-Published: Wednesday, January 22, 2020-




By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The U.S. secretary of State said that his agency will review the decision on a Costa Rican crime warning that irked government officials and tourism operators here.

In a meeting Tuesday with President Carlos Alvarado, the secretary, Michael Pompeo, heard the concerns and said the warning will be reviewed.

The U.S. State Department shocked Costa Rica early this year when it told travelers to take more precautions here. The country was reduced from the top level I to level 2.

In responding to urgings that the United States return Costa Rica to its previous classification, Pompeo said "We're going to take a look at this. There’s a process inside the State Department. There was a question about - on how this decision’s made. It's inside the State Department with respect to our travel advisories. We’ll take a look at it. We want to make sure we get it right. We’ll also communicate with them and say, hey, here’s the things that - if we can change, if we can make better, here’s how we get to the right place. "

According to Pompeo, a million and a half-plus Americans come travel to Costa Rica last year. "I am confident that we will have a million and a half-plus Americans come travel again. I hope there'll be more. I know you hope there'll be more as well. I'm very confident that people who are coming here - people who are coming here for travel and leisure, people who are coming here to do business - will continue to do so. "

In discussing the method of establishing the travel advisory, Pompeo said "What we try to do with our travel advisory is just make sure that we're sharing with the American people things that we identify as concerns. We always want to make sure we get it right. It's something we constantly evaluate and review. I've asked - the president asked if we would do that again, and we will certainly do so here as quickly as we can. "

Alvarado said he requested the revision of the classification because "the classification for us is not so much a direct economic impact. It's got to do with reputation, and we've talked about that because the country has made great effort reducing its crime rates. It's reduced the homicide rates in the last two years in a consistent fashion and has offered more security of the three million visitors we have had. The crime rate that they suffered is zero zero two – 0.02%. crimes. It's not attempts to their life. So this has got to do with reputations. "

Alvarado also added that "We do not face terrorist threats, and we - now that the ranking has gone down, we share that classification with countries that have over 50 death per a hundred thousand, when ours is 11 every hundred thousand. So it has got to do with reputation, and that is what we made a request very respectfully for that to be revisited by the secretary and his team, given it's so important for us in terms of alliance, cooperation, and partnership between our two countries. "

Pompeo also justified his trip to Costa Rica by saying that "Our administration has made a real priority of reaching out to our friends in the Western Hemisphere, and there has indeed been no better friend than Costa Rica to the United States of America. Your country has done great work in supporting human rights, the rule of law, democracy, it grounds our relationship, you're an incredible supporter of freedom in our region.

Other issues discussed by Pompeo and Alvarado were the crises in Nicaragua and Venezuela, in addition to the fight against drug trafficking.

Pompeo arrived on Tuesday in a State Department 757 at 10.40 a.m. to the Base Two terminal of the Air Surveillance Service at the Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela.

In his brief stay of six hours, he met with employees of the U.S. embassy and the Costa Rican government. Then he left the country for Jamaica at 4 p.m.

According to the official statement of the State Department, the last visit of a top secretary of State was the former Secretary, Hillary Clinton in April 2010.


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