Costa Rica Suspends Political Participation in SICA

There is now some action by Mexico. This Tuesday, technical teams will be meeting in Mexico City, to discuss a way forward for the Cuban crisis. The meeting was set for El Salvador but was moved to Mexico, which is seen as a key player in a solution to the crisis.  One proposal from the Salvadoran Foreign Minister is for the formation of a committee of experts from the area to review the “legal bodies of each country” and find a way to solve the issue of the stranded Cubans. And this afternoon the government of Costa Rica issued a release on its position in respect of SICA. Costa Rica says it will suspend its political participation in SICA but their withdrawal will only apply to the political bodies of SICA, not the economic, commercial, or technical bodies. Costa Rican president Luis Guillermo Solis also announced the suspension of the granting of temporary visas to Cubans, stressing that any Cuban attempting to enter Costa Rica illegally would be immediately deported to Cuba. As such, he urged “irregular Cuban migrants” not to attempt entry into Costa Rican territory.  President Solis also says that a “humanitarian corridor” is still a possibility, which would allow Cubans to freely head north to the U.S. border. Another interesting point is that, according to Solis, the position of Guatemala’s interim president may not necessarily be the position of Guatemala’s President-Elect, Jimmy Morales – who will assume the presidency on January fifteen, 2016.