While Costa Rica has long been seen as a sort of tax haven for online gambling groups, things might soon be changing. Chinchilla has been talking about implementing a stricter tax on gambling in the country, which would be applied both to land-based casinos and to online gambling sites in Costa Rica. The proposed tax could add as much as 1% to the country’s GDP; this money would be used put towards a crime fighting initiative Chinchilla has in the books.

This month, the fate of this proposed gambling tax bill is due to be decided. Many gambling establishments that already operate online casinos in Costa Rica are actually happy with the proposed tax hike because it would officially recognize and effectively legalize internet gambling in the country. Current laws are fuzzy, and lately the country’s internet gambling businesses have been attracting the watchful eye of foreign law enforcement agencies.

The Executive Branch of the Costa Rican government will have final say over the matter, and a decision regarding this bill, along with other important pieces of legislation like a revamped Electricity Law and a ban on heavy-metal open-pit mines, is expected by the end of August.

Based on millions of genuine and unbiased traveler’s reviews, Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica has been voted one of the top three destinations for a beach and sun vacation. In its second year, the 2010 Trip Advisor Travelers Choice Awards listed Manuel Antonio in third place thanks to its beautiful exotic landscape of lush greenery, white sandy beaches and world class accommodation. Winners were determined by a combination of travelers’ destination comments, favorite places, and overall destination popularity on TripAdvisor.

Current statistics show that Trip Advisor attracts over 46 million unique visitors a month, which demonstrates it continues to be a popular site for many travelers in search of consumer-generated reviews.

The main benefit of the site is relevancy; Trip Advisor is continually updated by users, allowing travelers to get fresh reviews for thousands of destinations around the world. “Millions of travelers rely on Trip Advisor for travel inspiration and have helped identify the world’s most outstanding destinations,” said Christine Petersen, chief marketing officer for Trip Advisor. “From stunningly beautiful locales to hot spots with amazing attractions, the 2010 Travelers’ Choice Destinations Award winners are truly incredible places that travelers love.”

Despite the economic downturn worldwide, Manuel Antonio has experienced a steady increase in tourism figures. Manuel Antonio National Park has reported an increase on 2009 statistics, which show 300,000 visitors.

Trip Advisor statistics illustrate how many families are now opting for beach vacation rentals. Voting from the number one travel guide, Trip Advisor shows that the availability of luxury villas has ensured Manuel Antonio is at the top of wish lists when it comes to dream vacations.

Although hotels continue to be a popular choice, beach vacation rentals are being snapped up for the holiday season simply because they offer much more for much less. Families and groups recognize the benefits of opting for such properties in Manuel Antonio, with advantages including the ability to choose a spacious villa that is suited to their needs, as well as the freedom and privacy to relax without following schedules.

One of the most highly rated villa rental management companies in Costa Rica; Villas Costa Rica offers an elite portfolio of Costa Rica vacation rentals in Manuel Antonio. With the most sought after locations, such properties are surrounded by tropical rain-forest and beautiful views of the smooth undulating foothills and the pacific sea. Additionally, Villas Costa Rica offers a concierge and chauffer service, skilled personal chefs and spa treatments.

Operating for over ten years, it comes as no surprise to Villas Costa Rica that Manuel Antonio has received such an important recognition. “Manuel Antonio is truly a unique paradise and our villas and excellent customer service make this the perfect holiday destination,” a spokesperson for Villas Costa Rica explained.

“We aim to please. Our high level service has ensured that our clients leave feeling relaxed. We already know that we will see them again next year,” the spokesperson added. Villas Costa Rica also organizes tours to the beautiful sites of Manuel Antonio. With kayaking, dolphin watching, canopy tours and sunset sailing, it’s difficult to imagine a more fitting award for one of the best beach holiday destinations in the world.

Costa Rica has begun to pave the roadway to the 16th Conference of the Parties for the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, which is set to commence in Cancún, Mexico on Nov. 29.

On Tuesday, the country’s foreign minister, René Castro, met with his Mexican counterpart to express Costa Rica’s commitment to the negotiations, known as COP-16.

“COP-16 is an opportunity in which our country can prepare itself to participate with enthusiasm so that its contribution, along with that of other nations, will contribute to the success of this conference,” Castro said, adding that the summit in Mexico “has to be a success.”

During the last conference in Copenhagen in December, member states failed to reach a legally binding agreement to fight climate change.

Last week, Costa Rican Christina Figueres settled into her new post as the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. She is faced with pushing member nations toward a legally binding treaty to combat global warming.

Mexico’s secretary of foreign affairs, Patricia Espinosa, welcomed Castro’s comments.

“We will work very closely with Costa Rica with COP-16 in sight, given the moral authority of the country on environmental issues,” she said.

Castro served as Costa Rica’s environment and energy minister from 1994-98.

On Thursday, CO2 Neutral 2021, a Costa Rican based non-governmental group dedicated to fighting climate change, will present a plan to address the issue on a national and global scale at the Foreign Ministry in San José.

As I mentioned in my previous article on the subject, the USA and Costa Rica both have ulterior motives behind this decision. But what could they be and has the fog settled a little so we can see tidbits of the truth shining through?

When both countries announced that the United States would be deploying 46 warships, 200 helicopters, over a dozen harrier jet fighters and 7000 marines to Costa Rica, the world spoke out on the subject. No matter the language you speak, the math just doesn’t add up to anything other than “excessive” relative to the problem. You see both countries are claiming that the US military is coming, guns cocked, to help the fight against drug traffickers.

Jet fighters for a maritime mission? 46 fully armed warships to catch speed boats carrying drugs up the coast? 7000 marines to “assist” national police and coast guard? According to the Costa Rica News, the US is here to help with the drug trafficking coming through the Caribbean and in to the Gulf of Mexico. Then why are they based on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica? And how about the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)? Is a mission like this one not more within their line of responsibility rather than militarizing an otherwise peaceful, non-military bearing country like Costa Rica?

However on the other side of this controversial coin, there is the fact that there is a lot of truth to the rising drug related crimes in Costa Rica. This is something that can not be ignored either. Over the past few years, Costa Rica has seen a steep rise in drug related crimes and is in certain need of some assistance within this area.

Is it absolutely necessary to militarize the country in order to fight this fight? Considering the US has agreed to occupy the country for six months, and in December, they will exit. What can be done in six months especially when it is being reported that they will be required to give 30 day advanced notice before coming ashore? The previous track record for US military leaving when promised is relatively low thus creating more of an occupation scenario. Is Costa Rica going to be “occupied” by the United States of America?

Imagine what this could mean. Soon Ticos could be enjoying their liberty fries and RFID chips while chatting it up on an AT&T subsidized iPhone 4. Oh the possibilities.

There are enough theories out there to make your head spin. Some even include a theory on the BP oil spill creating instability on the North American tectonic plates and creating catastrophic earthquakes and other natural disasters. In response, NATO has ordered the US military to the safe waters off the coast of… you guess it… Costa Rica.

There is also talk of Chavez in Venezuela and his Russian pals who continue to help those evildoers in Iran. Oh yeah and we can’t forget the Sandinistas of Nicaragua led by Daniel Ortega, arch rival of the US since the US “occupied” Nicaragua in the 30’s.

If you dig deep enough you can even find excuses for the deployment stemming from fear of civil war in the US after the full extent of the BP oil spill is revealed.

One thing is for certain. This contradicts what Costa Rica law dictates and also goes against their constitution. But then again is that not what the US Patriot Act did when it all but abolished all civil liberties within the United States? Maybe this is just part of becoming “Americanized”.

Whichever reason suits you, the bottom line is the whole deal stinks of corruption from both sides and as we move ahead, all we can do is sit back and watch with hopes that someday, we might just know the truth. However I doubt it.

Legislator Rodolfo Sotomayor of the Partido Unidad Social Cristiana (PUSC) believes that making access to the internet free of charge to everyone in Costa Rica will “improve social, cultural, economic and technological development of all”.

As such, Sotomayor has proposed to amend Article 67 of the Constitución Política (country’s Constitution) to make access to the internet universal and at no cost.

To make the amendment to the Constitution, the legislator proposes a new law to establish the way the government would make internet access free and available to everyone, which would take effect not later than six months after the change is made to the Constitution.

Article 67 of the Magna Carta indicates that “the state shall ensure the technical and cultural preparation of workers”.

Sotomayor said that his proposal would introduce to the Constitution changes in technology and would serve to reduce poverty by allow the population to access social networks and make use of the technology, which guarantee better living conditions.

The Sotomayor proposal complements a “recurso amparo” (appeal) made to the Sala Constitucional last October by lawyer Erick Briones, who is asking the Constitutional Court to order the state (government) to provide countrywide wireless internet access.

The Briones actions says the state is violating the human right to communication and information and by not making access to the internet to all, creates a gap between the have and have not.

The three major export sectors – industry, agriculture and fishing– all have reported significant gains over last year. Industrial exports, which include value-added food products and manufactured goods, have accounted for over 72 percent of total Costa Rican exports so far in 2010.

In the industrial sector, computer parts and microprocessors continue to be Costa Rica’s largest grossing exports, generating more than $627 million in sales through the first five months of the year. Export of computer parts and microprocessors, dominated by multinational technology giant Intel Corporation, accounted for over 15 percent of total national exports.

Agricultural exports also started strong this year, accounting for more than 25 percent of total national exports. The improved overseas sale of agricultural products has been led by pineapple, which is up 62 percent compared to the same period in 2009. The export of bananas has increased 49 percent, while coffee exports are up 17 percent. Costa Rica is the world’s leader in pineapple exports and third in banana exports.

The U.S. remains the leading destination for Costa Rican products, accounting for 36 percent of all exports, or $1.45 billion so far this year. The Netherlands, Hong Kong, China and Panama round out the top five destinations for Costa Rica’s exports, with the Netherlands being the only other country that receives over 5 percent of Costa Rica’s exports (6.8 percent).

The American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) gathered some of Costa Rica’s best-known business minds to discuss the nation’s most pressing economic issues. The day-long series of presentations and discussions, billed as the Competitiveness Summit, centered on the issues of telecommunications, free-trade agreements, infrastructure and methods to improve Costa Rica’s economic “competitiveness”.

The day opened with an extensive discussion of the long-delayed opening of the cellular telephone market. The cellular market, which was legally cleared for competition when the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the U.S. (CAFTA) was activated on Jan. 1, 2009, has yet to welcome new competitors. On several occasions the Superintendency of Telecommunications (SUTEL), the regulator of the cellular market, has outlined a timeline for the opening of the market, only to rescind it weeks later.

At the summit on Tuesday, held at the Hotel Real Intercontinental in Escazú, Carlos Gallegos, telecommunications director of the international consulting firm Deloitte, gave a presentation explaining the financial benefits for the country that will accompany the opening of the market, as well as the money that is being lost as the market remains closed. Currently, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) is the only provider of cellular service in the country.

According to Gallegos, with the opening of the cellular market to competitors, Costa Rica would gain an estimated $3 billion in the first five years and an estimated 2,500 to 3,500 people would be employed by the new providers.

To provide perspective on the benefits seen by a country that successfully ushered in the telecommunications market, Jorge Nicolau, the president of Cable & Wireless in Panama, spoke about the economic impact of the telecommunications market in Costa Rica’s southern neighbor.

“In the last year, the revenue earned by the telecommunications market was greater than the earnings of the transportation and construction sectors,” Nicolau said. “Considering the revenue earned by our transportation sector, which includes the Panama Canal, the importance of telecommunications in our country is astounding. There isn’t a more progressive industry than telecommunications.”

The second panel discussion focused on free-trade agreements and economic obstacles that to their implementation that exist in Costa Rica. The panel, which included Tomás Dueñas, a former foreign trade minister and former Costa Rica ambassador to the United States, Alberto Trejos, an economist and former Tico foreign trade minister, and José Rossi, the current President of the Costa Rica Investment Board (CINDE), discussed inefficiencies in some of the free-trade agreements, the unstable economic image created by the varying exchange rate and the sluggish processes for getting things accomplished in Costa Rica.

“Costa Rica has made great economic advances in the last 10 years with foreign direct investment, trade agreements and creating an open market with access to the biggest markets in the world,” Dueñas said. “But we could be flying. We’ve created a system that thrives on delays and resistance and that takes a very long time to make decisions.”

In 2009, the World Economic Forum ranked Costa Rica as the 55 th most competitive country in the world.

 Costa Rica was the last country to join the Central America
Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, in January of 2009 but the
country's Congress dragged its feet implementing reforms
required by the agreement.

 The legislative delay prompted the U.S. government to
suspend Costa Rica's tariff-free sugar imports this January.

 Costa Rica's sugar industry, which usually exports between
130,000 and 140,000 tonnes of sugar a year, estimates the
losses from the U.S. suspension at up to $1 million.

 But in April this year, Costa Rica's Congress finally
approved the last reform needed to complete CAFTA by toughening
copyright laws to protect intellectual property rights, and the
U.S. responded on Monday by lifting the ban on sugar.

 "We're very glad to see this nightmare over," Edgar
Herrera, the head of the country's sugar chamber, told
Reuters.

 Now Costa Rica can sell up to 13,880 tonnes of sugar in the
United States without duties, according to the Costa Rican
Foreign Trade Ministry.

 CAFTA, which groups five Central American countries and the
Dominican Republic was signed in 2005 but popular opposition to
the deal in Costa Rica held up its passage in the country for
several years.

Costa Rica is cracking down on an unauthorized stem cell clinic that has attracted hundreds of foreigners seeking relief from degenerative diseases and serious injuries.

Better known for its idyllic tropical beaches and lush cloud forests, Costa Rica’s many hospitals and clinics have made medical tourism one of the fastest growing segments of its tourism sector, the motor of its economy.

They lure tens of thousands of foreigners seeking surgery, dental work, cancer treatment, cosmetic surgery, and dozens of other procedures at a fraction of their cost in the United States.

Until this week, one of those draws was stem cell treatment, using master cells gleaned from umbilical cords, fat and elsewhere.

The health ministry last month ordered the country’s largest stem cell clinic to stop offering treatments, arguing there is no evidence that the treatments work or are safe.

“If (stem cell treatment’s) efficiency and safety has not been proven, we don’t believe it should be used,” said Dr. Ileana Herrera, chief of the ministry’s research council. “As a health ministry, we must always protect the human being.The clinic’s owner, Arizona entrepreneur Neil Riordan, told Reuters he closed the clinic and admitted the treatments, involving the removal and re-injection of stem cells, had not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“I think her point was that it is not FDA approved,” he said in a telephone interview from Panama.

The ministry said the clinic had a permit to store the adult stem cells, extracted from patients’ own fat tissue, bone marrow and donated umbilical cords, but is not authorized to perform the treatment.

OUTRAGED PATIENTS

Some of his patients were outraged that the clinic was forced to close.

“I think it’s ridiculous, in all honesty,” said Cranston Rodgers, a 67-year-old former billing materials salesman from Las Vegas, who received treatment from the clinic three years ago for an aggressive case of multiple sclerosis.

“I know what it did for me. I haven’t used a cane or a scooter since I used the first treatment.”

Since Riordan’s Institute of Cellular Medicine opened in 2006, about 400 foreigners, mostly from the United States, have undergone the experimental treatment unavailable in North America and Europe to treat multiple sclerosis, spinal injuries, diabetes and other ailments.

Raul Montejo, a 48-year-old South Florida neurologist who was paralyzed from the waist down in October when he crashed into a telephone pole while driving home, said he got some feeling back in his leg after treatments.

“I’m not getting up and running, but I’m making very good progress,” Montejo said in an interview at the clinic in April.

But other experts note that without controlled clinical trials, there is no way to know if the treatment is making such differences or some other factor, and worry that the clinic exploits ill patients’ desperation with an unproven remedy.

The International Society of Stem Cell research has cautioned against so-called stem cell tourism.

“The (U.S.) clinical trials are ambiguous at the moment,” said Dr. David Scadden, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston.

“When these kinds of treatments are proposed, they’re being essentially marketed by virtue of the anecdotal report. I feel the danger of exploitation is extremely high.”

MASTER CELLS

Riordan’s team uses adult stem cells, which can be found throughout the body. These master cells give rise to many different tissues and blood cells and are standard treatments for leukemias and a few other genetic diseases.

They are different from embryonic stem cells, taken from human embryos. Costa Rica is heavily Roman Catholic and the use of embryonic stem cells, taken from human embryos, is prohibited.

While still in the clinical trial phase in the United States, researchers are working to use stem cells to treat heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and other disorders.

But Riordan has not followed the careful procedures more common in a clinical trial, which involve checking patients given the treatment against patients who have a sham therapy to rule out the placebo effect.

Riordan, who spent years developing cancer vaccines in Arizona , but has never treated a patient with stem cells, calls the treatment groundbreaking.

“I’ve seen more medical firsts in the past four years than probably most people ever see in their lives,” Riordan, who operates a larger clinic he plans to expand in neighboring Panama, said in an interview. “For me it’s very exciting.”

Riordan has a U.S. company called Aidan Products that sells, among other things, a nutritional supplement that his team says can stimulate the body’s production of blood stem cells.

He is also chairman of Arizona-based Medistem Inc. a company that seeks to commercialize stem cell therapies, particularly with cells extracted from menstrual blood.

Even patients who have seen positive results refuse to classify Riordan’s therapy as a miracle treatment.

Holly Huber, a 37-year-old business old business developer from San Diego, who was diagnosed with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, said she began feeling her feet for the first time in a year three weeks after she was injected with stem cells harvested from abdominal fat.

“I’m not going to say it’s 100 percent. That’s not reasonable. But can I function? Yes,” she said.

Huber said she had spent $300,000 on drug and holistic treatments in the United States with little result, and turned to the $30,000 stem cell treatment in Costa Rica.

“I didn’t have anything to lose.” she said.

UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has named Costa Rica’s Christiana Figueres to be the organization’s top official on climate change, his spokesman announced Monday.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said the 53-year-old Costa Rican, currently San Jose’s climate change negotiator, would succeed Yvo de Boer of the Netherlands as the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

“Ms Figueres is an international leader on strategies to address global climate change and brings to this position a passion for the issue, deep knowledge of the stakeholders, and valuable hands-on experience from the non-profit sector and the private sector,” the spokesman said.

De Boer tendered his resignation after last year’s Copenhagen climate change talks, which ended in widespread disappointment with only vague promises by nations to cut emissions.

Figueres is to assume her post on July 1, five months before the next round of scheduled climate change talks in the Mexican resort city of Cancun.

She has been a negotiator of the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol since 1995 and has played a role in designing key climate change instruments, US media reports said.

Chief US climate negotiator Todd Stern welcomed Figueres’ appointment, calling her “well-qualified with a deep background in UN climate change negotiations.”

“The United States looks forward to working with Ms. Figueres and partners around the world to build on the progress made in Copenhagen to meet the climate change challenge,” Stern said in a statement.

Environmental group Greenpeace noted that Costa Rica has set an ambitious goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2021, “the type of attitude we need on the global stage.”

“We hope she can really engage all countries in a fast-moving dialogue to get agreement on a global deal that will save the world from dangerous climate change,” said Wendel Trio, Greenpeace’s climate policy coordinator.

Figueres’s family has a long history of work in government and international affairs. Her father Jose Figueres Ferrer was a three-time president of Costa Rica who abolished Costa Rica’s military in 1948.

Her mother Karen Olsen Beck who was born in the United States to Danish immigrants, later adopted Costa Rican nationality.

Figueres’s older brother, Jose Maria Figueres Olsen was elected President of Costa Rica for four years at the age of 39, the nation’s youngest president in the 20th century.

Figueres completed her university studies at the prestigious Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and at the London School of Economics and Georgetown University in Washington, DC.