Overview
- La Nación disclosed Tuesday that five of its seven board members had their U.S. tourist visas canceled, and the State Department gave no public reason while citing confidentiality laws.
- The executives named were Pedro Abreu Jiménez, Luis Javier Castro Lachner, Carmen Montero Luthmer, Luis Carlos Chaves Fonseca, and Daniel Lacayo Abreu, who said they learned of the cancellations from local reports and an online status check.
- Costa Rican press associations and the Inter American Press Association condemned the move as a threat to editorial independence and urged their government to seek an explanation from Washington.
- The newspaper said it believes the step was retaliation for its critical coverage of President Rodrigo Chaves, including its 2022 reporting that the World Bank reprimanded him for sexual harassment.
- Press-freedom advocates, including CPJ, say the cancellations reflect a wider Trump administration pattern of using visas to penalize critics as Costa Rica’s press-freedom ranking fell to 38th in 2026.