‘Multilateralism is back!’ How Costa Rica’s leaders celebrated U.S. inauguration

Costa Rican leaders on Wednesday congratulated Joe Biden as he was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.

“Multilateralism is back!” said President Carlos Alvarado via a Twitter post. “Thanks President Joe Biden for rejoining the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement. Let’s work together for a better future for all!”

In a separate post, President Alvarado said President Biden can expect Costa Rica to cooperate with the United States in pursuit of “shared principles.”

Vice President Epsy Campbell on Wednesday shared a letter she had sent to Vice President Kamala Harris.

In the communication, Campbell referenced her Afro-descendant grandmother, who “did not live to see her dream made reality,” but who worked to ensure “her daughters and her granddaughters could enjoy the rights she always wanted but never had.”

“As Vice President of the Republic of Costa Rica, and as a Black woman, I have joined the celebration of Afro-descendent towns and communities across the world that appropriate this accomplishment as an example to advance on the path to equality,” Vice President Campbell wrote.

Harris is the United States’ first female, first Black, and first Asian-American Vice President.

Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry issued the following statement:

The Government of Costa Rica expresses its warm congratulations to Mr. Joseph Biden, elected 46th President of the United States of America, on the day of his inauguration.

Costa Rica celebrates the solid ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, which have cemented its 170 years of diplomatic relations. In this sense, we will work actively and constructively together with the Government of President Biden and Vice President Harris and their teams, to strengthen the recovery process in the face of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, and energize the bilateral, regional and multilateral agendas, promoting political dialogue, cooperative actions, and the promotion of commerce and attraction of investments.

The Costa Rican government expresses its willingness to continue deepening the traditional relationships that unite it with the United States of America, as well as promoting the development of a green, inclusive, transformative and innovative agenda toward the achievement of sustainable development, based on the shared values ​​of a respect for freedom, democracy and human rights.

To President Biden and Vice President Harris, Costa Rica wishes you a successful administration and trusts that this new chapter in the bilateral relationship between the two countries will bring greater well-being for all people, as well as a deeper dynamism in the construction of urgent global solutions for a prosperous and inclusive future.