Carol Blair Vaughn

By Carol Blair The Costa Rica Star This is the fourth installment of The Costa Rica Star’s exclusives six part original series of the upcoming book, “Drug Diva”, by Carol Vaughn the story of one of Central America’s fiercest female narco-traffickers, Cristel Gomez Espinoza. You can read our previous published first installment  here  , the second installment here  and the third  here . Mexican beauty Sandra Avila Beltran was having coffee with friends at an upscale coffee shop in Mexico City in 2001, when the police cornered her and took her into custody. A tuna boat had been seized by the authorities carrying over nine million tons of cocaine. The boat was traced by cell phones found on board, back to Sandra and her lover “el Tigre”. At last the “Queen of the Pacific”, also known as Mexico’s “Queen of the South”, had been captured. Similarities between the now 60-year old Mexican and Costa Rica’s 25-year old Queen of the South are legendary. Whe...

By Carol Blair The Costa Rica Star This is the third installment of The Costa Rica Star’s exclusives six part original series of the upcoming book, “Drug Diva”, by Carol Vaughn the story of one of Central America’s fiercest female narco-traffickers, Cristel Gomez Espinoza. You can read our previous published first installment  here  and the second installment  here . It is well known how dangerous La Reina del Sur de Costa Rica is – but it’s also dangerous to be this 25 year old. This fact was brought painfully into focus on December 28, 2018, when a 20- year old Nicaraguan waitress named Tatty Matamoros was found dead, thrown out of a moving car. Her only crime was that she bore a slight resemblance to Costa Rica’s Reina del Sur, and had similar blue roses tattooed on her inner arms. Someone wanted Gomez Espinoza dead. Tatiana Matamoros, known fondly as Tatty to her family and friends, came to Costa Rica in 2017 to find a better job and better quality of...

By Carol Blair The Costa Rica Star This is the second installment of The Costa Rica Star’s exclusives six part original series of the upcoming book, “Drug Diva”, by Carol Vaughn, scheduled to be released towards the end of the year. You can read the first instalment  here Cristel Yariella Gomez Espinoza, aka, La Reina del Sur de Costa Rica, was born into narco aristocracy Her father, brother, uncle, husband, boyfriends and other family members managed the movement of cocaine from the border of Panama into Costa Rica, providing drugs to notorious narco-traffickers who then smuggled the drugs into the United States. Adrian Galeano Calvo of El Universal De Mexico newspaper stated last year about Cristel, “At only 24 years, this young woman has succeeded in creating a drug dynasty, managing the movement of cocaine from the border of Panama to provide narcotics to Costa Rican groups like that of “El Gringo” Guido.”  El Gringo was Cristel’s boyfriend until his violent death...

By Carol Blair Vaughn The Costa Rica Star The Costa Rica Star will be publishing an original exclusive six part series from the upcoming book “Drug Diva”, by Star reporter Carol Vaughn, author of “ Crazy Jungle Love “. These sneak-preview excerpts document the astonishing saga of Cristel Gomez Espinoza, one of Central America’s most dangerous and powerful drug capos. Look for the entire book to be released at the end of 2020. Tuesday, August 20, 2019 – Palmar Norte de Osa It was going to be a slow day at the Dental Clinic of Centro Comercial in Palmar Norte. The 9:30 appointment was already twenty minutes late when the receptionist walked over to the picture window to see if the patient was on his way in from the parking lot. She was shocked to see two unmarked black SUVs pull up in front of the adjacent Boutique Donna Rose, and disgorge four armed officers who quickly entered the premises. Then officers of the Fuerza Publica screeched to a halt in front of the...

The Costa Rica Star By Carol Blair V. Baby jaguars are called cubs (cachorros in Spanish), and are born with their eyelids tightly shut. After two weeks, their eyes open, leaving them less defenseless. After six months, the mother jaguar begins to teach them to hunt. The Universidad Nacional video is probably of cubs at about 6 months to a year. After their second birthday, the cubs leave home to go off and hunt by themselves. Jaguars have yellow or orange coats, with dark spots, and short legs. Their spots are unlike any other large cats: the spots look like little roses, and are called rosettes. The team that captured the video of Maria and her cubs commented, “It’s a great pleasure to see her (Maria) walking in her territory, and even better, teaching future generations of jaguars how to defend their habitats.” Defending the jaguar population of Costa Rica is essential to their preservation and conservation. The Jaguar Program of the International Institute for Wildlife Conservat...

The Costa Rica Star By Carol Blair V. Here’s something brilliant that Costa Rica has achieved in the last thirty years: They have doubled their forest cover. Half of Costa Rica’s land surface is now covered with trees. Those trees can absorb a massive amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and we can all breathe easier for it. Bravo! No one would have predicted this outcome back in 1983 when a meager 26% of Costa Rica had forest cover. Uncontrolled logging had led to a catastrophic reduction in trees compared to the 1940s when three-quarters of the country was covered in lush rainforests and native woodlands. As a result of a continued environmental focus by policymakers and government decision-makers, 2019‘s statistics indicate that forest cover has increased to 52% — just about double the 1983 levels. How is it that the country that can’t get their roads repaired, their government uncorrupted, their indigenous people integrated, their economy prospering, etc., was able...

By  Laura Alvarado  – July 10, 2019 Costa Rican scientists discovered a new species of butterfly native of Guanacaste, the findings were presented during the first meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly Bureau that took place in Norway. Philtronoma Cbdora,  its scientific name, has back wings of a shiny pink color, which it hides under its grey front wings the moment it lands over a leaf or tree. “This new species and thousands more are discovered thanks to the efforts carried out by the Guanacaste Conservation Area and the Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund”,  explained the Guanacaste Conservation Area page. “The species epithet is in honor of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) efforts to promote sustainable development and conservation of biological diversity, and specially Costa Rica’s new focus on being an exemplar tropical country for the realization of the goals of the CDB” “Costa Rica is a world leader in the conserva...