The author of "Musings from an Afro-Costa Rican" explores a family memory of the night World War II touched Costa Rican shores, and calls on Tico Times readers to help her honor those lost.
In downtown San José, just west of the Cementerio de Obreros, sits a forgettable lot of urban real estate where the municipality and the Public Works and Transport Ministry park garbage trucks and heavy equipment. But on this same spot 73 years ago, an internment camp was erected by the government to hold hundreds of German-Costa Rican prisoners after the United States and Costa Rica entered World War II in December 1941.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement that formally recognized the "reunification" of the breakaway Ukrainian region of Crimea with Russia. "To understand the reason behind such a choice," he said in a speech to parliament, "it is enough to know the history of Crimea and what Russia and Crimea have always meant for each other."