New U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica Sharon Day and Public Security Minister Gustavo Mata visited the port of Caldera on the Central Pacific coast on Friday to sign the documents necessary for the U.S. donation of two 110-foot ships to Costa Rica for Coast Guard patrols.
The donation, announced last year, will improve Costa Rica’s capacity for “humanitarian operations, anti-drug actions and the conservation of marine biodiversity,” Mata said in a statement.
Six Costa Rican Coast Guard officers will travel to Virginia on Monday to help coordinate the preparation of the ships, and 44 officers more will receive training in Baltimore starting in January 2018, the statement said. Those officers will return to Costa RIca aboard the donated ships in April 2018.
Ambassador Day began her official duties Oct. 5 when she was recieved by President Luis Guillermo Solís and other Costa Rican officials.
Watch video from the Caldera ceremony posted by the U.S. Embassy in San José:
https://www.facebook.com/sanjose.usembassy/videos/10156881528363228/
