Our top 10 Costa Rica news stories from 2015, according to social media
December 29th, 2015 (ICR News) When it comes to interesting news, 2015 has not been an exception in Costa Rica.
In years past, ICR News has published lists of our “top stories” for the year as the year draws to a close. Previously, our editors were tasked with selecting the years’ most important stories, but this year we wanted to do something different.
So, this year our top stories list has been selected by you, or readers, based on Facebook ‘likes’ and shares. If you don’t subscribe yet to ICR News on Facebook, visit our Facebook page and click the ‘Like’ button to receive our news stories in your timeline.
Included in this list are only “one-off” stories; meaning ongoing stories such as the Cuban migrant crisis, are not included in this list (we have no way of tallying the social media shares of ongoing stories).
And so we present you with this year’s top stories that appeared in ICR News, according to our Facebook readers.
A bill presented in Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly this year proposing a 15-year moratorium on genetically modified crops and seed, known as GMOs, was apparently quite concerning to the United States.
The US’s concern was expressed in a May 26th letter sent to Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Trade, Alexander Mora by Ambassador Darci L. Vetter, the US’s chief agricultural negotiator.
The diplomatic letter, which was never intended to be made public, makes for an interesting read.
Click to read the original report.
Facebook Shares: More than 7,400
In a move that was widely condemned by numerous conservation groups, the government of Costa Rican president, Luis Guillermo Solis promised the commercial fishing sector in October that it will “not propose or support” the inclusion of shark species with commercial value to be protected in Costa Rican waters – or anywhere, for that matter – regardless if such species are threatened or endangered.
The report was shared more than 6,200 times on Facebook, and a response by conservationist, Captain Paul Watson published by ICR News the following day was itself shared nearly 3,000 times.
Click here for the original report.
Click here for Captain Paul Watson’s response.
Facebook Shares: More than 9,000 in total.
Christiana Figueres’ mandate was no small task: Persuade world leaders to make drastic cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions and avoid catastrophic global warming. Figueres, the United Nations climate chief, played a pivotal role in bringing diplomats, business executives and community groups to the negotiating table — all with the aim of reaching a global agreement to fight climate change.
She also hails from tiny Costa Rica.
Our December profile piece of Figueres’ proved immensely popular on social media. The profile piece not only details her role in the climate talks, but delves into her interesting life story going back to her childhood, including being the daughter of Jose Figueres Ferrer, the man who led the Costa Rican revolution of 1948 and served as president of the country three times.
Facebook Shares: More than 3,200
The highest tides recorded in 200 years flooded hundreds of homes on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast in September.
Authorities said at the time that the unusually high tides were the result of a lunar and solar cycle that occurs once every 18.65 years, bringing the moon’s minor axis nearest to Earth as the Earth makes its closest pass to the Sun as part of its orbit.
Click here to read the original report.
Facebook Shares: More than 1,100
Every year some 700 humpback whales from the Northern Hemisphere swim down to Marino Ballena National Park, located on the South Pacific side of Costa Rica, to mate and give birth to their young.
Despite its annual occurrence, the sight inspires awe in both tourists and locals alike each year, and 2015 was not exception.
Facebook Shares: More than 1,000
In what they called the world’s first “Driver Satisfaction Index,” the people behind the popular traffic and navigation smartphone app, Waze, ranked Costa Rica amongst the 10 worst countries in the world in which to drive.
Despite, perhaps, not being a surprise to some who live here; the October story still proved quite popular with our Facebook readers.
Click here here to read the story.
Facebook Shares: ~1,000
Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast witnessed some of the worst flooding it has seen in years in June of this year. Residents were forced into shelters as flood waters stormed through entire communities and multiple landslides left many communities completely cut off from the outside.
Some pretty amazing video and photos follow at the end of the story.
Click here to read the original reporting from June.
Facebook Shares: ~1,000
The headline says it all. On December 2nd, and after 110 years of relative calm, Nicaragua’s Momotombo volcano roared back to life with a fiery eruption, launching a column of gas and ash more than 26,000 feet into the air.
Click here for the original report.
Authorities in November arrested a 27-year-old man after a massive, nearly 12-foot tall marijuana plant was found growing outdoors in his home’s garden patio.
The massive pot plant was reminiscent of a scene from Little Shop of Horrors, and the story is worth checking out just for the photo.
Click here for the story and photo.
A security camera in October captured the scene as multiple gunmen with fully-automatic AK-47s intercepted a taxi and sprayed the vehicle with a hail of bullets in broad daylight in a San Jose neighborhood.
Nearly 100 rounds shred through the vehicle, killing passenger Dennis Patricio Omier Taylor and leaving his girlfriend and the taxi driver seriously wounded.
Taylor, the target of the assassination, was himself linked to at least 15 murders and was a suspected hit man for a Limon-based narco gang, the leader of which was himself gunned down while traveling in a taxi in July.
The shocking video led to national outcry over increasing violence in the country related to organized crime.
Click here for the original story and video.
Facebook Shares: ~1,000
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So there it is, our top 10 stories of the year according to Facebook users. What do you think? Did Facebook readers get it right? Which stories did our Facebook readers miss that should have been in the list? Let us know in the comments below.
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