Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado visits the United States

Today and tomorrow President Carlos Alvarado is visiting Washington D.C., his first trip abroad following his inauguration on May 8.

The president’s meetings will focus on issues including security, investment, finance, the environment and technology, according to a press release from Casa Presidencial. Alvarado meeting with members of the U.S. Congress as well as officials from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Organization of American States (OAS), the Council of the Americas and the Inter-American Dialogue, as well as environmental leaders and NGOs.

Alvarado is traveling with with Michael Soto, Minister of Public Security; Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Minister of the Environment and Energy; Adriana Murillo, director of Foreign Policy; and Román Macaya, the Costa Rican Ambassador in Washington.

The purpose of this visit is to help position strategically Costa Rica and deepen the bilateral relation between Costa Rica and the United States for the next four years.

“This visit seeks to consolidate the cooperation of [the United States], multilateral organizations and NGOs on priority issues for our administration such as citizen security, fighting against organized crime and the decarbonization of our economy,” Alvarado said in the news release.

The president’s visit has additional significance: because Costa Rica’s Constitution calls for the first vice president to stand in for the president while he or she is out of the country or incapacitated, Epsy Campbell will be the country’s presidente en ejercicio during Alvarado’s trip. Technically, she’s therefore the America’s first black woman president – for a few days, at least.