The golden toad of Monteverde, Costa Rica, was among the first casualties of amphibian declines.

* Our Lady of the Angels Day ( Costa Rica )

*** Mother's Day ( Antwerp and Costa Rica )

Other International General Service Offices ( Australia, Costa Rica, Russia, etc.

( Costa Rica )

According to the SEC, Aon ’ s subsidiaries made improper payments of over $ 3. 6 million to government officials and third party facilitators in Costa Rica, Egypt, Vietnam, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Myanmar and Bangladesh, between 1983 and 2007, in order to obtain and retain insurance contracts.

Abacá ( ; from Spanish " abacá " for Musa textilis ), Musa textilis, is a species of banana native to the Philippines, grown as a commercial crop in the Philippines, Ecuador, and Costa Rica.

Abaca fiber drying in abaca farm, Costa Rica

Today, abaca is produced commercially in only three countries: Philippines, Ecuador, and Costa Rica.

Yields are highest in Costa Rica, but the industry is new and planted acreage limited.

In Costa Rica, more modern harvest and drying techniques are being developed to accommodate the very high yields obtained there.

ARIN formerly covered Argentina, Aruba, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Dutch West Indies, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands ( UK ), French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela until LACNIC was formed.

In general Spanish, they are known as cortaplumas ( penknife, when it comes to folding blades ); in Spain, Mexico, and Costa Rica, they are colloquially known as cutters ; and in Uruguay the segmented fixed-blade knives are known as " trinchetas ".

Costa Rica ( Roman Catholic ), Denmark ( Evangelical Lutheran ), El Salvador ( Roman Catholic ), England ( Anglican ), Finland ( Evangelical Lutheran & Orthodox ), Georgia ( Georgian Orthodox ), Greece ( Greek Orthodox ), Iceland ( Evangelical Lutheran ), Liechtenstein ( Roman Catholic ), Malta ( Roman Catholic ), Monaco ( Roman Catholic ), and Vatican City ( Roman Catholic ).

The Cayman Rise extends from southeastern Cuba along the northern margin of the Cayman Trough toward Costa Rica and resulted from Paleocene to Eocene island arc formation with associated volcanism along an extinct subduction zone.

Clipperton Island ( or ) is an uninhabited coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean, southwest of Mexico and west of Costa Rica, at.

In 1988, five Mexican fishermen became lost at sea after a storm that occurred during their trip along the coast of Costa Rica.

Pre-Columbian Ceramics from Nicoya, Costa Rica

In Pre-Columbian times the Native Americans in what is now Costa Rica were part of a cultural complex known as the " Intermediate Area ," between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultural regions.

The colonial period began when Christopher Columbus reached the eastern coast of Costa Rica on his fourth voyage in 1502.

Numerous subsequent Spanish expeditions followed, eventually leading to the first Spanish colony, Villa Bruselas in Costa Rica in 1524.

During most of the colonial period, Costa Rica was the southernmost province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, which was nominally part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( i. e., Mexico ), but which in practice operated as a largely autonomous entity within the Spanish Empire.

Costa Rica's distance from the capital in Guatemala, its legal prohibition under Spanish law to trade with its southern neighbors in Panama, then part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada ( i. e., Colombia ), and the lack of resources such as gold and silver, made Costa Rica into a poor, isolated, and sparsely inhabited region within the Spanish Empire.

Costa Rica was described as " the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all America " by a Spanish governor in 1719.

Costa Rica has avoided much of the violence that has plagued much of Central America.

In 1949, José Figueres Ferrer abolished the army ; and since then, Costa Rica has been one of the few countries to operate within the democratic system without the assistance of a military.

Since then, Costa Rica has held 13 presidential elections, the latest in 2010.

Costa Rica has high levels of endemism ; 81 species of amphibians and reptiles, 17 species of birds and 7 species of mammals are endemic to the country.

Costa Rica also has several private universities.

Costa Rica has no military but maintains domestic Police and armed National Guard forces securing its interests.

Although the referendum approved the CAFTA, each new law had to be analyzed and approved individually ; this has caused delays in Costa Rica's compliance to CAFTA.

The President of Costa Rica has limited powers, particularly in comparison to other Latin American Presidents.

This provides the single most important power versus Congress that any Costa Rican President has.

Costa Rica's economy emerged from recession in 1997 and has shown strong aggregate growth since then.

Costa Rica has two seasons, both of which have their own agricultural resources: the tropical wet and dry seasons.

One-fourth of Costa Rica's land is dedicated to national forests, often adjoining beaches, which has made the country a popular destination for affluent retirees and ecotourists. It has one of the best economies in Latin America

Costa Rica exports electricity to Central America and has the potential to become a major electricity exporter if plans for new generating plants and a regional distribution grid are realized.

Costa Rica's infrastructure has suffered from a lack of maintenance and new investment.

Costa Rica has a reputation as one of the most stable, prosperous, and among the least corrupt in Latin America.

Costa Rica has sought to widen its economic and trade ties, both within and outside the region.

* Costa Rica has bilateral free trade agreements with the following countries and blocs which took effect on ( see date ):

Unlike its neighbours, Costa Rica has not endured a civil war since 1948.

Costa Rica maintains small forces capable of law enforcement and foreign peacekeeping, but has no permanent standing army.

Costa Rica has been a strong proponent of regional arms-limitation agreements.

Regional political integration has not proven attractive to Costa Rica.

Costa Rica has an embassy in Moscow.