Albares congratulates his new Costa Rican counterpart, Manuel Tovar, and invites him to the Ibero-American Summit

Eduardo González Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares spoke with his new Costa Rican counterpart, Manuel Tovar, coinciding with the latter's decision to reaffirm his government's support for the candidacy of former Ibero-American Secretary-General and former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan for the position of UN Secretary-General. "I just spoke with my Costa Rican counterpart, Manuel Tovar, to congratulate him on his appointment," Albares posted on social media Tuesday night. "We will work together for the well-being of our sister nations. We will continue to strengthen our ties in preparation for the upcoming Ibero-American Summit in Madrid," he added. “I thank the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, for his call and good wishes,” Tovar wrote. “We discussed the excellent relationship between our two countries and how to strengthen Costa Rica’s bilateral ties with Spain and Europe,” he added. Rebeca Grynspan One of Tovar’s first decisions after taking office was to announce “the new Costa Rican government’s firm commitment to supporting Rebeca Grynspan’s candidacy for UN Secretary-General.” “We need leadership with the enthusiasm, proven ability, and experience of the Costa Rican candidate,” stated Minister Tovar, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Ms. Grynspan has more than two decades of regional and international experience, is a top-level negotiator with extensive experience in complex situations, and maintains a firm commitment to the principle of ‘leaving no one behind,’” he concluded. Rebeca Grynspan (born in 1955), former Minister of Housing, former Coordinating Minister of Economic and Social Affairs, and Vice President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998, was appointed Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2006. From 2010, she served as UN Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of UNDP. In 2014, she was elected, with the consensus of the 22 Ibero-American countries, to head the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), a position to which she was re-elected in 2018, tasked with supporting the organization of the Ibero-American Summits. In June 2021, she was appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). On October 8, 2025, the then-President of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, announced his support for Grynspan's candidacy for Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the government officially presented her candidacy on March 4. The Spanish government has repeatedly advocated for the next UN Secretary-General to be a Latin American woman. In January 2024, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, speaking in Madrid during the opening of the GWL Voices Dialogue—which addressed the role of women in addressing global challenges and in multilateral organizations—stated that “it is high time we had, 80 years later, a female Secretary-General of the United Nations” because, “to this day, no woman has been elected Secretary-General of the United Nations, and there have only been four female Presidents of the General Assembly compared to 70 male Presidents.” The conversation between Albares and Tovar took place a few days after the inauguration of the conservative Laura Fernández Delgado as President of the Republic of Costa Rica, an event attended by King Felipe VI. Laura Fernández Delgado, a 39-year-old political scientist and candidate for the Sovereign People's Party, won the first round of the presidential elections on February 1st. Laura Fernández thus becomes the second woman to be elected President of Costa Rica, after Laura Chinchilla (2010-2014). Her presidency allows for the continuation of the right-wing policies of her predecessor, Rodrigo Chaves. Chaves, for his part, will assume the ministries of Finance and the Presidency, which will allow him to control the political and economic agenda of the so-called "government of continuity." During her campaign, Laura Fernández, who has declared herself a supporter of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, promised a hardline approach against drug trafficking and insecurity.

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