One of the crew on the crashed plane was the cousin of the former president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla
She tweeted "A death has interrupted our family celebration. Our beloved cousin died as part of the crew of the plane that crashed in Guanacaste. Courage to his children and siblings and may he rest in peace. You will stay in our hearts dear #Juanmanuel Retana"
Laura Chinchilla currently teaches at Georgetown University and is a member of the board of the Inter-American Dialogue.
Georgetown is in D.C. of course.
The Inter-American Dialogue is a U.S. based center for policy analysis, exchange, and communication on issues in Western Hemisphere affairs based in Washington, D.C. The Dialogue brings together public and private leaders from across the Americas to address hemispheric problems and opportunities. Founded in 1982 by co-chairs Sol M. Linowitz (a U.S. diplomat) and Galo Plaza (former President of Ecuador) the Dialogue is one of the oldest and most influential think tanks on Latin American and Western Hemisphere affairs.
The Inter-American Dialogue is currently chaired by former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo and former U.S. Trade Representative and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Carla A. Hills. Its vice-chairs are Mack McLarty, former White House Chief of Staff, and L. Enrique Garcia, president of CAF – Development Bank of Latin America.
Other members of the Board of Directors:
David de Ferranti (US)
Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazil)
Ricardo Lagos (Chile)
Enrique V. Iglesias (Uruguay)
Roberto Baquerizo (Ecuador)
Alicia Bárcena (Mexico)
Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica)
Roberto Teixeira da Costa (Brazil)
Maria Fernanda Teixeira (Brazil)
Pierre Pettigrew (Canada)
Marta Lucía Ramírez (Colombia)
Arturo Sarukhan (Mexico)
Martin Torrijos (Panama)
Sixteen Dialogue members served as presidents of their countries, more than twenty have served at the cabinet level, and seventeen have held seats in congress.[citation needed] Twenty per cent are in the business or finance sectors. Seven Members are associated with the media and nine with universities.[citation needed]