Oscar Arias News

The Federacion Nacional de Camaras de Comercio y Asociaciones Empresariales de Costa Rica is asking that Venezuelan Ambassador to Costa Rica, Hugo Pineda be declared "persona non grata" and shut down the Base de la Paz which was inaugurated on September 29th.

It is somewhat ironic that even as we were calling last Friday for heads to be banged together in order to resolve the constitutional crisis in Honduras, an announcement was being made to the effect that a high-level US mission, led by Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon, had succeeded, on the previous evening, in getting representatives of ...

The Latin American Business Council of Honduras issued a statement commending the efforts made in reaching an agreement to resolve the political crisis in Honduras.

Costa Rican president Oscar Arias, said on Friday that during a meeting with his Panamanian counterpart, Ricardo Marinelli, to sign the Costa Rica - Panama trade agreement they two discussed the possibility of a railway between the two countries.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is sending three U.S. officials to Honduras for talks with ousted President Manuel Zelaya and the interim head of the de facto Honduran government, Roberto Micheletti, to reflect the urgency in finding a resolution to the country's political crisis before elections scheduled for November.

The families of the victims of the tragecy of Thursday, October 22, when a bus loaded with 38 people plunged into the Tarcoles river killing five, are expected to file criminal charges of murder against Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias and former ministra de Obras Publicas y Transportes .

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya The Obama administration is sending a team of senior officials to Honduras Wednesday to try to expedite a settlement of the political crisis spawned by the ouster in June of elected President Manuel Zelaya.

The ministra de Obras Publicas y Transportes, Karla Gonzalez, Monday afternoon tendered her resignation in an act of "political responsibility" for the tragic accident of last Thursday when a bus plunged in the river Grande de Tarcoles, killing five and injuring dozens more.

A representative of the government of Roberto Micheletti acknowledged the failure of talks aimed at resolving the Honduran political crisis, as deposed President Mel Zelaya's camp had said hours earlier.

The common feeling in Costa Rica is that Thursday's tragic accident in Turrubares that killed five people when a loaded passenger bus plunged into the river below as it crossed an old and fatigued bridge is the first of many such accidents unless transportation officials do something.

Businessman Arturo Corrales, a member of Honduran President Roberto Micheletti's negotiating committee, held a surprise meeting with deposed leader Mel Zelaya at the Brazilian Embassy to analyze the dialogue being pursued by the two camps to resolve this country's political crisis.

The talks in Honduras have stalled over the question of reinstating ousted President Manuel Zelaya, whose delegates have called on the Organisation of American States to take steps to keep the negotiations from failing.

Mauren Ballestero, legislator and vice-president of the Asamblea Legislativa , could lose her legislative seat and face sanctions for her private use of a Fuerza Publica airplane last Sunday.

The delegations representing the de facto leader of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, and ousted President Mel Zelaya said at the end of their first three days of dialogue that they have managed to reach agreement on a majority of the issues on the table, including the goal of creating a national-unity government.

Toby Harnden at the Telegraph has been keeping up with His Arrogance: Consider the emails his White House is sending out.

No one was hurt in a drive-by shooting at Honduras's largest Catholic seminary amid the ongoing standoff between deposed President Mel Zelaya and the de facto regime headed by Roberto Micheletti, police said.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday called his counterparts in Costa Rica, Mexico and Colombia, vowing to strengthen cooperation with those countries on common challenges.

The decision regarding the reinstatement of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya could be postponed until later this week, when the time given by the mandate to conclude dialogue with the de facto government expires, according to one of the negotiators.

By Alissa Trotz Alissa Trotz is editor of the weekly In the Diaspora Column Last week Tuesday , ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was interviewed on Canadian national radio, speaking through a translator and by phone from the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where he has been holed up since he managed to slip back into the country.

From the ubiquitous T-shirts sporting a red-eyed tree frog clinging to an Imperial beer bottle, to the best-selling postcards featuring the flamboyant poison-dart frog holding court in the rainforest, Costa Ricans today identify with frogs the way Russians relate to bears.