At 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Judicial Investigation Police agents raided the home of Jorge Sibaja Rodríguez, a lawyer and member of the ruling Citizen Action Party. Police are investigating Sibaja's alleged use of forged documents to commit fraud against the Costa Rican Social Security System, or Caja, in April.
Last month, a Costa Rican public security unit took part in regional “War Games” in Tolemaida, Colombia, where they competed in grueling challenges testing physical fitness, weapons marksmanship, aquatic skills and tactical capabilities. The event, dubbed “Fuerzas Comando,” is a United States Southern Command initiative aimed at fostering cooperation, trust, readiness and interoperability between international special forces and other military and police units.
Last Friday, President Luis Guillermo Solís and Environment Minister Edgar Gutiérrez signed a decree eliminating a 15 percent sales tax on national park entrance fees. The act reverses a controversial decree that went into effect last week, angering business owners in the tourism sector.
The bill sent by Finance Minister Helio Fallas includes nine major reforms that would give officials more tools to monitor and tax financial transactions, including a requirement that all businesses accept credit or debit cards as payment.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon rides a bicycle next to Costa Rica's Foreign Minister Manuel González, right, in San José on July 30, 2014....
Solís: "If the situation continues as it has, the world, not just Costa Rica, is going to have to take increasingly strong measure to protect the lives of the weakest who are being bulldozed by an attitude that does not agree with the values that the government of Costa Rica defends.”
Members of Costa Rica's Chamber of Commerce (CCCR) delivered President Luis Guillermo Solís a list of petitions asking him to increase actions to fight smuggling, tax evasion, black market sales and excessive bureaucracy in public agencies.
The lack of pomp surrounding the president's security might strike some as cavalier, but Luis Guillermo Solís has made the appearance of accessibility a symbolic gesture of the values of transparency and humility that he ran on as a candidate.
Costa Rica's government will "definitely" lower the forecast for this year's fiscal deficit as the government steps up efforts to fight tax evasion in the Central American country, Vice President Helio Fallas said.
Libertarian Movement Party lawmaker and former presidential hopeful Otto Guevara has presented a bill to abolish Costa Rica's Department of Intelligence and Security, and President Luis Guillermo Solís' pick to head the agency has drawn criticism.
