The biological richness and exuberance of the flora of the Osa Peninsula not only attracts tourists like flies to honey, but also to developers, who for the first half of this year processed building permits for over 87 thousand square meters in area. Changing land use and logging, encroachment of protected areas, projects in aquifer recharge areas with the consequent effect on water bodies, cutting of biological corridors and wetlands drained, are some serious signs that do environmental authorities in a report detailing the opening of 60 records in this region, the product of four environmental sweeps since 2008.

The experts are concerned the recovery effort that began in the 1980’s, when the forest were chopped down for timber, will be negatively affected by the Real Estate Development. The projects developed are not as large as those being built in Guanacaste, however there are so many that they are splitting the area slowly. On the other hand, most of the houses violate the shoreline area and although the municipalities have been injecting resources, [they] have not responded as they should, ” said Carlos Manuel Rodriguez , former Environment Minister.

We have finally received a copy of the Jaco Rays soccer futbol game schedule season 2010. We are very excited for our new team and can’t wait to start making the sames into regularly celebrated events in Jaco.

Pursuant to the “Check-the-Box” Treasury regulations of the US Treasury Department (Treas. Reg Statute 301-7701-2) certain foreign business entities are per se (ie. automatically) corporations such as the Costa Rica S.A. A foreign business entity that is not automatically classified as a corporation (ie. An eligible entity) can elect its classification for Federal (US) tax purposes under certain circumstances by timely filing an IRS form 8832. A Costa Rican SRL is an eligible entity. An eligible entity with at least two members can elect to be classified as either a partnership or as an association taxable as a corporation. A foreign eligible entity with a  single member can elect to be classified as an association or as an entity that is disregarded as an entity separate from its owner, ie. A foreign disregarded entity.

If a foreign entity is a per se corporation and has US shareholder(s) as stated above then it is required to file with the IRS a form 5471. Failure to timely file this form with the IRS can lead to the IRS imposing a penalty for each accounting period for failure to file a $10,000.00 penalty. If the form is not filed within 90 days after the IRS has mailed a notice to the taxpayer an additional $10,000.00 penalty per foreign corporation is charged for each 30 day period. The additional penalty cannot exceed $50,000.00 for each failure. Criminal penalties under  RS Code Sections 7203, 7206 and 7207 may also apply.

Josh N. Bennett, Esq., PA

tel: 954 779 1661

fax: 954 767 9989

cell: 786 202 5674

We just want to give a special Thank You to the brave Fire Fighters of Jaco Beach for all of their continued hard work.

Jaco is not a city known for many fires; however a few years back there was a bad fire and by the time people got there to help the family everything was already destroyed. So after that incident one generous man went back to Florida and brought our first Fire Truck to Jaco Beach. So now we are lucky enough to be protected by this great team.

About 15 miles southeast of San Jose sits the historical and important city of Cartago, the former capital of Costa Rica. The most famous building in Cartago is the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles (Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels), which is dedicated to the patron saint of Costa Rica and is located on the east side of town. Inside the church is shrine with a small carved figure of the “La Negrita”, or “The Black Virgin”

The legend of “La Negrita” is that Juana Pereira stumbled upon the statue of La Negrita sitting atop a rock, while gathering wood. Juana took it home, but the next morning it was gone. She went back to the rock, and there it was again. This was repeated three times, until Juana took it to a local priest. The priest took the statue to his church for safekeeping, but the next morning it was gone, only to be found sitting upon the same rock later that day. The priest eventually decided that the strange occurrences were a sign that the Virgin wanted a temple or shrine built to her upon the spot. And so work was begun on what would eventually become today’s impressive basilica.

Miraculous healing powers have been attributed to La Negrita, and each year a parade of pilgrims come to the shrine seeking cures for their illnesses and difficulties. August 2nd is her patron saint’s day. So each year, on this date, tens of thousands, and in the case of this year, 2 million Costa Ricans and foreign pilgrims walk to Cartago from San José and elsewhere in the country in devotion to this powerful statue.

Presenting an exclusive interview with Pat Hundley, the president of Daystar properties who recently purchased and moved the Naranjo Professional Soccer or Futbol team to Jaco Beach.  The “Jaco Rays’” first season will be starting this August and they will be playing in the soon to be upgraded City stadium.  Jaco continues to grow and each day becomes more of a hot spot for tourism and real estate investment in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica has a great reputation for its dental and cosmetic expertise, which has led many Americans and Europeans to visit for medical care. Due to its close proximity to the United States many of the surgeons have received education, training and have participated in on-going conferences relative to progressive technology. Similarly, many surgeons and dentists have visited Costa Rica to seek out experience from the doctors here. And now the fantastic medical services being offered in Costa Rica are expanding even more and more. This is in part due to the new label, called “ProMED”, introduced by the Consejo para la Promoción Internacional de la Medicina de Costa Rica (International Council for the Promotion of Medicine Costa Rica). This new label, or “seal” requires the same medical standards that are required in the United States, which provides much more security to foreign tourists traveling to Costa Rica for a variety of medical services. Companies who want to obtain this seal have to act in accordance with the national and international legislation, costing them from $400 to $7000 each year.

Now it is just a quick hour trip from Jaco Beach to San Jose! 11 kilometers of Ruta 27 are now repaired and opened back up for travel. The road had been closed since June 12^th due to multiple landslides and rock falls. And with the rainy season beginning they wanted to fix the exposed rocks and steep angles before they get worse. In order to fix the damaged parts of the road they had to erect steel mesh and fix the construction of the gutters in an attempt to stop the debris and materials from falling all over the road. From now on there will not be any machinery on the highway, however there will be workers maintaining and fixing the road as time goes on. Of course there was plenty of congestion this weekend due to the re-opening, but it should return to easy sailing soon.

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In an attempt to improve “social, cultural, economic and technological development” in Costa Rica, legislator Rudolfo Sotomayer believes that Internet Access should be free for everyone in Costa Rica. So now he is trying to make an amendment to the Constitution to make Internet Access Universal; and if this amendment is made it should only take six months for the changes to take effect.

He believes that if this change is made it would serve to help reduce poverty by introducing technology, and therefore a whole new world of information, to all of the citizens of Costa Rica. Their view is that by not allowing internet access for all individuals in the country the government is helping to create a divide between the people, between “the have and the have not”.

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