"Si al TLC" Trade Supporters Demonstrate
Last week more than 20.000 took to the streets of San José to protest against the Tratado Libre de Comercio (TLC) - free trade agreement with the United States. Yesterday, pro TLC demonstrators took their turn.

Costa Rica's Trade Deficit Grows As CAFTA Looms
While Costa Rica’s legislature agonizes over ratification of CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Area), the country's trade deficit for the first 10 months of the year rose to us$2.13 billion from us$1.97 billion for the whole of 2004 despite a 10% rise in exports during the same period to us$5.83 billion.

Costa Rica Extradites Two Czech Criminals
Two Czech criminals who escaped before punishment to Costa Rica have ended up in prison after almost two years at large as the men were extradited from Costa Rica to the Czech Republic, although Costa Rica does not have an agreement on extradition of criminals with the Czech Republic.

Man Sentenced to 12 Years For Abuse of Young Boys
With the pretext of offering them a coca-cola, American Jeremy James Gavlas, will spend the next 12 years in a Costa Rican prison, found guilty of corruption and sexual abuse of minors. James is to also compensate each one of his six victims ¢1 million colones.

Surf Tourism Doubles To Costa Rica In The Last 3 Years and Spent $273 Million in 2004
Antonio Pilurzu, President of Costa Rica’s Federation of Surf (FS) announced yesterday that the number of tourists that visited the country in 2004 with the specific purpose of riding waves increased by more than double in the last three years. Costa Ricas Federation of Surf estimates an increase of 100 percent in the next 3 years

Unbielevable, But True. No Gasoline To Transport Prisoner, Nicaraguan Officials Claim
Costa Rican police officer, Diego Ortiz Ortiz, will have to wait a little longer for his trial to commence, when it was postponed yesterday because Nicaraguan jail authorities say they do not have the gasoline required to transport Ortiz the 163 kilometres to the court house in Juigalpa, from San Carlos, Nicaragua.