Costa Rica

April 2 (Reuters) - Ecuador has authorized the carrying and use of guns by civilians, President Guillermo Lasso said in a televised broadcast, citing rising crime and insecurity in the Andean country.

Lasso, a conservative former banker, has been fighting to tackle rising crime and violence in the streets and in prisons - where hundreds of inmates have been killed - which the government blames on drug trafficking gangs.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — A former Costa Rican president took an early lead in a national election that seemed likely to head to a runoff between the top candidates.

José María Figueres, who was the country’s president from 1994 to 1998, had 27.7% of the vote in preliminary results released by the Supreme Elections Tribunal Sunday night with 48% of the votes counted. Figueres is the candidate for the National Liberation Party.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Ricans will vote for a new president Sunday in elections that have yet to see a clear favorite emerge among the 25 candidates and will be held amid fears of a low turnout because of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Costa Ricans will also choose a new National Assembly in the elections, which take place days after the country’s top prosecutor filed papers seeking to lift outgoing President Carlos Alvarado’s immunity so he can face charges related to the collection of personal information on citizens. He is not eligible to run again.

UPALA, Costa Rica, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Nicaraguans forced to flee across the country's southern border into Costa Rica expressed a mix of anger, pain and resignation ahead of Sunday's election, where President Daniel Ortega is expected to extend his long rule after cracking down on rivals.

Francisca Ramirez and over 40 of her relatives belong to a diaspora of tens of thousands of exiles in Costa Rica and beyond that could grow if Ortega tightens his grip.

SAN JOSE, March 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A US woman on a tourist trip to Costa Rica has tested positive for the coronavirus, the first confirmed case in Central America, the country’s health minister said Friday.

The 49-year-old woman had contracted the virus before entering the country on March 1, Health Minister Daniel Salas said.

The woman is currently “in strict isolation” in a hotel in the capital San Jose with her husband — who Salas said had contact with people in New York who had tested positive for the virus.

SAN JOSE, Feb 29 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – The Attorney General’s Office, directed ten simultaneous raids on areas including headquarters of Costa Rican Presidency and the Ministry of National Planning.

The attorney general’s office stated that, President Carlos Alvarado, together with seven officials, were under investigation for their connection with the creation of the Presidential Data Analysis Unit (UPAD).

The investigation was initiated after the publication of a decree that sought to formalise the creation of UPAD.

23 Feb 2019; DW: An unvaccinated French child who went on holiday with his parents to Costa Rica is suspected of reintroducing measles to the Central American country.

The 5-year-old boy and his parents entered the country on February 18, Costa Rica's Health Ministry said. 

Authorities have quarantined the boy in a hospital and are searching for people he may have come into contact with since his arrival.