co-hosted the second Summit for Democracy with Costa Rica, as well as South Korea, the Netherlands and Zambia.Īsked after his meeting with Biden about the political turmoil in Guatemala, Chaves said he’d been distracted traveling in Washington and needed to discuss the situation more fully with his foreign minister but added, “We care about democracy.”

The Biden administration has championed Costa Rica as a stable democracy at a time when threats to it have been on the rise in parts of Latin America. Since being elected last year, Chaves has expressed interest in Costa Rica joining the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. to deepen its commercial relationships in Costa Rica and across Latin America. He did not directly answer a question about whether Costa Rica would consider closing parts of its border with Panama in an attempt to slow the flow of migrants, but said that the goal should be “managing” migration and that some of the people heading north had “legitimate” reasons for leaving their home countries.Ĭhaves said he and Biden also discussed trade, including ways for the U.S. But, in the meantime, we have to mange the excessive abuses, particularly those that are happening in the Darien Gap heading north and Costa Rica.” “This is going to take some time to solve, without a doubt. We talked about the importance of understanding the nature of this phenomenon and managing it while we find solutions to the structural problems that are causing this migration: the problem of poverty, the lack of communities,” Chaves said. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Chaves said the discussion lasted about an hour and 15 minutes and was “very productive.” Chaves has promised an increase in police presence. The nation, once a passthrough for drugs moving from South America to the U.S., is increasingly becoming an important hub - and there’s a growing domestic market, too. tourists but has faced increasing crime and murder - blamed largely on violence related to drug trafficking.

Home to roughly 5 million people, Costa Rica is a popular destination for U.S. “Costa Rica has been, and shall remain, one of the strongest allies in the world regarding your economic and security interests that are ours,” Chaves said. Chaves said at the start of Tuesday’s meeting that he agreed with Biden’s vision “where prosperity should be shared widely” but that “we have challenges to that sharing of prosperity, including security.”

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