Costa Rica closes its embassy in Cuba and orders diplomats to leave

Costa Rica closed its embassy in Havana on Wednesday and told Cuba’s communist government to withdraw its diplomats from San José.

“We have to cleanse the communists from the hemisphere,” declared Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves after the diplomatic breakup.

The Cuban Embassy in the United States responded to the closure by alleging in a social media post that Costa Rica took the measure “under pressure from the United States.”

Costa Rica’s leadership is allied with President Trumpwho recently suggested he could “take” Cuba. The island nation’s communist government has faced months of intense American pressure and has languished under severe power shortages. the country faced island-wide blackouts this week, and the protests were reported last week.

Costa Rican Foreign Minister Arnoldo André Tinoco cited “deep concern” over the “sustained deterioration of the human rights situation in Cuba, as well as the increase in acts of repression against citizens, activists and dissidents.”

“We have made the decision to proceed… with the closure of the Costa Rican embassy in the Republic of Cuba,” Tinoco said. “Likewise, we have requested the Cuban Foreign Ministry to withdraw its diplomatic personnel from the embassy in San José, with the exception of consular officials.”

In doing so, Costa Rica follows in the footsteps of another Trump ally, Ecuador, which on March 4 expelled Cuban ambassador Basilio Gutiérrez, accusing him of interfering in the country’s internal political affairs and engaging in “violent activities.”

Trump said Sunday that the governments of Cuba and the United States are talking and “I think very soon we will reach an agreement or do what we have to do.” The president has not specified what his plans are for Cuba.

“Very soon we will do something with Cuba,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.

And on Monday, Trump said, “Whether you release him or take him, I think you could do whatever you want with him.”

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez responded to Trump’s statements by writing on social media Tuesday night that “any external aggressor will encounter impregnable resistance.”