Costa Rica

President of Costa Rica Rodrigo Chaves Robles announced on Wednesday that his country would cut all diplomatic ties to Cuba, shutting down its embassy in Havana and ordering all Cuban diplomats out of the country.

Latin America, once fertile ground for China to sign “Belt and Road” infrastructure deals with poor countries, is turning its back on “crappy” construction projects that erode the sovereignty of local governments, a senior State Department official told Breitbart News.

The Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Monday sanctioned four Costa Rican nationals, as well as two Costa Rica-based entities, for their alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking and money laundering, Breitbart News has learned exclusively. 

Costa Rican authorities have announced that Miller Gardner, the 14-year-old son of Yankees great Brett Gardner, succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning while on a family vacation to the island nation last month.

Asphyxiation has been ruled out as the cause of death for the 14-year-old son of former pro baseball player Brett Gardner.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry berated the administration of President Donald Trump, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in particular, on Friday for addressing the threat of Chinese regime influence during a tour to Central America and the Caribbean this week.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles on Monday for discussions that prioritized cybersecurity concerns and Costa Rica’s longstanding conflict with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

Amir Rockman, Israeli Consul to Costa Rica, said in an interview on Tuesday that his government has reason to believe that Iranian-linked terrorist groups are freely operating in Nicaragua, a country that recently broke ties with Israel.

A soccer player in Costa Rica was killed by a crocodile last week after jumping off a bridge into waters known to be infested with the killer reptiles.

The Foreign Relations and Worship Ministry of Costa Rica revealed on Monday that the Chinese Communist Party had apologized to the country after a balloon had deviated into Costa Rican airspace, less than a week after the Pentagon shot down a similar invading vessel over the Atlantic Ocean.

Balloon-mania spread across the world this weekend as South Korea reported an incursion by a North Korean balloon into its territory, and the Colombian military confirmed a sighting of a “balloon-like object” within its airspace.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — The RSG Group of gym outlets, including Gold’s Gym and McFit, confirmed Monday that founder and CEO Rainer Schaller, family and friends were aboard a small plane that disappeared from radar just off Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast.

The government of Costa Rica declared a state of emergency this week after a massive ransomware attack locked down computer networks across multiple government agencies, paralyzing tax collection and leaving the private information of Costa Rican citizens vulnerable.

A Boeing 757-200 cargo plane operated by the DHL cargo service broke in two at Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaria International Airport on Thursday. The two crew members were reportedly in stable condition after the spectacular calamity.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) is facing criticism for taking a tropical holiday vacation in Costa Rica, a country that the State Department is cautioning Americans to “reconsider” traveling to because of coronavirus cases. At the same time, New Jersey has one of the highest case rates per population in the country.

Costa Rican gymnast Luciana Alvarado paid tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement at the end of her first-floor routine at the Toyko Olympics on Sunday.

The U.S. State Department is helping Panama smuggle U.S.-bound illegal migrants from Haiti, Cuba, and outside the Americas.

The Brazilian newspaper O Globo noted on Friday that Joe Biden, who will presumably take the office of the U.S. presidency in January, has not made any calls to the heads of state of Latin America’s largest nations, skipping Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia and, instead, reaching out to the socialist leader of Argentina.

The misadventures of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter with Chinese Communist money men and Ukrainian oligarchs are far from the only time the Biden family cashed in on Joe’s political career. Joe Biden’s younger brother Frank leveraged the Biden name for lucrative deals in Costa Rica and Jamaica, while Hunter used his father’s name to push through a massive deal in Colombia involving a vast Chinese energy corporation. 

The global coronavirus pandemic originating in China is leading conservative Latin American leaders to question key tenets of the region’s foreign policy.

Frank Biden, the youngest brother of former Vice President Joe Biden, saw his business interests benefit from millions of dollars in taxpayer loans to Caribbean nations during the Obama years. 

The death toll has risen to 25 due to alcohol laced with poisonous methanol in Costa Rica, according to reports. 

Tainted alcohol is the suspected cause of death of at least 19 adults in Costa Rica earlier this month, local officials confirmed this weekend.

The Costa Rican Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that legislation banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, citing a ruling last January from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

A single-engine plane that crashed in Costa Rica on Sunday killed 12 people, including 10 Americans, officials said.

Costa Rica authorities arrested a 22-year-old Colombian man who allegedly threatened to attack an Ariana Grande concert, less than two months after a suicide bomber killed 22 people during the pop star’s Manchester, England, show.

Contents: Australia will pay $100K each to asylum seekers in Manus Island immigration camp; The Manus refugees’ future is still undecided – except for those coming to the US

Investigators said the trafficked women – who were shipped in from Central and South America – were forced to have sex with over 100 men per week.

A bride and groom headed to Costa Rica for their wedding got kicked off a United flight set to leave Texas on Saturday afternoon.

Contents: Venezuela’s Socialist government in political crisis as street violence grows; Organization of American States (OAS) approves scathing condemnation of Venezuela; NY Times blames Venezuela’s chaos on ‘populism’ not Socialism

Contents: Australia-US refugee swap deal appears to be faltering; Australia and Germany paying asylum seekers cash to return home

The Air and Marine unit of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service along with agents of the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 14 Cuban refugees on Mona Island, Puerto Rico. The Cubans had recently completed a very dangers boat trip from Cuba through the treacherous Mona Passage.

The city of Laredo, Texas, is becoming a turnstile for Cubans seeking asylum in the U.S. Hundreds of Cuban refugees coming from Central America to Mexico are being passed through into Texas will little, if any, screening. Hispanics in South Texas appear to be resenting the special treatment of the Cubans.

Thousands of Cuban refugees are stranded in Costa Rica and are now being moved into Mexico so they can illegally cross into the United States. Once on American soil, Cubans receive automatic immigration status adjustment and full welfare benefits. Texas is becoming the epicenter of this influx of Cubans.

A group of Cubans, said to be vulnerable, have reportedly been flown from Costa Rica to northern Mexico where they are expected to cross the border into the United States. They will then apply for an immigration status adjustment as Cuban refugees.

The Zika virus has reached Canada in the form of four Canadian travelers confirmed to have contracted it by visiting Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.