Costa Rica on Wednesday cut diplomatic ties with Cuba and Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said that the “hemisphere must be cleansed of communists.”
Chaves’ statement came shortly after Costa Rica said it was closing its embassy in Havana and told Cuba to withdraw its diplomatic staff from San Jose, the Costa Rican capital.
Chaves told a news conference that Costa Rica “does not recognize the legitimacy of Cuba’s communist regime, in light of the mistreatment, repression and undignified conditions in which they hold the inhabitants of that beautiful island.”
Photo: Reuters
“The hemisphere must be cleansed of communists,” said Chaves, who is set to be succeeded by his party colleague, Laura Fernandez, on May 8. “We will not grant legitimacy to a regime that oppresses and tortures nearly 10 million Cubans today.”
When asked whether his decision signified a complete severing of ties, Chaves said that “at this moment, Costa Rica and the Cuban communist regime do not have diplomatic relations.”
Should it wish to do so, Havana could retain its consular staff in the country to attend to about 10,000 Cuban residents, while Costa Rica would serve its own citizens from Panama, he said.
The Costa Rican embassy had been without diplomatic staff since Feb. 5.
Costa Rica is following in the footsteps of Ecuador, which on March 4 expelled Cuba’s ambassador, Basilio Gutierrez, accusing him of interfering in the country’s internal political affairs and engaging in “violent activities.”
Costa Rica and Ecuador are part of a group of Latin American nations that recently formed an alliance with the US to combat drug traffickers using military force.
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