Fernández fires foreign minister over undisclosed Trump security forum

Shield of the Americas proposes sanctions on 24 crime groups

Costa Rican President Laura Fernández dismissed Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar on Thursday, holding him responsible for failing to notify her about a security forum attended by President Donald Trump earlier in the week.

Tovar’s firing took effect immediately while he was in New York representing Costa Rica at the United Nations General Assembly, according to United Press International. Fernández’s government said the omission caused “great strategic damage” to Costa Rica’s foreign relations, according to a statement reported by the Costa Rican outlet Teletica.

Tovar had attended a Tuesday meeting of the Shield of the Americas, a regional security forum created by Trump and focused on security and drug trafficking. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also attended.

In the statement sent to local media, Fernández said she should have attended the international meeting but was unable to because she was not informed about it. “There are difficult decisions one must make as president, but there are mistakes that cannot be overlooked,” Fernández said at a separate public event. She expressed regret over missing the U.S.-convened meeting and said “the mistake of not forwarding that invitation to me” could not be ignored.

Costa Rica considers the Shield of the Americas an important forum for coordinating security policies and combating drug trafficking and criminal organizations operating across the region, according to the government statement. Those policies are a stated priority of Fernández’s administration.

The Shield of the Americas meeting took place while Fernández was on an official visit to Colombia, where she met with Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella to discuss cooperation against organized crime and drug trafficking.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the Shield of the Americas alliance proposed collectively imposing sanctions on 24 organized crime groups in the region that it considers “an immediate and shared threat.”

The targeted groups include El Salvador’s Mara Salvatrucha and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, along with major Mexican drug cartels, Colombian armed groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN), Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho, and Peru’s Shining Path, among others.