Costa Rica

Home, Sweet Home: Migration between Latin American Countries

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Alena Hontarava
August 2, 2011
Home, Sweet Home: Migration between Latin American Countries

Source: http://lokheilorrainecheung.wordpress.com/ In the final decades of the twentieth century, Latin America – once a prominent destination for migrants – slowly transitioned to become the largest migrant source, mainly as a result of the economic crises that took place in the 1980s. As the number of European and Asian immigrants to countries like Argentina and Brazil dramatically decreased, Latin American emigrants accounted for an astonishing nine percent of all emigrants worldwide. Today, migration patterns in...

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Low Taxation Perpetuates Insecurity in Central America

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Christina Curtin
July 19, 2011
Low Taxation Perpetuates Insecurity in Central America

Source: The World Bank Taxation – who pays, how much they spend, and where this revenue goes – is a contentious issue in Latin America. Governments collect imposts from their citizens, and in return, the state is expected to invest prudently in education, health, and security programs that benefit society. In Central America, the taxation-governance nexus between the people and the state chronically falls short of implied expectations. Tax revenue comes in at a...

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Costa Rica: An Army-less Nation in a Problem-Prone Region

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Fellow Alex Sanchez
June 2, 2011
Costa Rica: An Army-less Nation in a Problem-Prone Region

The Central American nation of Costa Rica is one of the few countries in the world that does not possess a standing military. Nevertheless, Costa Rica, like other Latin American countries, faces a variety of security threats that test the country’s security capacity. Major national security issues include border control, drug trafficking and the expansion of international criminal organizations into the country, like for example, the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel.  On the international front,...

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Dredging Up an Old Issue: An Analysis of the Long-Standing Dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua over the San Juan River

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associates Nicky Pear & Alexandra Reed
January 24, 2011

As mounting tensions continue to smolder on the Korean Peninsula, another border dispute has been heating up in Central America, pitting Nicaragua against Costa Rica. Though it lacks the geopolitical gravitas and explosive nature of the conflict between North and South Korea, the standoff over a small area along the San Juan River has been the recurrent basis of a bitter and protracted affair. This deep-rooted dispute over an area of uninhabitable marshland is...

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Costa Rica-Nicaragua Border Dispute

This analysis was prepared by COHA Staff
November 19, 2010

To Our Readers: A number of you have emailed to express your surprise over COHA’s silence on the recent eruption of the longstanding border dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Rest assured, the COHA staff has been following this issue closely; Director Larry Birns recently conducted a 20-minute interview with BBC on the subject, and a more in-depth analysis of the situation along the Rio San Juan will be published on the COHA website...

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