2020 in Costa Rica

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Decades:	2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	Other events of 2020 Timeline of Costa Rican history

Events in the year 2020 in Costa Rica.

Incumbents

• President: Carlos Alvarado Quesada
• First Vice President: Epsy Campbell Barr
• Second Vice President: Marvin Rodríguez Cordero

Events

• 2 February – 2020 Costa Rican municipal elections including 2020 San José mayoral election
• 4 February – A Costa Rican judge nullifies a same-sex marriage between two women and fires the Civil law notary who performed the marriage in 2015.[1]
• 7 February – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights provides US$4.1 million for Nicaraguan and Venezuelan asylum seekers in Costa Rica.[2]
• 15 February – Authorities in seize a record five tons of cocaine worth $130 million in the port of Limón.[3]
• 6 March – COVID-19 pandemic in Costa Rica: The first case of COVID-19 in the country is confirmed. The individual was a 49-year-old American woman who had arrived on a flight from New York on 1 March and did not exhibit symptoms at the time. She was isolated in a San José lodging along with her husband who had also been in contact with infected persons in New York.[4]
• 13 March – COVID-19 pandemic: Leaders of Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic sign an agreement for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. It includes canceling the Costa Rican film festival.[5]
• 18 March – COVID-19 pandemic: An 87-year-old man becomes the first COVID-19 death in Costa Rica.[6]
• 28 March – Panama and Costa Rica fail in attempts to move thousands of migrants from Africa, Asia, and Haiti amassed in shelters as a precaution against COVID-19. Costa Rica has 295 confirmed cases and two deaths.[7]
• 26 May – Same-sex marriage in Costa Rica: Costa Rica becomes the first country in Central America to legalize same-sex marriage.[8]
• 28 May 28 – COVID-19 pandemic: Legislative leaders from Costa Rica meet with their counterparts from nine other Latin American countries to discuss a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9]
• 24 August – A 6.2 M earthquake centered in Pochotal de Garabito, Puntarenas, is felt throughout the country. No damages are reported.[10]
• 15 September – Independence Day: Before a reduced crowd, President Carlos Alvarado praises health workers, "today's heroes".[11]
• 18 September – The government proposes a tax increase and austerity measures in order to get US $1.75 billion in aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).[12]
• 15 December – Costa Rica builds an emission-free wooden ship capable of transporting 350 tons of cargo.[13]
• 16 December – COVID-19 pandemic: Costa Rica approves the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and hope to begin applications in the first trimester of 2021.[14]
• 23 December – “Afro-Latino Travels With Kim Haas,” a TV series honoring Afro-Latinos and highlighting Costa Rica, premiers on PBS.[15]
• 24 December – COVID-19 pandemic: Vaccination begins.[16]

Deaths

• 9 September – Henrietta Boggs, American-Costa Rican writer and socialite, former First Lady, subject of First Lady of the Revolution (b. 1918).[17]
• 9 October – Teresita Aguilar, 87, politician, Deputy (2005–2006).[18]
• November 29 – José Rafael Barquero Arce, 89, Costa Rican Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Alajuela (1980–2007).[19]

See also

• 2020 in the Caribbean
• 2020 in Central America
• 2020 Atlantic hurricane season

References

1. Marriage annulled between two women in Costa Rica (in Spanish) CNN en Español, 4 Feb 2020, Retrieved 9 Feb 2020
2. Juan Carlos Paz (8 February 2020). "ACNUR asigna US$ 4,1 millones para atender a nicaragüenses y venezolanos solicitantes de asilo en Costa Rica" [OHCHR allocates US $ 4.1 million to serve 87,190 Nicaraguans (80%) and Venezuelans (7%) seeking asylum in Costa Rica]. CNN en Español (in Spanish).
3. 'Historic seizure': Costa Rica breaks record with five-ton cocaine bust by Zachary Halaschak, Washington Examiner, 17 Feb 2020
4. "Costa Rica reporta primer caso de coronavirus en Centroamérica en una turista estadounidense". www.americaeconomia.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-06-19.
5. Central America agrees to regional plan vs. coronavirus; Costa Rican film festival suspended AFP and The Tico Times, 13 Mar 2020
6. "Confirman primera muerte por COVID-19 en Costa Rica | Crhoy.com". CRHoy.com | Periodico Digital | Costa Rica Noticias 24/7 (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-06-19.
7. Migrants in Central American limbo as coronavirus relocation plans falter By Alvaro Murillo, Reuters, 28 March 2020
8. Harmeet Kaur (26 May 2020). "Costa Rica becomes the first Central American country to legalize same-sex marriage". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
9. "Parlamentarios de América Latina intercambiarán propuestas para contener el coronavirus en la región". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved May 25, 2020.
10. "Se registra sismo de 6.2 grados en Costa Rica". www.msn.com. 24 Horas. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
11. "El presidente de Costa Rica destaca a los héroes de la salud en el Día de la Independencia". infobae (in European Spanish). Infobae. September 15, 2020. Retrieved Sep 15, 2020.
12. "Costa Rica propone más impuestos y austeridad en negociación con FMI". www.msn.com (in Spanish). Reuters. Retrieved Sep 18, 2020.
13. "Zero-emission wooden cargo ship takes shape in Costa Rica". msn.com. AFP. December 15, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2020.
14. "Costa Rica y Panamá aprobaron el uso de emergencia de la vacuna contra el coronavirus de Pfizer". infobae (in European Spanish). Infobae. December 16, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
15. "Afro-Latinos in Latin America, Caribbean is the focus of this travel show". NBC News. December 22, 2020. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
16. "Latin American countries begin COVID vaccine roll-outs". aljazeera.com. Al Jazeera English. December 24, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
17. Murió la exprimera dama Henrietta Boggs (in Spanish)
18. Fallece a los 87 años Teresita Aguilar, presidenta del Conapam (in Spanish)
19. Muere monseñor José Rafael Barquero, obispo emérito de Alajuela (in Spanish)