Costa Rican President Laura Fernández fired Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar after concluding that his failure to inform her about a security meeting that President Donald Trump attended harmed the country's strategic interests.  Tovar's dismissal took effect immediately while he was in New York representing Costa Rica at the United Nations General Assembly.  As he should and much more.

     Tovar attended a meeting Tuesday of the Shield of the Americas, a regional forum created by Trump and focused on security and drug trafficking. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also attended.

     In a statement sent to local media, Fernández said she should have attended the international meeting, but was unable to do so because she was not informed about it. The omission caused "great strategic damage" to Costa Rica's foreign relations, the government said, according to Teletica.

     Costa Rica considers the Shield of the Americas an important forum for coordinating security policies and combating drug trafficking and criminal organizations operating across the region, the statement said. Those policies are a priority for Fernández's administration. Later, during a public event, Fernández said "there are difficult decisions one must make as president, but there are mistakes that cannot be overlooked."