LatinNews Daily - 11 May 2026

Costa Rica: On 2 May La Nación, Costa Rica’s leading daily, announced that US tourist visas for several board members of Grupo Nación, the holding company that owns it, had been revoked. It described the move as “unprecedented in Costa Rica’s recent history” adding that “to date, none of our members have received any official explanation regarding the grounds for these decisions.” The announcement follows other cases of the US pulling visas for Costa Rican officials – a process which began following a visit to the country by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February 2025, in which he warned that those collaborating with foreign actors could face sanctions. Those targeted have been associated with opposition to the administration of now former president Rodrigo Chaves (2022-2026), whose successor Laura Fernández, an ally, took office on 8 May. This has fuelled speculation that the revocation of visas for Grupo Nación board members could be linked to the fact that the newspaper has been critical of Chaves. The latest move by the US administration led by President Donald Trump has drawn outrage from local and international press associations. A joint press release issued on 3 May by local press associations Colegio de Periodistas (Colper) and Instituto de Prensa y Libertad de Expresión (Iplex), and Programa de Libertad de Expresión y Derecho a la Información (Proledi), an academic initiative linked to the public Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR), warned that “if this decision is based on its [La Nación’s] critical position towards this government, it would be yet another worrying sign for our democratic system.” In a statement issued on 4 May, US-based press freedom watch-dog Inter-American Press Association (Iapa) called on “the relevant authorities to provide clear and timely information on the reasons for this decision, in keeping with democratic principles and respect for press freedom”.

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