Guatemala’s Pérez Molina to visit Costa Rica Friday

GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina announced this week an official visit to Costa Rica on Friday to meet with President Luis Guillermo Solís and to discuss bilateral relations.

“The issues on the table are trade, the environment, tourism and culture,” Pérez Molina told reporters during a tour of rain-damaged areas in the southern department of Escuintla.

The Guatemalan president added that he would continue discussions about promoting cultural issues that were begun under Costa Rica’s former president, Laura Chinchilla.

In San José, Solís said he also planned to discuss regional integration and other issues. We should expect the two presidents to discuss drug trafficking and cartel-related violence in the region as well.

Pérez Molina and Solís will meet Friday morning, and later the Guatemalan president will lunch with representatives of Costa Rica’s three government branches.

Pérez Molina will become the first head of state to visit Solís since he took office on May 8.