Costa Rica’s foreign minister fired for attending Trump meeting without telling president

Costa Rica’s President Laura Fernandez on Thursday fired her foreign minister for attending a meeting on Latin America’s security led by US President Donald Trump without telling her.

Fernandez said she should have been the one to attend the meeting of Trump’s anti-cartel “Shield of the Americas” alliance in New York, and that Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar’s failure to consult her caused “great strategic damage.”

The meeting took place on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Tovar attended “without giving prior notice or informing” the president, a conservative Trump ally, of his participation, Costa Rica’s government said.