'We must cleanse the hemisphere of communists': Costa Rica's President closes embassy in Cuba

Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves ordered the closure of the country’s embassy in Havana on Wednesday (18 March), saying he didn’t recognise Cuba’s government. 

Speaking at an event in San José attended by the U.S. ambassador, Chaves said the decision was a protest against Havana’s treatment of the Cuban people.

“Costa Rica does not recognise the legitimacy of Cuba’s communist regime, given the mistreatment, repression and undignified conditions endured by the inhabitants of that beautiful island,” he said.

“We must cleanse the hemisphere of communists,” Chaves added.

Cuba said it “strongly rejected” Chaves’s accusations, branding the embassy closure an "arbitrary decision,” taken “under pressure” from the U.S.  

Chaves had “crudely manipulated the history and reality of Cuba and scandalously ignored the direct responsibility that the United States blockade policy has had in the worsening of the economic situation and the deterioration of the living conditions of the Cuban people”, Havana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday.

Costa Rica’s move comes just weeks after Ecuador ordered the expulsion of Cuban diplomats from the country, prompting Cuba to shut down its embassy in Quito.

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The right-wing administrations in Costa Rica and Ecuador have aligned themselves with U.S. President Donald Trump, who recently signalled he may intervene on the island.

“I do believe I’ll have the honour of taking Cuba,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday (16 March). 

Cuba’s government has blamed a longstanding U.S. economic embargo for an ongoing crisis that has driven more than one million people to leave the country.

Most recently, the Trump administration’s oil blockade on the island has contributed to widespread blackouts, cutting power to homes, hospitals and businesses.

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