highly recommend this site for current travel anywhere...here's the Costa Rica link...Las trip for me was 73 https://www.lonelyplanet.com/costa-rica
Sailfish by Sedatedfork posted Feb 6, 2018 at 3:56 PM also https://www.anywhere.com/costa-rica is kind of where we did a lot of our trip and excursion planning
Berlitz pocket dictionary for Costa Rican travel....covers everything in English and Spanish you'll ever need...look it up in English...point to it in Spanish...pick one up at a good book store
When your tour is over and you have thought it through, I look forward to your report. While I will not be taking a tour, I might spend a winter down there. We shall see. So Cal is neat, warm and I like it much, but Costa Rica, I have not done.
So I've been following Costa Rica fairly closely for awhile now, the citizens, their recent election, the waves of immigrants from failed neighboring shitholes, the types of employment, the expats, the food... So far, I've given up on the food. It seems they eat beans and rice, with a bit of fish or meat, and call it good. A more elaborate meal might include carrot slices. We'll see. The election was heated like ours, but theirs was like Mitt against Barack and the left won. Since then, things seem to be getting more violent, more crime, but not in a political sore loser way like America. Not in a political way at all except the result of shifting political influence maybe. Nicaraguans in San Jose walk together for safety and survive on ¢300 colones daily By Rico - 20 August 2018 What’s it like to be a Nicaraguan migrant in Costa Rica today? Contrary to the social media posts and comments that they come here to ‘pillage’, the sad reality is that most live on a few colones a day and without a roof over their head unless they are able to find work, a task that is becoming more and difficult by the day. Fleeing repression and violence at home, Nicaraguan refugees now live the same fear in Costa Rica Bryan Castillo, writing for the daily La Teja, a Nacion publication, took to La Merced park on Sunday, the same park that a day earlier became violent when a group of some 400 Costa Ricans descended on the public park in the center of San Jose, demanding the departure of Nicaraguans living in the country, according to them for the damage that this population has done in our territory. Authorities immediately closed off the park on Saturday. On Sunday, the park, for many years, dubbed “Nica park”, a source of culture and a meeting place for many Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica, remained closed and under police guard, fearing more violence. It was reopened this Monday morning. Castillo writes he met up with Armando, a ‘pinolero’ (a colloquial term for a Nicaraguan) who preferred not to reveal his full name for fear of reprisals from Ticos (Costa Ricans) and the government of President Daniel Ortega. Armando, 42 years old, says he arrived in Costa Rica on July 18, fleeing violence in his country. Like Armando, there are about 25,000 of his compatriots who arrived in Costa Rica since April, requesting refuge. Armando says he is from the department of Carazo, about 95 kilometers from the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, a tourist town on the Pacific coast. Behind he left two daughters whom he did not communicate with much, but now must, to assure them, given the news of the violence, that he is Ok. Armando and many of his fellow Nicaraguans are not a menace to Costa Rican society. They are here to work if they can find work. To earn enough to help out the family back home, to get them here, if possible, away from the repression of Daniel Ortega. But that all changed on Saturday. Armando, with only a few colones in his pocket and no place to live, is, like many other Nicaraguans, who came to Costa Rica seeking peace but in the last day has found a similar scenario to the one he saw every day in Nicaragua. “We have to walk together, as you can see, we are five (two men and three women) because we are afraid of being attacked, we have been here for more than a month and we do not have where to sleep. All Nicaraguans at this moment are together, you will see us with other people and not alone because we do not want to be beaten,” he said. “We have lived things that thank God you (the Costa Ricans) have not lived, we have lived wars, we have suffered from hunger and humiliations (stops and cries). We feel bad because we have to flee our country and we arrived here with the hope of working but some people do not want us,” he said. “I offer an apology to all Costa Ricans for the Nicaraguans who have hurt here but we are not all like that, most of us are honest people who only want to feed our families.” Surviving on ¢300 colones daily Another reason for grouping is financial. Armando said that every day they survive on ¢300 colones, that is, with their contribution and that of the other 4 people with whom they walk, they put together ¢1,500. “At this moment I have ¢50 colones (US 50 cents) but among us we can buy ‘galletas’ (cookies, soda crackers). After what happened (the aggressions of Saturday) other Nicaraguans who are better-off, give us something to eat, have also given us food in a shelter (in the Obras de Sor María Romero, 300 meters from KFC Paseo Colón) but we only eat once or twice a day that’s why we buy the cookies,” he said. Carlos, who arrived last week, on Thursday, August 16, says he is living the same situation. From Puerto Corinto, in Chinandego, the 44-year-old fled his country afraid because according to him, the Nicaraguan army was looking for him to kill him. He was a ‘cruzrojista’ (red cross worker) and, according to his account, they mounted a persecution against him and fellow cruzrojistas after they attended a young man who was demonstrating against the government. “Ortega took my family away from me, I have three daughters, twenty, eighteen and eight years old and a thirteen-year-old boy. Since I’m here I do not communicate directly with them (he does through neighbors) because I’m afraid that the police will check their phones and realize they talk to me, if that happens they can kill them and I do not want that to happen to them,” he commented. He also survives with ‘three tejas’ a day, although sometimes he has more. For him, that is not the worst since the most complicated thing has been not having a place to sleep or take care of bodily needs. “When I feel like going to the bathroom I go to a ‘cantina’ (small bar). I explain what I’m going through and they let me use it. I do not like to bother people with things like that but I have to do it because the body can not take it anymore,” he added. Both Armando and Carlos said that sometimes they sleep in a shelter called El Pastor, which is 200 meters south of the Ministry of Health park and 300 meters east. A few blocks from La Merced park. They mention that they only have 50 spots a night. The entrance is at 8 pm. and the departure at 5 am. “It’s the only night in which we do not get cold in the wind or the rain, if we do not get a spot then we sleep on the sidewalk of the hospital (San Juan de Dios) or on the roof of the gas station (which is in front of the north side of La Merced park),” said Carlos. According to the 2011 census, approximately 290,000 Nicaraguans live in the country, the majority of whom work in construction and domestic work. During the embarrassing spectacle of this Saturday, the Fuerza Publica (police) arrested 44 people. By means of a tweet, the Office of the Prosecutor announced that it released 41 and that the remaining 3 were being held by the Fiscalia pending the resolution of their judicial situation. http://qcostarica.com/nicaraguans-i...for-safety-and-survive-on-¢300-colones-daily/
http://qcostarica.com/they-didnt-wa...mily-of-spanish-woman-murdered-in-costa-rica/ “They Didn’t Warn Us About The Danger”, Says Family Of Spanish Woman Murdered in Costa Rica Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs now recommends that tourists “travel with caution” to Costa Rica By Rico - 11 August 2018 0 Share “Don’t fail us again.” That’s the message from the family of Arancha Gutiérrez, a 31-year-old Spanish woman who was murdered in Tortuguero last weekend while visiting Costa Rica with her husband and a group of seven other Spaniards. The mother, partner and father of Arancha Gutiérrez (l-r). KIKE PARA, El Pais Speaking to Spain’s El Pais, Miguel Ángel Escribano, said nobody – not Spanish or Costa Rican authorities or the management at their hotel – had told them that police had stopped patrolling the beaches: “They didn’t warn us of the danger we were running.” “Spanish people travel across the world to destinations that can be more or less dangerous and we decide how much risk we take,” he said, reading from a statement inside San Fernando de Henares City Hall, in the Madrid region. “But this does not mean we are looking to get ourselves killed.” Escribano said that before traveling to Costa Rica the couple had consulted information offered by Spain’s Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) on global destinations. Advertisement “We thought Tortuguero was a very safe place where nothing ever happened,” explained Escribano. “After the tragedy, we became aware of things that, it seems, no one knew about.” Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website has been updated since the murder of Gutiérrez and María Trinidad Mathus, from Mexico and now recommends that tourists “travel with caution” to Costa Rica. According to the website, travelers should “adopt measures to protect themselves and avoid traveling alone or to remote or poorly lit places, both in urban settings and tourist areas.” “There has been an increase in violence with the use of firearms (although not directed specifically against tourists) in the most conflictive areas of the urban area of cities such as San José or Puerto Limón, especially at night. “Since the aggressors are usually under the influence of drugs, in the case of being assaulted, it is recommended not to resist and to prevent this type of events the basic rules of prudence should be adopted with luggage and personal objects, especially with valuables (cameras, video devices …). It is recommended not to wear jewelry and it is strongly discouraged to travel in pirate cabs,” explained the Ministry in the Security section. In addition, as a result of recent attacks against female tourists, “it is recommended to take self-protection measures and avoid traveling alone or in isolated or poorly lit areas, both in urban areas and in tourist areas.” The website asks travelers to Costa Rica to keep handy Spanish embassy’s emergency phone number (+506 6050 9853). Escribano thanked the Spanish consulate and embassy in Costa Rica, as well as the Costa Rica government and police force, for their support following the murder. But he called on the Spanish government to do more: “Don’t leave us in this important moment because this matter cannot be left unresolved. Don’t fail us again.” The family returned to Spain on Thursday. Escribano and the victim’s family – mother, father, sister, and brother-in-law – agreed that the attack had been sexually motivated. “Arancha left to go running early in the morning, like any woman wishing to enjoy her holidays would have done. She was attacked by a vile pervert, a blot on the human condition,” they said. “We do not know how far machismo reaches, and up to what point a woman cannot enjoy nature by herself in broad daylight, creating fear and insecurity for the rest of the women who want to live freely.” OIJ Raids Home of Suspect Meanwhile, in Costa Rica, the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) raided Friday morning the apartment of the suspect in the killing of the Spanish woman, an individual named Albin Díaz Hopkins, in the community of Tortuguero de Pococí, in search of elements that tie him to the murder. Hopkins is believed to have met the victim the before the murder, was released on Monday for insufficient evidence to place him in preventive detention. The court did, however, turn him over to immigration officials given his ‘irregular’ status in the country. Hopkins, of Nicaraguan nationality, remains since Tuesday in the custody of the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (immigration service), since he is illegal in Costa Rica, being held in the Central Region Apprehension Center (CARC), located in Los Lagos de Heredia. Authorities suspect sexual motive was behind the attack, as Gutiérrez’s clothes had been torn off. More tourism security promised The Tourist Police (Policía Turística) increased the vigilance in Tortuguero since Friday. Also on Friday, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) reported that for December, when the high season starts, it hopes to have an application ready with warnings and safety tips for tourists. The application will have geolocation to alert the user about the dangers according to where they are, explained the Minister of Tourism, María Amalia Revelo. This in addition to President Carlos Alvarado’s announcement on Thursday that the central government will allocate US$1 million annually from the budget of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) to tourism security.
Court imposes six months preventive detention against suspect of raping an American tourist in Tortuguero By Rico- 15 August 2018 The Criminal Court of Pococí imposed on Tuesday night, six months of preventive prison against an individual named Chaves Castillo, arrested as a suspect of the crime of rape against an American in Tortuguero, confirmed the Public Ministry on Twitter. The measure was issued at 7:55 p.m. by judge Ricardo Valverde, after a hearing of almost two hours. The arrest of the 20-year-old suspect, a native of Nicaragua and who is captain of a vessel, occurred on Sunday night by Officers of the Operational Support Group (GAO) of the Ministry of Public Security (MSP). According to the police report, the sexual attack occurred inside a boat, which apparently, once a turtle tour was over, he is alleged to have invited the woman to take a (private) boat ride, in which he took advantage of for the abuse. The 10 minute boat ride was between the town of Tortuguero to the village of San Francisco. The tourist, named Preston, identified the man as her aggressor, so the officers proceeded to stop him and then take him to the dock in Tortuguero. At least 16 tourists died tragically while vacationing in Costa Rica in recent months By Rico - 12 August 2018 0 Share “We came to live a dream and we are living a nightmare from which we are never going to wake up”, described Miguel Ángel Escribano, the husband of Arancha Gutiérrez López – the Spanish woman murdered in Tortuguero last weekend – what his family is living after their dream holiday in Costa Rica ended in tragedy. The case of Gutiérrez and Maria Trinidad Matus Tenorio, the 25-year-old Mexican woman killed on Sunday morning at Carmen Beach, in Santa Teresa de Cóbano, join other tragedies suffered by foreign tourists in the country since March 2017. According to a count made by La Nación, 16 foreigners have died tragically, while enjoying their vacations on Costa Rican soil. The last two cases occurred last weekend and provoked a series of government actions, given the concern about the impact that the events in the sector could have. Among these measures is the announcement made by the President Carlos Alvarado, to transfer US$1 million a year for the safety of visitors. Advertisement According to figures from the Tourism Board, the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT), 2.9 million tourists entered the country in 2017, but the country’s goal is to reach 3.9 arrivals by 2021. Canadian photographer murdered Bruce McCallum died in March 2017 in Puerto Viejo, Limón, after being stabbed with the intention of stealing his camera. McCallum, a Canadian, was in Costa Rica enjoying, along with other tourists, a sabbatical year that would take him to different parts of the world. He was a photographer and a professor of mathematics in Toronto. On the day of the murder, the 51-year-old man was about to capture images of the sunrise in Puerto Viejo. Plane tragedy One of the most tragic cases was the crash of the Nature Air plane of December 31, 2017, in Nandayure, Guanacaste. In the crash, 10 American tourists and two Ticos pilots died. The aircraft left the Juan Santamaría airport for Punta Islita to pick up the tourists on a charter flight. However, due to the winds, pilot Juan Manuel Retana decided to land in Tambor, waiting for the gusts to subside. Once informed of an improvement in conditions, he resumed the flight plan to Islita. There he picked up the passengers and took off at 12:10 p.m. A few minutes later the demise aircraft and its passengers and crew was reported. Child dies in waterfall In April, an eight-year-old Swiss boy died after disappearing in the Ecological Reserve La Catarata Río Fortuna, in San Carlos. The boy was on vacation with his parents and a brother. The parents told the authorities that the child took off his shirt and then they did not see him anymore, so they reported his disappearance. The boy was found drowned hours later with a strong blow to the head. In December of 2017, an elderly Swiss couple died when a tree fell on the cabin were they slept, in Puerto Viejo, Talamanca. The foreigners were staying at a hotel on Chiquita Beach and the tragedy was caused by the strong winds that were sweeping much of the country at that time. The deceased were Marie Louise Balmere and Rodolf Balmere, 70 years old. It was their first visit to the country. Arancha Gutiérrez and María Trinidad Mathus Arancha Gutiérrez and María Trinidad Mathus were murdered less than 24 hours apart, the first in Tortuguero (Limon) and the second in Santa Teresa de Cóbano (Puntarenas). The two women, Gutiérrez of Spanish nationality and Matus, Mexican, were on vacation in the country and died while enjoying the Costa Rican beaches. Gutiérrez’s body was found on Saturday shortly after 8 a. m. in Tortuguero. The remains of the 30-year-old Spaniard lay on the beach in a 200-meter sandy strip that borders the Caribbean Sea on one side and the freshwater channels on the other. A 33-year-old Nicaraguan man whom Gutiérrez met a day earlier, is the main suspect in the sexually motivated murder. Despite the first suspicions, the man was released, without precautionary measures, but handed over to immigration police for being illegal in the country. “The detention is extended for 30 days as he is in the process of being deported, while the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) continues with the corresponding investigations since he is suspected of the murder of the Spanish tourist”, reported Migración in a press release. The murder of the María Trinidad Mathus occurred on Sunday at 3 a. m. when she was with an English woman friend in Playa Carmen, in Santa Teresa de Cóbano, Puntarenas. The women were intercepted by two assailants and the 25-year- old Mathus was asphyxiated when one of the criminals submerged her in the sea. According to the data collected, one of the subjects abused the Englishwoman by touching her private parts; she struggled with him, broke free and ran to ask for help. The two men arrested, the first one surnamed Esquivel, who was captured, beaten and taken by residents to the local police station at 6:30 a. m. and the second surnamed Mendoza, apprehended in the center of Cóbano at 9:30 a. m. Esquivel will spend three months of pretrial detention, while Mendoza was released, “due to the lack of sufficient evidence to prove his participation in the events,” the court said.
Some expat perspective In Search of Nice Americans: First Impression of Costa Rica! By QCR Staff - 10 August 2018 0 Share Extracted from Geoff Steward’s entertaining travel book ‘In Search of Nice Americans‘, the following is his light hearted and very, very funny (The Telegraph) first impression of Costa Rica. Trough my one half-open eye, I am taking in the new landscape and country. I have never been to Central America. The houses are roadside shacks made of whatever materials were to hand: some brick, some wood, some corrugated iron, some steel, some chicken wire, some Toyota suspension parts and shock absorbers, all fnished off with a splash of magenta or cyan or mustard or a combination of all three. We pass one such multicoloured patchwork shack with six dead fridges outside it. No doubt they will feature soon in the construction of some other properties and cars. Each little village has little more than a church, a football pitch (field) and a Coca-Cola sign. Skeletal horses are wandering the streets and we nearly run over the dog off the front cover of J. M. Coetzee’s book Disgrace. It had the good sense to not be standing in a pothole, otherwise Seasick Steve would almost certainly have hit it. The children here seem happy enough, though. Those who are over the age of ten are playing around on motorbikes and scooters. The younger ones are riding on the saddle-less frames of push-bikes twice their size. The wheels of one bike are bigger than the boy riding it. All the playful children are smiling, despite being deprived of internet connectivity or social media. They seem to be able to socialise without media, and they can even climb trees. Advertisement Father Christmas gifted Joe and Mary a bike each, two years ago, and they have sat in the garage ever since. I asked Mary why she never rides her bike and she told me it was because she had lost the charger. Some ex-friends of mine in London once bought a child like these, from Mexico. It was legitimate, not kidnap. They couldn’t have children due to faulty ovaries so went through a Jewish adoption agency specialising in Mexican children. They became better friends of mine during the adoption process; so much so that they asked me to be a referee. I had to be interviewed by a social worker to attest to them being good, non-childmurdering people. They bought their child from a young Mexican girl who was a drug addict. I never met the child because my friendship was no longer required once the adoption process was completed and the papers said that a partner in a law firm had validated their credentials. That is the type of superficiality with which I have slowly come to terms in London. Despite the unsuspended cars, the deep potholes, the undernourished farm animals, the oversized bikes, the roadside fridges and the DIY accommodation, Costa Rica topped the Happy Planet Index rankings in 2016 (having previously come top in 2009 and 2012 as well). Even though its economy is based primarily on farms and hotels, its people have higher well-being scores than in the US and the UK, have a better ecological footprint, and live longer. It is smaller than Scotland but is home to the greatest density of species in the world (which is what brought me here, as Haywards Heath only has badgers and squirrels). But perhaps Costa Rica’s master stroke in achieving happiness and contentment is that it abolished its army in 1949 and has since reallocated defence funds to be spent on education, health and pensions. It is a surprisingly simple idea, but unlikely to be tried in England despite the fact that the last time we were invaded was in 1066. For anyone at a crossroads, contemplating a temporary or permanent career break, this affectionate travel romp is essential reading. Buy your copy here. http://qcostarica.com/in-search-of-nice-americans-first-impression-of-costa-rica/
business Murders in Paradise Threaten Costa Rica's Main Source of Income By Michael D McDonald August 20, 2018, 3:00 AM PDT Security minister says country’s reputation has been damaged Costa Rica suffers from crime wave amid soaring spending gap The death of two foreign visitors amid a growing crime wave has left Costa Rica fearing for the future of its tourism-dependent economy. The reputation of the most-visited Central American country took a hit earlier in the month when two female foreign visitors were killed in the span of two days and a third was reportedly raped a week later. The crimes took place near the Tortuguero National Park, where a 31-year-old woman was found dead with strangle marks around her neck, and at El Carmen beach in Santa Teresa, a popular holiday spot on the pacific coast, where a 25-year-old woman was drowned when two men attacked her and a friend. Murders in Costa Rica have been on the rise since 2012, with a record 603 people killed in 2017. Authorities are forecasting an even higher number this year. “We are very worried, the situation we are witnessing is critical,” Tourism Minister Maria Amalia Revelo said after the crimes happened. “We’d all like more police, but we all know the government’s fiscal situation.” Latest killings of foreigners took place at touristic hot spots El Carmen beach and Tortuguero National Park With a ballooning spending gap, Costa Rica’s government relies on tourism as its main source of income. Its fiscal deficit is forecast to reach 7.5 percent of GDP next year, the widest in at least three decades. Interest payments are eating up more of the budget every year due to the government’s reliance on short-term debt. A tax reform aimed boosting revenues has stalled in Congress. Damaged Image Nearly three million tourists visited the Central American nation last year, roughly half from the U.S. and Canada, bringing $3.9 billion for the economy, according to the tourism chamber. Growth in tourist visits started to slow in 2017 as the number of American visitors declined for the first time since 2009. “There has already been damage done to the country’s image,” Security minister Michael Soto said. The government said it will use $4 million from the Costa Rica Tourism Institute to increase police presence in tourist areas, conduct more “mega-operations” to catch criminals attacking travelers and launch a mobile phone application for tourists that contains crime data on areas they plan to visit. “These incidents infuriate us,” President Carlos Alvarado has said, promising “intense work” to reverse the situation. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...e-threaten-costa-rica-s-main-source-of-income
Protests in Costa Rica Turn Violent over Influx of Nicaraguan Immigrants Last Updated: August 21, 2018 5:19 AM Cristina Caicedo Smit Gesell Tobias Nicaraguans are detained by immigration police officers in San Jose, Costa Rica, Aug. 19, 2018. COSTA RICA — Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado has rejected demonstrations and violence aimed at an influx of Nicaraguans, who have fled to Costa Rica to escape the political crisis in their country. In a speech Sunday, Alvarado said the majority of Nicaraguans seeking refuge in Costa Rica are "good people who are looking for job opportunities and different forms to contribute with the society." He said anyone who represents a risk to national security or breaks Costa Rican law would be promptly deported. Protests in Costa Rica flared Saturday at La Merced Park in the capital, San Jose, where some Nicaraguan immigrants have been camping out. To some Costa Ricans, it was a matter of taking back their park. "I can't go to Nicaragua and stay in a park and say: 'this is my park.' We deserve respect," said Henry Tres Rios in Spanish. Some of the demonstrations turned violent. Costa Rica's minister of public security later said that authorities arrested 38 Costa Ricans and six Nicaraguans, many of them with criminal records. Costa Rica's government confirms that at least 23,000 Nicaraguans have applied for asylum since June, although some of these people had lived in Costa Rica for several years, making them ineligible to be considered refugees. Many arrive in Costa Rica with nothing. "Some of them arrive without clothes and money. They don't have family or friends where they can sleep at night or economic resources to help them," says Nohemí Pavón in Spanish. She is with the Coalition of Nicaraguans in Exile. Organizations like SOSNicaragua have taken on the task of easing the burden of their fellow citizens who arrive in Costa Rica by raising money with special events. "This is an event of solidarity with the people of Nicaragua. Different groups of Costa Rican artists are performing in support of Nicaraguans who are asking for asylum," Pavón described one. SOSNicaragua also provides food to Nicaraguans who are in need. "Please help us, we are living in violence because of President Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo," said Nicaraguan Coni Morales in Spanish. But not everyone is convinced. A group that opposes the arrival of more Nicaraguan migrants has scheduled another protest this week. Nicaraguans began demonstrating against Ortega in April after his government moved to cut back social security. When authorities cracked down, protests to demand Ortega's ouster spread. Less than a week ago, Nicaragua's National Assembly approved a drastic cut to the national budget because of the economic impact of months of anti-government unrest. More than 300 people have died and thousands of Nicaraguans have fled. https://www.voanews.com/a/protests-...-influx-of-nicaraguan-immigrants/4536546.html
I'd be more afraid of the dinosaurs such as T-Rex. Don't use the public toilets near the electrified fence.
US Congressmen put under the magnifier the owner of Costa Rica’s Repretel by Today News 2 days ago United States politicians put under the microscope Mexican businessman Remigio Ángel González, who owns the Albavisión network, of which Repretel Costa Rica is part, for his alleged involvement in corruption and crime in Guatemala. A group of Republican and Democratic congressmen from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives asked the government of President Donald Trump that the State and Treasury departments evaluate whether Gonzalez and five other people with businesses extended through Central America meet the criteria for accountability under the Magnitsky Act. This law allows the US government to impose sanctions against citizens around the world who have been accused of alleged human rights abuses or acts of corruption in their own countries of origin. In Costa Rica, Albavisión operates television channels 2, 4, 6 and 11, as well as eleven radio frequencies, including Monumental and Momentos Reloj. In Guatemala, González controls four television stations – El Super Canal, Televisiete, Teleonce and Trecevisión, attaining a monopoly of commercial television channels. In Nicaragua, as of May 2018, all the stations he owns, operates or advises in Nicaragua have sons and daughters of Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega running them. González also owns 5 television stations in his native Mexico. A 2001 study of González’ media properties in Guatemala and Nicaragua found that they had a tendency to squeeze out voices opposed to the government, and concluded that “Gonzalez’s ownership practices create an atmosphere that undercuts the development of democracy.” The Mexican born González, who maintains a conservative political stance, but keeps a low profile and cooperate with host country governments, has lived in Miami since 1987.
So.....it begs the question. Just why in hell do you want to visit one of these “shithole” countries? You want to keep their citizens out of our country but you want to go down and gawk at these same godforsaken folks, while taking advantage of their poor economy? Sweet. And so Real American........
Ah, so refreshing that you used a link rather than a 60 paragraph novel like one particular poster likes to do. I think a rule needs to be made for the size of a post and links should be encouraged rather than complete articles that take up a whole page if not more.
