Forbes carries this story which I have heard time and again in Costa Rica and it is now starting to surface here in Panama too. The lesson here is that Central American leaders are loath to protect foreign investors over locals because foreigners can't vote. Of course everyone loses when they vote with their feet.
Excerpts: Costa Rica is a retirement heaven--unless some squatters steal your land Welcome to Eden--after
the fall. An estimated 50,000 Americans and 15,000 Canadians spend more
than four months a year in Costa Rica, a tiny, peaceful democracy (pop.
4 million) with heart-stoppingly beautiful mountains, rain forests and
beaches. Every year 2 million visitors pump $2 billion into a stable
economy. It may be a great place to visit, but as a retirement spot? Think
hard--particularly as an absentee landlord. The agrarian law says that
squatters can't be booted off unoccupied land without a court order.
Moreover, if they stick around for a year they get the right to stay
indefinitely, if no one evicts them, and after ten years of such de
facto possession they can file for title on the land. There's not much recourse for owners who encounter uninvited guests.
They can sue based on recorded title, but cases can drag on for years.
As far as protecting investors, the World Bank ranks Costa Rica near
the bottom--number 164 out of 181 economies--alongside Iran, Senegal
and Haiti.
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