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Published Monday, January 25, 2021
New leadership in the U.S. Embassy
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Following the ending of duties of Sharon Day, former ambassador of the U.S. in Costa Rica, Gloria Berbena, the Minister Counselor will assume the leadership of the diplomatic offices, as Chargé d’Affaires.
It is usual for a representative to assume control of the embassy until the next ambassador arrives, who must be nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the United States Senate, the embassy said in its statement.
According to the embassy, Berbena joined the U.S. Diplomatic Corps in 1989. A member of the Senior Foreign Service, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy beginning in August 2018.
She previously was the Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, the Senior Advisor to the Executive Secretary in Washington, D.C., served as the Executive Assistant/Chief of Staff to the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, and was the Director of the Office of Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Her prior overseas service includes public diplomacy positions in Havana, Athens, Naples, Rome and Bangkok.
Berbena is a graduate of the State Department’s Foreign Affairs language programs in Spanish, Greek, Italian and Thai, and is the recipient of several Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards, the embassy said in its statement.
Berbena in 2012 received the State Department’s highest honor in the public diplomacy field, the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy. She is a native Californian and a graduate of the University of California. She is now in charge of the embassy to continue with the diplomatic activities.
Last week, former ambassador Day received the Grand Cross Silver medal, for her services to the country at the end of her term in Costa Rica.
The Grand Cross of the National Order of Juan Mora Fernández is named after the first president of Costa Rica in 1985.
"I appreciate the farewell today at La Cancilleria (referring to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and I feel very honored to have received the decoration of the Juan Mora Fernández National Order in the degree of Grand Cross Silver Plate," Day posted on her Twitter account. "I am leaving immensely satisfied knowing that I contributed to the strengthening of our friendship."
The recognition was given by President Carlos Alvarado at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The vision, drive and determination of Ambassador Day, who, from multiple fields, and with her style, managed to bring closer diplomatic relations between Costa Rica and the United States," Alvarado said.
In June 2017, officials at the White House announced that, then U.S. President Donald Trump had nominated Sharon Day for the post of U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica.
Day is a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee being first elected back in 2011. According to the White House, she has served the Republican Party at state, local and national levels for more than 20 years as well as being an active political commentator and columnist.
One of Day's latest actions was last week when she and Rodolfo Solano, Minister of Foreign Affairs, signed an agreement in which Costa Rica agreed to share information on illegal excavations, robberies and trafficking of archaeological artifacts.
According to the embassy, with this agreement between both countries, a list of artifacts made with jade, gold, stone, bone, resin and shell from the pre-Columbian period that goes from 12,000 B.C. to the establishment of Hispanic culture in Costa Rica in A.D. 1550, will be created.
The list of registered artifacts will allow United States police forces to detect these pieces in case of possible smuggling or trafficking and then return them to Costa Rica.
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What should the new ambassador do to improve embassy services to U.S. citizens living in Costa Rica? We
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