New York, on Tuesday morning. There, the president called on wealthier nations to do more to facilitate climate adaptation and mitigation efforts in middle and low-income nations.
Costa Ricans earning big bucks abroad should take note. Addressing the nation from New York on Sunday evening, President Luis Guillermo Solís announced two new taxes to improve the country's fiscal revenues, including a global income tax.
Casa Presidencial found itself among four government agencies under investigation by the Assistant Prosecutor for Probity, Transparency and Anti-Corruption following President Luis Guillermo Solís’ denunciations in his 100-day report on the state of the government in late August.
Legislators from the ruling Citizen Action Party, Broad Front Party and Social Christian Unity Party last week presented a bill at the Legislative Assembly to reform the country’s Labor Law, including a proposal that would eliminate a ban on strikes by some public workers, approved by the previous administration.
The Costa Rican Chamber of Industries on Thursday blasted a new 3.7 percent increase in electricity rates requested by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE). Chamber leaders urged the Public Services Regulatory Authority to reject the request, noting that ICE in July promised to cut spending and stabilize its finances in order to prevent electricity rate hikes for the next year and a half.
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.
In a tour de force Thursday night, President Luis Guillermo Solís delivered a frank and biting assessment of the disarray he encountered when taking office last May, and his 100-day efforts at changing an entrenched political culture of corruption.
On Monday evening, hours after the president requested an hour Thursday afternoon to present his assessment of the government as he found it after President Laura Chinchilla (2010-2014) left office in May, the heads of the fractious political parties refused to give him the floor. Solís blamed the National Liberation Party (PLN) for the delay in the report, which would be a first of its kind in Costa Rica.
Many Costa Ricans say that despite some early stumbles in the administration of Luis Guillermo Solís, the country is on the right track, and they rated the president's performance as good – for now.
