Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Costa Rica
Costa Rica: its Zionist-run Jewish community, Israeli police and intelligence training during the Contra war, the Jerusalem embassy of 1982 to 2006, and the 2025 free trade agreement and Jerusalem trade office
Costa Rica has a Jewish community of about 2,500, represented by the Centro Israelita Sionista de Costa Rica.[1] In the 1980s "Israel" supplied weapons and intelligence training to Costa Rica's security forces, as Costa Rica took a prominent place in the US-sponsored effort to overthrow the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.[2] Costa Rica kept its embassy in Jerusalem from 1982 to 2006.[3] In December 2025 it signed a free trade agreement with "Israel" and announced a trade office with diplomatic status in Jerusalem,[4] and in May 2026 the new president, Laura Fernández, told the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, that she was willing to upgrade it to an embassy.[5]
Jewish community and religious life
History
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) places the first arrival of crypto-Jews between 1561 and 1575, followed in the 19th century by Jews from Curaçao, Jamaica, Panama and the Caribbean. The main wave, mostly poor Ashkenazi Jews from Poland, came between 1927 and 1939, and most Costa Rican Jews trace their origins to the Polish town of Żelechów. They met an anti-Jewish press campaign from 1931; the governments of León Cortés Castro and Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia monitored the community and restricted Jewish immigration, and a Costa Rican Nazi party was founded in 1932. Some 190 Holocaust survivors arrived after the war. After the civil war of 1948 the WJC says antisemitism became "disturbingly prominent in governmental practices"; in 1952 activists tried to restrict commerce to native Costa Ricans and Jewish homes and institutions were attacked, until President José Figueres reaffirmed equal rights. Jews later held high office: Doris Yankelewitz Berger was First Lady in 1982–86, Rebeca Grynspan was second vice-president in 1994–98, Jaime Daremblum was ambassador to the United States in 1998–2004, Astrid Fischel was education minister in 2002–03 and Luis Liberman was second vice-president in 2010–14.[1]
Organisations
- Centro Israelita Sionista de Costa Rica (CIS): the community's representative body and the WJC's affiliate. It grew out of the Zionist Organization founded in 1932, the first formal Jewish organisation in the country, which merged into the Centro in 1937. Its centre and synagogue are in Pavas, San José. It runs religious life under Orthodox supervision, welfare, education and care for the elderly, and operates WIZO, B'nai B'rith, Hanoar Hatzioni, Keren Kayemet, Keren Hayesod, a Liaison Forum Costa Rica-Israel ("Hasbara and combating antisemitism"), a Yad Vashem committee and sports clubs. Its youth groups include Hanoar Hatzioni and Beit Scopus.[1] In 2006 it called the move of the embassy out of Jerusalem "inoportuna" ("untimely").[6]
- How far is it Zionist? Explicitly Zionist: Zionist by name and origin, it runs the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet), Keren Hayesod, WIZO, a Zionist youth movement and a hasbara forum.
- Instituto Doctor Jaim Weizman: the Jewish school, opened in 1960, running from kindergarten to secondary level and stressing Jewish history and Hebrew.[1]
- How far is it Zionist? No specific information; the WJC calls it the heart of the community.
- B'nei Israel Congregation: a Reform synagogue in San José.[1]
- How far is it Zionist? No information.
- Museo de Historia de la Comunidad Judía de Costa Rica: a museum in San José whose lectures include the history of "Israel".[1]
- How far is it Zionist? No information beyond its programme.
The WJC says the community celebrates Yom Ha'atzmaut and Yom Hazikaron, that its spirit "has been linked with the Jewish State since the beginning", and that several committees work to "defend the cause of the State of Israel".[1]
How far is it Zionist? Explicitly Zionist: the community's central body is a Zionist organisation that runs the main Zionist funds and a hasbara forum.
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement
Powerbase does not yet have a page on Chabad in Costa Rica. The WJC says Chabad Lubavitch in San José runs an American Jewish day school and a Hebrew school.[1]
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy
- The WJC says relations date from Costa Rica's vote for the partition plan in 1947;[1] the Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list dates recognition to January 1949.[7]
- Luis Alberto Monge, a former ambassador to "Israel", moved the embassy to Jerusalem in 1982, as president.[3][2]
- On 16 August 2006 President Óscar Arias announced that the embassy would move to Tel Aviv, saying "It's time to rectify an historic error that hurts us internationally and deprives us of almost any form of friendship with the Arab world". Shimon Peres telephoned him to ask him to reconsider.[3] The Israeli government expressed "desilusión" ("disappointment"); its note said the move "puede ser interpretado como una rendición ante el terror y un premio a sus autores" ("may be interpreted as a surrender to terror and a reward for its perpetrators"). The foreign minister, Bruno Stagno, said the reason was respect for UN resolutions on Jerusalem, and noted that "Israel" paid for the ambassador's residence there.[6] The move left El Salvador as the only country with an embassy in Jerusalem.[3]
- On 8 December 2025 the trade minister, Manuel Tovar, signed a free trade agreement in Jerusalem with the Israeli economy minister, Nir Barkat, and announced that Costa Rica would open a trade and innovation office with "estatus diplomático" ("diplomatic status") in Jerusalem, expected in early 2026. Barkat thanked him on behalf of "todo el pueblo judío que entiende y ve a Jerusalén como su capital eterna e indivisa" ("the whole Jewish people, who see Jerusalem as their eternal and indivisible capital").[4] According to the Costa Rican foreign trade ministry, negotiations had begun with a memorandum of understanding on 29 March 2023; the agreement needs ratification by the Legislative Assembly.[8] The signing was criticised by the Goicoechea municipal council, human rights groups and Palestine solidarity groups; the Frente Amplio deputy Sofía Guillén called it "inmoral" ("immoral"), saying it "mancha la política exterior costarricense con sangre" ("stains Costa Rican foreign policy with blood").[9]
- Herzog was invited by the outgoing president, Rodrigo Chaves, to the inauguration of his successor; Al Jazeera noted that Costa Rica had abstained on the 2024 UN resolution calling on "Israel" to end its occupation.[10] He attended the ceremony on 8 May 2026,[11] and the Israeli foreign ministry said that Fernández "expressed her willingness to upgrade Costa Rica's diplomatic representation in Jerusalem to an embassy".[5]
Arms, police and intelligence
- Costa Rica abolished its army in 1948. Writing in Middle East Report in 1986, Milton Jamail and Margo Gutierrez said that the civil guard in the Nicaraguan border area had adopted the Galil rifle and the Uzi submachine gun as its official arms, and that "Israel" provided intelligence and anti-terrorist training to the security forces; the deputy security minister, Johny Campos, admitted help with intelligence training but denied other military assistance. Haaretz reported in 1984 that "Israel" would sell arms and provide counterinsurgency training to the police, and in late 1982 "Israel" offered military equipment captured from Palestinian forces in Lebanon if Costa Rica paid the transport costs.[2]
- They said that as early as 1964 a representative of the Israeli defence ministry had advised on creating a national youth movement modelled on the Israeli paramilitary Gadna, and that in 1983 the columnist Jack Anderson reported a US-funded scheme to settle anti-communist farmers along the Nicaraguan border, the Northern Zone Infrastructure Development Project, with Israeli advisers; Anderson wrote that "Israel will provide the technical expertise, presumably based on its experiences with settlements in the West Bank area".[2]
- SIPRI records no Israeli arms transfers to Costa Rica.[12]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics lists Costa Rica separately. In 2025 "Israel" imported goods worth $20.5 million from Costa Rica (2024: $17.7 million) and exported goods worth $34.1 million to it (2024: $35.9 million).[13]
Migration and aliyah
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics includes Costa Rica in a combined group with Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala and Puerto Rico, and does not list it separately.[14]
Political interference
UN voting
Costa Rica voted for the General Assembly's endorsement of the New York Declaration on a two-state solution in September 2025.[15]
Jeffrey Epstein
- Costa Rica appears 289 times in the files released by the US Department of Justice on 30 January 2026, according to La Nación,[16] and 324 times according to CR Hoy.[17]
- On 8 February 2013 Jean-Luc Brunel wrote to Epstein from Costa Rica that two men with revolvers had robbed him the day before, while he was with a man who owed them money. On 25 September 2011 he had answered Epstein's question about where he was with "Costa Rica", and in January 2013 he told Epstein he was flying there. The Organismo de Investigación Judicial told La Nación it had no record of investigations into Brunel in Costa Rica.[16]
- On 23 June 2012 Daniel Siad wrote to Epstein: "I am here participating for miss Costa-Rica".[18] La Nación describes Siad as a contact who found young women for Epstein in Barcelona, Paris, Morocco and Cuba.[16]
- On 28 February 2010 Ghislaine Maxwell wrote that she was going to Costa Rica to meet "la nueva presidenta" ("the new president"), Laura Chinchilla, about extending a national park; La Nación found migration records of her entry in early March but no evidence of any meeting. On 4 April 2010 she wrote that she was returning to the Galápagos and then Costa Rica to dive on the "shark highway".[16]
- Other files mention an FBI undercover operation using a fake Costa Rican travel agency that purported to offer girls aged 14 to 16 for prostitution.[16]
- By February 2026 the attorney general, Carlo Díaz, had opened an investigation through the Fiscalía de Género, case 26-000155-0994-PE, into the apparent sexual abuse of an unidentified minor; it is against persons unknown. Migration records show no visits by Epstein to Costa Rica since at least 2000.[19][20]
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Panama
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Nicaragua
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Guatemala
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 World Jewish Congress, Community in Costa Rica worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Milton Jamail and Margo Gutierrez, Israel in Central America Middle East Report (MERIP), May 1986.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Costa Rica moves embassy to Tel Aviv Al Jazeera, 17 August 2006.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Costa Rica anuncia que abrirá una oficina comercial en Jerusalén con «estatus diplomático» EFE, 8 December 2025.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President Herzog concludes official visit to Central America embassies.gov.il, 10 May 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Desilusión en Israel por traslado de embajada La Nación, 17 August 2006.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011.
- ↑ Ministerio de Comercio Exterior (Costa Rica), CP-3100 Costa Rica e Israel firman Tratado de Libre Comercio que fortalecerá su vinculación comercial en sectores estratégicos comex.go.cr, December 2025.
- ↑ Costa Rica e Israel firman TLC en medio de críticas por conflicto en Gaza El Mundo CR, 8 December 2025.
- ↑ What to know about Israeli President Herzog's trip to Central America? Al Jazeera, 6 May 2026.
- ↑ Rey Felipe VI, Isaac Herzog y líderes de América Latina asistieron al traspaso de poderes en Costa Rica La Nación, 8 May 2026.
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy).
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Statistical Abstract of Israel 2024, Table 2.55: Immigrants, by period of immigration, country of birth and last country of residence CBS, 2024.
- ↑ United Nations General Assembly, Recorded vote on A/80/L.1/Rev.1: Endorsement of the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, 12 September 2025 (copy hosted by Al-Quds Al-Arabi).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Julián Navarrete Silva, Las cinco menciones más relevantes de Costa Rica en los archivos del caso Epstein La Nación, 15 February 2026.
- ↑ Costa Rica aparece citada 324 veces en los archivos Epstein: Lea lo que dicen CR Hoy, 31 January 2026.
- ↑ Email from Daniel Siad to Jeffrey Epstein, "Hello from Costa Rica", 23 June 2012, EFTA00644062, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 9, justice.gov, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Jeffrey Epstein Costa Rica investigación Fiscalía El Observador, 25 February 2026.
- ↑ ¿Cómo se originó la investigación por el caso de Jeffrey Epstein en Costa Rica? Teletica, 4 March 2026.