Costa Rica Names Ana Elena Pinto Foreign Minister After Predecessor Was Fired Over Trump Meeting
President Laura Fernandez picks a career diplomat after dismissing Manuel Tovar for attending a US-led security summit without telling her
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File photo: Costa Rican President Laura Fernandez at her inauguration in San Jose, May 2026. Photo: Esteban Rojas Saurez / Asamblea Legislativa de Costa Rica, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Costa Rican President Laura Fernandez on Monday named career diplomat Ana Elena Pinto as the country's new foreign minister, less than two weeks after firing her predecessor over a security meeting attended by US President Donald Trump, Reuters reported.
Pinto will take office on October 15, the agency said.
Who is Ana Elena Pinto
According to a statement from the Costa Rican presidency cited by Spanish news agency EFE, Pinto Lizano is a career diplomat with more than two decades of experience in the foreign service.
She has previously served as Costa Rica's ambassador to France and Monaco, as permanent delegate to UNESCO and as the country's representative to the International Organisation of La Francophonie, EFE said. She holds a master's degree in international management and negotiations and received diplomatic training in Paris.
Why Tovar was fired
Fernandez dismissed Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar on September 24 after he attended a high-level meeting of the Shield of the Americas, a US-led anti-cartel coalition, without notifying her, which prevented her from taking part, Reuters reported at the time.
The government said Tovar's negligence had caused significant strategic damage, according to Reuters. The government said it views the coalition, launched by the Trump administration in March, as fundamental to its national and public security policy.
The September 22 session in New York coincided with the UN General Assembly, which Fernandez had chosen not to attend, sending Tovar to lead Costa Rica's delegation instead, EFE and Costa Rican daily La Nacion reported. Tovar was removed while still in the United States.
In the formal dismissal decree published in the official gazette La Gaceta on September 30, Fernandez accused Tovar of negligence and inadequate handling of the meeting, La Nacion said.
A disputed account
La Nacion noted that Argentine President Javier Milei had said Trump's presence at the meeting had not been planned and was the result of a change in schedule.
On the day of the session, Fernandez was in Barranquilla, Colombia, for bilateral talks with Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella on fighting organised crime and drug trafficking, according to EFE.
She later apologised to the US ambassador in San Jose, Melinda Hildebrand, for missing the meeting and pledged continued support for the Shield of the Americas alliance, EFE reported.
Foreign Trade Minister Indiana Trejos was named acting foreign minister after Tovar's removal.
Tovar previously served as foreign trade minister from 2022 to 2026 under former President Rodrigo Chaves, Fernandez's political mentor. Fernandez took office in May.
