COSTA RICA: Moody's Upgrade Powers 1st Debt Sale Since 2004.

BLOOMBERG/      After Moody's raised Costa Rica's credit rating to Baa3, equal to Brasil's, yields plunged on the country’s 6.548 % notes due in 2014 to a record low of 2.57 % last week. And new President Laura Chinchilla (pictured) began  seriously considering selling her nation's debt overseas... for the first time since 2004.

COSTA RICA: Mammoth U.S. Armada Headed To Fight Drug Trafficking.

GLOBAL POST/ OPINION BLOG/
  "A flotilla of 46 United States Navy warships capable of carrying 200 helicopters, along with 10 Harrier vertical take-off and landing fighter jets, and 7,000 combat ready marines available for land based operations is on its way to this Central American country with no standing army.
On July 1, 2010 the Costa Rica Legislative Assembly voted 31-8 to grant the U.S. military full in-country access through the end of 2010 to help fight drug trafficking."

COSTA RICA: President Oscar Arias Gives Exit Interview.

GLOBALPOST/     President Oscar Arias leaves office Saturday, succeeded by Laura Chinchilla. The 69-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate gave an exit interview about his successes and failures in office...championing free trade, failing to broker a deal in Honduras and ecological progress.

COSTA RICA: Where Politics Of The Center Succeeds.

GLOBAL POST/   What makes Costa Rica the “Switzerland of Central America,” a nation that just elected its first woman president?  And why do its residents choose the political center while regional neighbors seem so polarized? The answers according to political scientists : the lack of a military and weak unions.

COSTA RICA: Landslide Victory For First Woman President Laura Chinchilla

BLOOMBERG/ Laura Chinchilla, 50,  former President Oscar Arias's protege, won Sunday's presidential election with 47%, almost doubling the votes for her two closest rivals. Chinchilla is a social conservative who opposes gay marriage and abortion.

COSTA RICA: Libertarian Shakes Up Presidential Contest.

GLOBALPOST/
Otto Guevara, 49, a Libertarian candidate has turned the nation's presidential election into a horse race by charging into second place.
Guevara wants to dollarize the currency and slash income taxes. Guevara is polling at 27% approval, up 8% since August while Laura Chinchilla is polling at 44%. A victory of 40% is needed in the Feb. 7 election or a run-off is held. Costa Rica provides socialized health care and public education and has been slow to sell its state-run telephone monopoly.

COSTA RICA: Conservative Outsider Gaining In Presidential Race.

REUTERS/
Polls show an outsider from the fringe Libertarian Movement gaining against favored candidate Laura Chinchilla. Newcomer Otto Guevara hopes to stop Chinchilla from becoming Costa Rica's first woman president. Polls reported Chinchilla with 40% of voters, down from 63% in September, while Guevarra's support zoomed to 30% from 13%.