Hillary Clinton visits Costa Rica for Pathways to Prosperity Forum

by crv.staff
04.03.10
4:20 PM UTC

Filed in Costa Rica

By Richard Barone

Hillary Clinton arrived in Costa Rica March 3. The Pathways to Prosperity Forum took place at the Hotel Intercontinental in the western San José suburb of Escazú. The United States Secretary was the keynote speaker at the forum’s Ministerial Meeting. Ministers from 15 countries participated: The United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, Chile, Colombia, México, Perú, República Dominicana and Uruguay) as well as three observers (Belize, Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago), and representatives from the International community that support these initiatives.

This effort is being promoted by exponents of the benefits of free trade. It is being implemented to help improve the distribution of economic benefits to women, rural farmers and small businesses, as well as to indigenous and Afro-descendents who have been sidelined by the open market.

Her visit is controversial, as most visits from US politicians are, yet many people welcomed the opportunity for the US Secretary to meet with the first Woman President of Costa Rica. In addition to her speech, the secretary of state met with President Oscar Arias. Clinton’s visit comes on the heels of a brief stopover here last week by U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Bob Corker.

Costa Rica definitely seems to want to shed the old image of itself as a banana republic. People in the streets are looking forward to positive change but are leery and weary of old political paradigms being imposed on them from far away. Costa Ricans know how to live in this paradise where politics, like in so many other countries, seems to be a necessary evil, without straying too far from their main objective of living the Pura Vida every day.

Rating 4.00 out of 5