Costa Rica Expertise LLC

By Garland M. Baker
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

The sign of things to come: Banco Cuscatlan now requires citizens or resident aliens of the United States to fill out a W9 form for personal accounts at the firm's banks in Costa Rica.

Why? Because Citigroup bought Grupo Cuscatlan from Corporación UBC Internacional S.A. for $1.51 billion in cash and stock. Grupo Cuscatlan has operations in El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras and Panamá.

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Beach house before destruction order.

Beach house is on its way down!

By Garland M. Baker
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

If they have property in the maritime zone, expats can look forward to a hard time this year from municipalities up and down the coasts. If that is not enough stress for 2008, the Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía will be in line to add more tension. Some expats may be losing their comfy beach houses if they are located in the wrong places.

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New chapter: 'I want my house back!'

By Garland M. Baker
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

The second part of a true story of an expat's agony and defeat is supposed to end today. The Gringo has to pay his girlfriend to get his house back.

This poor man was thrown out of his house one evening for raising his voice to his girlfriend’s adult son, a punk rock type known to use hard drugs like crack cocaine. The expat spent the night in a very cold and uncomfortable jail cell. In the lockup, he had to listen to his girlfriend yuck it up with the police officers who arrested him.

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By Garland M. Baker
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, the law is explicit: tourists should not carry guns or other weapons even though many would like to do so.

According to Costa Rica’s Article 63 of the Ley de Armas y Explosivos, the controlling weapons law, the only exception is made for foreigners who are temporarily entering the country with their weapon(s) for the specific purpose of competition or hunting. Article 50 states a tourist can buy a gun here, but only for use outside of Costa Rica, and the tourist must declare the weapon at customs upon departure. These facts may be particularly disconcerting to those foreigners accustomed to the right to bear arms, or to anyone who has experienced a theft or robbery in Costa Rica.

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Her word rules, and he goes to jail

Get out of the house!

By Garland M. Baker
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

Women are kicking their mates out of the house in record numbers in Costa Rica. Some of them are enjoying it and using the law designed to protect women against domestic violence to swindle expats. Many expats come to Costa Rica in search of a relationship and end up shooting themselves in the foot by making bad choices.

Police in Heredia say women are abusing Law 8589 Article 7. The article states, “In order to protect the victims, they will be able to request, from the start of the complaint, the protective measures contemplated in the law against domestic violence, as well as the necessary precautionary measures foreseen in the penal code of procedure.”

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