Costa Rica President Laura Fernández dismisses foreign minister over undisclosed Trump security summit

Unannounced summit attendance

Costa Rican President Laura Fernández dismissed Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar on 24 September 2026 after discovering he participated in a high-level regional security meeting in New York without notifying her. The session occurred on 22 September 2026 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly and was led by United States President Donald Trump alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. According to an official statement from the Costa Rican presidency, Tovar failed to forward the official invitation to Fernández, which prevented the head of state from participating in the gathering. The dismissal was made effective immediately, arriving just hours before Tovar had been scheduled to deliver an address before the UN General Assembly on behalf of the president.

Strategic fallout and presidential apology

The presidency declared in its statement that Tovar's omission constituted negligence that caused significant strategic damage to national interests. Fernández had opted out of travelling to New York for the United Nations summit due to scheduling conflicts, instead making an official state visit to Colombia for bilateral discussions with Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella. While De la Espriella sent Colombian Vice President José Manuel Restrepo to the New York security summit, Fernández was left unaware that the gathering had been scheduled. Minutes after the New York meeting concluded on Tuesday, the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry had issued statements confirming Tovar's attendance in his capacity as foreign minister. On Thursday, Fernández attended an event in Costa Rica marking the delivery of United States security cooperation assistance, where she offered a formal apology to US Ambassador Melinda Hildebrand.

I reiterate to your country my firm and decided commitment to continue supporting the Shield of the Americas alliance. I regret my absence. The error in transferring that invitation from your government did not go overlooked, and today the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic was dismissed.

The Shield of the Americas initiative

The Shield of the Americas is a 14-country security partnership launched in March 2026 by the Trump administration to target international drug cartels and organized crime syndicates. Officials in San José view the coalition as an essential pillar of Costa Rica's domestic and public security framework. While the country was historically regarded for decades as one of the safest nations in Latin America, it has recently experienced a severe domestic security crisis caused by rising drug trafficking violence. During the New York meeting on 22 September, several Latin American presidents and representatives agreed on plans to collectively sanction 24 organized crime groups operating across the hemisphere, categorizing them as an immediate and shared regional threat.

Cabinet transition and political reactions

Following the dismissal, President Fernández appointed Foreign Trade Minister Indiana Trejos Gallo to serve as interim Foreign Minister. Trejos was designated to take over the foreign affairs portfolio immediately upon her return from an official mission to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Tovar had been a prominent official within the ruling movement led by former President Rodrigo Chaves, having previously served as Minister of Foreign Trade between 2022 and 2026, during which he championed diplomatic alignment with the United States and Israel. Tovar avoided entering into a dispute over his removal and issued a statement thanking Fernández, who assumed the presidency in May 2026, for the opportunity to serve in the administration. Cabinet members characterized the sudden removal as an unexpected shock, while opposition political figures questioned whether unstated political motivations contributed to the dismissal.