This week in Costa Rica, authorities raised the alert level at Rincón de la Vieja Volcano, captured the country’s most wanted fugitive and moved ahead with plans that could reshape development along Guanacaste’s booming coastline. Here are seven stories worth catching up on if you live in, visit or follow Costa Rica.

Alejandro Arias Monge, the fugitive known as “Diablo,” was captured early Friday at a farm in Sarapiquí after nearly a decade on the run.

Agents were met with gunfire as they entered the property, leading to an armed confrontation that lasted approximately an hour. Five tactical officers were wounded, two other senior suspects were detained and another man died during the operation.

Arias Monge had been identified by authorities as Costa Rica’s most wanted fugitive and was suspected of directing a major criminal organization from hiding.

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The new rate landed on 24 July, replacing the temporary 10% duty imposed in February rather than stacking on top of it, according to Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Trade. Some earlier US filings had been read as implying a combined burden closer to 22.5%, a discrepancy that has not been formally resolved. Several categories are exempt, which is where the practical impact for exporters and importers actually sits.

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Southwest Airlines has cancelled its planned Las Vegas–Costa Rica flight before the route ever operated, dropping what would have been the carrier’s longest international service. The airline confirmed that nonstop service between Las Vegas and San Jose Airport has been removed from its schedule. All flights have disappeared from the published timetable.

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A California man who survived an assassination attempt outside an Escazú café more than a decade ago has been sentenced to federal prison for running an illegal gambling and money laundering operation out of Costa Rica

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With my car doing what it does best– sitting idly in the carport awaiting a part– I walked twenty minutes in the dark down the long incline of the main street of the barrio to line up for the 5 am bus to Quepos. A red taxi pulled up.

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Costa Rica moved the Guanacaste volcano from Level 2 to Level 3, "precaution," after monitoring equipment recorded 38 steam-driven eruptions between 2 and 24 July. Three of those generated lahars — fast-moving mixtures of water, mud, rock and volcanic debris — that descended through rivers on the volcano's northern flank.

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The Municipality of Santa Cruz is moving to impose order on one of Costa Rica’s fastest-growing property markets, preparing a coastal and urban zoning plan that will, for the first time, set out a formal legal framework for development across the area’s booming shoreline.

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Costa Rica had no team on the field on Sunday and spent the day living the match anyway. San José turned La Sabana into the center of its mid-year holiday festival, showing the final free on a large screen alongside food markets and a craft fair, while fan zones filled across the country to watch Spain beat Argentina.

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