Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said that the next visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be “excellent” and that it confirms that his country will continue to be a “strategic partner” of the US government.
Excellent relation
“It will be excellent. We are one of the first countries that the new Secretary of State will visit. There is undoubtedly a transformation in the relations of the United States with the world, but very noticeable with Latin America. And so Costa Rica is perfectly positioned to continue being the strategic partner par excellence of the United States,” Chaves said in statements to journalists. Rubio is expected to begin a tour of Central America this week. However, so far the Costa Rican authorities have not confirmed the day he will arrive in the country.
In the best terms
“If you look at everything that Mr. (Donald) Trump’s administration is saying, Costa Rica is the best in those terms in Latin America. We fight against drug trafficking, he (Trump) knows that we are installing scanners (to detect drugs), we have done a lot about immigration and there are more Americans living in Costa Rica than ‘Ticos’ in the United States,” said Chaves.
The Costa Rican president, whose administration had a close collaboration with the Government of Democrat Joe Biden (2021-2025), indicated that he believes that Costa Rica will now work on a relationship with the Trump administration more focused on “specific transactional points” such as international trade, capital flows and investment, instead of “more altruistic issues such as democracy.”
Secretary of State Rubio’s first international tour will take him to Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce reported last week. However, the dates of the tour have not been made official.
Rubio, who speaks perfect Spanish and is the son of Cuban immigrants, became the first Hispanic Secretary of State in the history of the United States on January 20. The new Trump administration wants to curb migration flows from Latin America and the appointment of Rubio as head of US diplomacy anticipates greater attention to the region.
