All Blog Posts Tagged 'Costa Rica' (83)

It looks as if the Ottawa Citizen was a bit loose in its language. Canada does not have an official travel advisory out on Costa Rica - but the Foreign Affairs website advises as follows:

Travellers should be alert to their surroundings near the ports of Limón and Puntarenas. In San José, high-risk areas for theft include the Coca Cola bus station, the inner downtown area and the public parks. Travellers should also be cautious in Tamarindo, Jaco, Quepos and Manuel Antonio on…

Kim Paris, a 33-year-old Canadian woman, is the latest ex-pat to disappear in Costa Rica, according to A.M. Costa Rica. The woman, who lives in Santa Teresa de Cóbano de Puntarenas, disappeared Aug. 26, judicial agents in Costa Rica said. U.S. citizen, Roger Peter Biennvennu, 64, has been missing since early July. He lives in Barrio Quebradas, San Isidro de Peréz Zeledón. According to A.M. Costa Rica, Kim is the fifth expat to disappear in the…

Important story on CNN.com about the two American nutjobs who were killing ex-pat property owners in Panama and just taking over their properties (according to one of the blogs I read, they had a local lawyer taking care of the paperwork). The couple was caught in Nicaragua a few weeks ago, after a detour through Costa Rica. This region attracts all kinds -- the hopeful…

Dutch TV crime reporter Peter R de Vries, 53, and his colleague Chantal van Schuylenburgh, 43, were arrested in Autstralia for trying to talk to a 31-year-old Australian who they say is a murder suspect in the death of 23-year-old Dutch woman Mariska Mast in Roatan, Honduras two years ago. Read full story.

The Australian, Dan Ross, was…

"Judicial agents said Friday that a North American left his home in Pérez Zeledón July 9 and has not been heard from since. They identified the man as Roger Peter Biennvennu, 64. Information is being sought at the following telephone numbers: 2771-3449, 2785-0378 or 800-8000-645. Agents of the Judicial Investigating…

It is time. Let's use the sad anniversary of David Gimelfarb's disappearance in Costa Rica to kick off a national campaign on behalf of missing Americans and their families. Ron Scheepstra of Texas, Joe Dunsavage of New Jersey, David Gimelfarb of Illinois, Richard Alicea and Edwin Pritchard of Florida, Leo Finley of Missouri -- and all the others we don't know about -- must not have been lost in vain. Let's use this occasion to contact our Senators and Representatives by whatever means we…

The following is from Top10 Costa Rica. I don't normally copy and past a full story, but there was no easy way to link straight to this one, so I hope the good folks at Top10 don't mind.

Using Costa Rica as a rest stop, the two foreigners detained in Nicaragua have been clearly identified as the American couple wanted in Panama in the death of at least one U.S.…

Call me obsessive. I don't care. Five years ago, the Natalee Holloway disappearance was, in my mind, just another media feeding frenzy masquerading as journalism. Now I ask: for all the attention the case got, how much interest did the U.S. government take in the plight of a missing (likely murdered) U.S. citizen and her family?

Five years since, and families of the missing are still left on their own to invent the wheel when a loved one disappears outside their country's borders. It…

A blog post in ArizonaCentral.com: "Arpaio Says No to Mexico Travel. How About Honduras?"

While I know the suggestion is made with tongue firmly planted in cheek as a reference to a junket the sheriff's team apparently made to Roatan on the Arizona taxpayer's dime, Honduras IS being heavily promoted as a tourism destination and precious little media attention is being paid to the tourists and expats (as well as…

Check the Friends of Ben Vaugh blog for updates and ways to help.

I don't know anything more about this case, will look into it. A Facebook group has been created for anyone who wants to know more and help. If you know anything about this case, please post your information as a comment on this post. Thanks.

A-freakin'-mazing! This is the U.S. Embassy's page about safety in Costa Rica. Not a mention of the disappearances and murders over the past year. Here's the kind of thing the Embassy warns about:

• A tire of a rental car went flat, and people who stopped to "help change the tire" stole U.S. passports, bags, cash, and camera.
• A hotel room was broken into during the day, and items the tourist had hidden were…

On Mother's Day 2009, my brother disappeared after leaving the beach on the West End of Isla de Roatan, Honduras. I didn't know at the time that a month earlier, almost to the day, Ron Scheepstra had disappeared from Xcalak, Mexico, a remote village on the Yucatan Peninsula close enough to Roatan for Ron and his fishing buddies to be using Roatan tide charts. Over the next few months, more men would disappear in Central America and the Caribbean: Alex Humphrey, in Panama; David Gimelfarb in…