The World Zionist Organization has awarded Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Tovar Rivera the Jerusalem Prize for his role in strengthening ties between Costa Rica and Israel amid a growing alliance with the United States and Israel in Latin America.
The move comes amid a rising tide of conservative and pro-market leaders who have emerged in Latin America and broken with historical, left-wing anti-Israel foreign policies.
Rivera previously served as Minister of Foreign Trade and initiated the upcoming opening of a Costa Rican innovation and trade office with diplomatic status in Jerusalem following a landmark free trade agreement between the two countries.
“Costa Rica has stood with Israel in our darkest hour and has continued to stand boldly and proudly with the values of democracy and freedom at a time when extremism threatens to undermine what is best in our society,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a video address to the dignitaries gathered in San Jose for the Sunday award ceremony. “Clearly this does not happen by itself: it is driven by the vision, the moral clarity, the immense competence of bold pioneering leaders such as yourself.”
“Costa Rica and Israel share a deep brotherhood,” Rivera posted on X. “We will continue working together so that our alliance continues to contribute to the prosperity of our peoples.”
Costa Rica President Laura Fernández Delgado told the Israeli president after her inauguration in May that she planned to upgrade her country’s mission in Jerusalem to an embassy.
The move, which comes at a time of burgeoning relations between the two nations and increasing Israeli diplomatic inroads in Latin America, would reverse a Costa Rican decision taken two decades ago to relocate its embassy back to Tel Aviv.
The initiators of the prize cited Rivera’s work in strengthening ties with both Israel and the country’s small Jewish community as well as working to fight global antisemitism.
“This activity is not taken for granted at a time when we see Israel’s enemies both near and far actively working against the State of Israel,” said Yair Lootsteen of the World Zionist Organization.
Costa Rica’s top diplomat is the third Costa Rican to receive the World Zionist Organization’s highest honor, awarded to global leaders for their support of Israel and the Jewish people.
Previous recipients include former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and former Jewish Agency chairman and Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky.
