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Good Evening from Costa Rica
Costa Rica’s tsunami warning center says it will stop watching the coasts around the clock on Jan. 1 unless lawmakers restore the university funding it depends on. It’s the starkest example yet of how an $882 million hole in this year’s tax collections is reaching services you rely on, from courts and police to schools and public universities, where thousands marched in San José on Tuesday.
Guanacaste’s drought is now a red alert, and for the first time the alert extends out to sea. Two cases involving foreigners also drew attention: a Canadian woman says she lost about $350,000 to a Pérez Zeledón community whose American leaders are under investigation, and another Canadian died at a cosmetic surgery clinic in San José.
Also this week: Moody’s ranked Costa Rica’s banks second only to Argentina’s for dollar risk, used-car imports fell 85% after a tax loophole closed, JetBlue is bringing first class to three Costa Rica routes, and scientists mapped the coastal reefs where young giant manta rays grow up.
Demonstrators march in San José. (John Duran / AFP)
This Week By the Numbers
$882 million — how far Costa Rica expects 2026 revenue to fall short of budget
2 — part-time staff the national tsunami center says it would have left in 2027, too few to watch the coast 24 hours a day
43% — less rain than normal in the North Pacific from January through September
37% — share of Costa Rica’s bank deposits held in foreign currency as of June
$600,000 — what investigators estimate at least 11 foreigners lost to a Pérez Zeledón eco-village
85% — drop in used-car imports in September, the first full month under new customs rules
The Top Story
Sinamot has served as Costa Rica’s tsunami alert center since 2014.
The team that decides, within minutes of a big Pacific or Caribbean earthquake, whether a tsunami is headed for Costa Rica says it will stop monitoring around the clock on Jan. 1, 2027. The National Tsunami Monitoring System (Sinamot), run by the National University (UNA), says a staff position funded every year since 2018 won’t be paid for next year. That would leave it with two people, one working three-quarters time and the other half time, and several hours a day with no one watching.
That local call matters because international centers issue warnings for whole ocean regions. In one case, the U.S.-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center warned that waves of 1 to 3 meters (3 to 10 feet) could reach Costa Rica, and Sinamot’s team worked out within 15 minutes that no evacuation was needed. Since 2014 it has evaluated more than 900 events, eight of which produced tsunamis recorded here. Whatever happens to its funding, a strong earthquake on the coast is your cue to head for high ground without waiting for an alert.
The squeeze starts with revenue. The government expects to collect about $882 million less than it budgeted for 2026, and officials blame informal commerce, smuggling, problems with the new TRIBU-CR tax platform and the strong colón. To cover part of the gap, a second extraordinary budget cuts a net $370.4 million and adds $412.4 million in borrowing. The Judicial Branch takes the largest single cut, $28.9 million, including $11.1 million from the OIJ. Security loses about $28.5 million and 172 vacant positions, and funding for 10 new schools moves to 2027. The bill has no new taxes, and the Comptroller’s office says it would push the deficit to 4.8% of GDP, the biggest deterioration since 2020.
The universities are fighting their share. On Tuesday, thousands of students, professors and staff marched from San Pedro to the Legislative Assembly, and that night the budget committee approved the 2027 budget with ₡8.05 billion (about $17.7 million) moved from the five public universities to cover the Education Ministry’s overdue payments to the teachers’ pension fund. The cut passed 6-5 on a second vote, after a ruling-party lawmaker said she had voted against it by mistake. The University of Costa Rica’s rector calls it unconstitutional and says the universities will go to court. The full Assembly must vote on the budget before the end of November.
More News
The red alert now covers a strip of sea about 22 kilometers wide along the whole Pacific coast.
If you live in Guanacaste or on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula, you’re now in the part of Costa Rica the government considers hardest hit by El Niño. On Thursday the National Emergency Commission (CNE) raised 10 cantons and the Puntarenas districts of Paquera, Cóbano and Lepanto to red alert for drought. That takes in Tamarindo, Playas del Coco, Nosara, Santa Teresa and Montezuma. For the first time the alert also covers the sea, a strip about 22 kilometers (12 nautical miles) wide along the entire Pacific coast, because warmer water is hurting small fishing operations.
The rain simply hasn’t come. The North Pacific got 43% less than normal from January through September, and Cañas 63% less. That matters because October usually refills rivers and aquifers before the dry season. Another 13 cantons, including Quepos, Garabito and Monteverde, are on orange alert, and 48 more, including San José, are on yellow. The National Meteorological Institute (IMN) expects this very strong El Niño to hold through January, with effects lasting well into 2027.
What you can do now: fix leaks, don’t waste water and go easy on electricity. Most of Costa Rica’s power comes from hydroelectric dams, so a drought squeezes the grid as well as the taps.
Pérez Zeledón, in southern Costa Rica. (Jan Hart / The Tico Times)
A Canadian woman says she sold everything she owned, paid $22,000 for two lots and lent $325,000 to the leader of EarthWaking Village, a self-described Christian eco-village in Pérez Zeledón, and has not been repaid. Investigators estimate that at least 11 foreigners, most of them U.S. citizens, lost about $600,000 to the group, a figure they call preliminary.
Judicial police (OIJ), working with the U.S. Embassy’s investigators, raided properties in Platanillo and Barú on Oct. 6 and detained four Americans: England, 44, described as the leader; Hallman, 44; McDow, 63; and Gingras, 62. None has been charged. They were released under six-month measures that require them to surrender their passports and report to prosecutors every 15 days. Former residents say the leaders told members the settlement was sovereign territory, exempt from Costa Rican and U.S. taxes.
It’s the second Costa Rica investment story this week to leave foreigners fearing losses. More than 6,000 Europeans who bought teak trees on plantations in the Northern Zone fear they’ve lost most of their money after the Swiss company that sold them went bankrupt.
Costa Rica draws foreign patients for dental and cosmetic procedures.
A 57-year-old Canadian woman, last name Gariepy, died Thursday at a private cosmetic surgery clinic in Barrio México, near Paseo Colón in San José. She had a procedure there on Oct. 5 and had returned for what authorities described as a routine follow-up. The OIJ is treating it as a death under investigation. An autopsy will determine the cause, and authorities haven’t said whether her death is linked to the procedure or whether negligence played a role.
Three women died after cosmetic procedures at clinics in the San José area earlier this year. If you’re considering surgery here, check that your surgeon is licensed in the right specialty on the College of Physicians and Surgeons’ online registry. Registration as a general physician doesn’t qualify a doctor for complex cosmetic surgery, and it’s worth confirming the clinic has operating permits and a plan for emergencies.
More than a third of deposits in Costa Rica’s banks are in foreign currency.
Moody’s Ratings says Costa Rica’s banking system is the second most exposed in Latin America to a sudden squeeze on dollar funding, behind only Argentina. Dollar deposits fed by foreign investment and tourism income have grown faster than reserves and banks’ own dollar cushions, though Moody’s still calls the country’s reserve coverage solid. As of June, 37% of deposits and 40% of loans to individuals were in foreign currency.
Part of the pull is the interest rate. The Central Bank’s policy rate is 3%, while the U.S. Federal Reserve’s range is 3.75% to 4%, so dollar savings tend to pay more. Dollar savings deposits have grown about 140% in a decade, to roughly $5.2 billion. Banks say stress tests show the system can handle a shock.
The practical advice from the bankers’ chamber is to borrow in the currency you earn. The Central Bank’s reference rate through the weekend is ₡450.04 to buy dollars and ₡456.32 to sell. The strong colón is also biting exporters, and coffee income has fallen 30%.
Deportees from the United States arrive in Costa Rica. (Ezequiel Becerra / AFP, file photo)
Under an agreement signed in March, Costa Rica accepts up to 25 people a week who aren’t Costa Rican and were deported from the United States, with Washington paying through the International Organization for Migration (IOM). As of Oct. 2, 478 people had arrived on 23 flights, mostly from Mexico, China, Colombia and Brazil. Of those, 269 had left, 26 were in the process of returning and 183 were still here.
A report by Refugees International and the Global Strategic Litigation Council says the immigration agency can’t fully meet its human rights obligations to them. Nine of the 21 deportees interviewed had no Costa Rican documents confirming their legal status, and some with work permits found employers and banks didn’t recognize them. The groups recommend accepting no more transfers until Costa Rica can guarantee safeguards. Immigration director Omer Badilla rejected the findings and says a U.S.-funded program offering Spanish classes, job-search help and housing support will start enrolling people in the coming weeks.
Quick Hits
Juan Santamaría’s control tower lost power for nearly an hour. On Thursday, controllers lost their radar screens, radio and weather data and fell back on a portable backup radio. Authorities say scheduled flights weren’t affected, and the cause hasn’t been explained. It’s the airport’s second systems failure in six weeks, after a truck cut fiber-optic cables on Sept. 12.
JetBlue first class is coming to three Costa Rica routes. BlueFirst starts Dec. 26 on Fort Lauderdale–Liberia and Jan. 5 on Fort Lauderdale–San José and New York JFK–Liberia, with a free meal on all three. It’s only on select flights at first, so check that the cabin shows up on yours before you book.
Paid by SINPE Móvil for business? You’ll have to register the number. A decree published Oct. 16 requires anyone who collects business payments by SINPE Móvil, including landlords and freelancers, to record the number with the tax authority. Instructions are due within three months, and then you have 12 months. Missing it costs 2% of gross income, at least about $3,057. Personal transfers aren’t covered, and there’s no new tax on SINPE.
Used-car imports fell 85% after a tax loophole closed. Only 631 used vehicles came in during September, against 4,262 a year earlier. Customs now taxes cars on whichever is higher, the declared price or the Finance Ministry’s own value, and the average tax per used car rose 71% to about $4,470.
Sneaking into a closed area of a national park can cost you about $3,040. More than 2,000 people have been caught entering parks without authorization in three years, leaving illegal trails, garbage and fires at Poás, Chirripó and Corcovado. Guides who take visitors into high-risk zones face fines of about $10,130, and rescues are billed at about $5,060 a person.
The main suspect in the Playas del Coco killing is still at large. Investigators believe a 22-year-old woman with the last name Ortiz struck Marc Walter Fleming with a blender jar in his condo on Sept. 27. A second woman, last name Zeledón, is in three months of preventive detention. Neither has been charged. Tips go to the OIJ’s confidential line at 800-8000-645.
Transfers to the new megaprison start Monday. Suspects in the killing of police officer Gerson Rosales will be the first moved into the CACCO. The justice minister says conjugal visits there will be limited to 30 minutes every six months, though the current regulation still allows two hours every two months and no formal change has been confirmed.
Spotlight
Giant mantas can reach a wingspan of about 7 meters (23 feet).
Young giant manta rays grow up close to Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, then head out across the ocean as adults. That’s the finding of a study led by Mantas Costa Rica and published Thursday in Frontiers in Fish Science, which followed the animals from 2018 to 2025 at the Murciélago Islands, the Catalina Islands, Cabo Blanco, Caño Island and Cocos Island. Researchers tagged 59 mantas with acoustic transmitters, tracked 12 by satellite and logged more than 12,000 detections.
Shallow coastal reefs give younger mantas shelter from large sharks and killer whales, along with food and cleaning stations where small fish pick parasites off their bodies. The mantas kept coming back to the same spots, which researchers think also serve as places to socialize and court. Fully grown, a giant manta can weigh 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds).
Adults range much farther. Nine of the 12 satellite-tagged mantas left Costa Rican waters for international waters and the seas off Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, and one swam about 1,832 kilometers (1,138 miles) in just over 40 days. Outside protected areas they run into nets, hooks and boat traffic, and because mantas reproduce slowly, every loss counts.
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