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Published on Wednesday, March 9,
2022
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Cynthia Ann Telles, the new U.S. ambassador in Costa Rica, has arrived.
Telles knows Costa Rica very well because she lived here when her father, Raymond Telles, was the United States ambassador to Costa Rica in the 1960s.
A few days before her arrival, the U.S. Embassy was led by its Chargé d'Affaires Marcos Mandojana, who tweeted a short farewell message on Sunday. "I am very happy to have shared with the Twitter community what I like most about my work and about Costa Rica," he tweeted. "I will soon hand over this Twitter account to Ambassador Cynthia Telles."
According to Mandojana he will continue to work in support of the new ambassador "and exploring this wonderful country," he said.
The new ambassador is expected to present her credentials to President Carlos Alvarado in the coming days to begin her official duties as the highest-ranking representative of the U.S. Government in Costa Rica.
On Feb. 16,
Telles was sworn in as the new United
States Ambassador to Costa Rica by Vice
President Kamala Harris.
President Joe Biden nominated Telles as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Costa Rica in June 2021.
According to the White House, Telles speaks and reads Spanish fluently.
She is a
Clinical Professor in the UCLA
Department of Psychiatry at the UCLA
David Geffen School of Medicine and
serves on the Executive Committee of the
UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience
and Human Behavior.
For over three decades, Telles has also been the Director of the UCLA Spanish-Speaking Psychosocial Clinic and is the founding and current Director of the UCLA Hispanic Neuropsychiatric Center of Excellence.
She has served on the Board of the Pacific Council on International Policy. She was the Chair of the Los Angeles U.S. Section of the Mexico-Los Angeles Commission and has also engaged on numerous City of Los Angeles Commissions including on the Board of Airport Commissioners.
Telles has been a member of the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars and the National Advisory Council of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services. Currently, she serves on the Board of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals.
She was a founding board member of America's United Bank, the first Hispanic commercial bank to be chartered in California in over 30 years.
Her numerous philanthropic partnerships included service as the Chair of the California Community Foundation and as a member, Vice-Chair, and Chair of the Board of The California Endowment, the largest health foundation in California.
Telles received a B.A. from Smith College and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Boston University.
Telles will replace Sharon Day as the Costa Rica ambassador, who was on duty from 2017 to 2020.
More
information will be provided as it
comes.
What could be the most challenging for the new U.S. Ambassador? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com   
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