(LifeSiteNews) — Costa Rica has ordered the closure of its embassy in Cuba to protest the island nation’s Marxist government.
“We have to clean out communists from the hemisphere,” outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves said last week.
Incoming president Laura Fernández Delgado reiterated opposition to Cuba’s policies in footage that has been circulating on social media in recent days.
“Socialism, communism, [and] the left demonstrate that they destroy societies,” she exclaimed.
Costa Rican president-elect Laura Fernández Delgado on her country closing its embassy in Cuba and telling Cuba’s communist government to pull its diplomats from San José:
“Socialism, communism, the left demonstrate that they destroy societies.
We must learn from what happens… pic.twitter.com/CVtyF7VFVs
— Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) March 22, 2026
Fernández, who is just 39 years old, won the presidency with 48 percent of the vote during her February 1 face-off against opponent Álvaro Ramos Chaves. She is a Catholic and a staunch pro-lifer who describes abortion as “nothing other than murder.”
READ: Costa Rica elects pro-life Catholic president who calls abortion ‘murder’
Costa Rica’s decision was decried by the Cuban government, which alleged that the country is being influenced by the United States and is under its “subordination.” Cuba was also informed that it needs to withdraw its ambassadors from San José, Costa Rica’s capital city.
The accusation is not without foundation as numerous high-ranking officials in the United States, including President Trump, Secretary of State Rubio, and GOP Senator Lindsey Graham, have all publicly expressed opposition to the Cuban regime.
“I do believe I’ll be having the honor of taking Cuba,” Trump said last week while Rubio declared one day later that “they have to get new people in charge.”
Trump has made a number of aggressive foreign policy moves in recent months, starting with the capture of Venezuela President Nicholas Maduro followed by his support of Israel’s bombing campaign against Iran.
Many of Trump’s anti-war supporters have argued that the decisions betray his populist, pro-peace campaign message. Joe Kent’s decision to step down as counterterrorism chief over Trump’s Iran war conduct has been a catalyst for the intensification of debates over the “MAGA” brand. Many of Trump’s early backers argue that the movement he helped create has been co-opted by neoconservatives who are seeking to use U.S. military might to do the bidding of Israel.
Costa Rica is following in the footsteps of other Latin American countries in pressuring Cuba, including Ecuador, which banned Cuba’s ambassador earlier this month. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has also been a strong Trump supporter in the region. He has taken aggressive action against child trafficking in recent years, and has visited the U.S. on several occasions.
Costa Rica has a population of just over 5 million, with approximately 65 percent identifying as Catholic, which is the official state religion per its 1949 Constitution. Italian explorer Christopher Columbus first stepped foot in the country in the early 1500s.