Costa Rica’s President Oscar Arias has vowed to reopen diplomatic relations with Cuba which have been closed for since 1961 – two years after Fidel Castro’s communist revolution.
“It doesn’t make sense today to maintain an official distance, when we have open channels of cooperation in various areas, when we have consular and commercial relations with Havana,” said President Oscar Arias after signing a decree to reopen formal relations.
Oscar Arias, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987, went on to explain that he did not want Costa Rica to partake in the antagonizing or excluding of any people.
“Times change and Costa Rica must change with them. It is a step that gives coherence to our exterior policy,” Arias told a news conference.
El Salvador’s President-elect Mauricio Funes said he would follow suit and reopen ties with Cuba after he takes office at the beginning of June.