U.S Vice President Joe Biden promised to listen to the region's concerns, but did not budge on two issues of importance to Central America – immigration and Cuba – in a meeting with President Oscar Arias and other Central American leaders in San José on Monday.

Speaking to the press after what he called a refreshingly honest, “worthwhile” discussion at the Casa Presidencial with Costa Rica President Oscar Arias, Biden said the United States would support initiatives to bolster the staggering economies of the region but stressed that the biggest hurdle would be to get the U.S economy back on track.

“It cannot work for Latin America unless our economy begins to grow,” Biden said, asking for “patience and forbearance” from Central American leaders.

The economy overshadowed many of the other issues that the leaders discussed, including immigration and drug trafficking.

Still, Biden promised an increase in funding for Central American nations under the anti-drug Merida Initiative from $65 million to $110 million, but said immediate action on immigration would be politically difficult under current economic conditions.

On Cuba, the vice president stopped short of condoning an end to the U.S.'s 47-year-old trade embargo on the island nation, but said the United States would enter “a period of transition” in its relations with Cuba.

“We take responsibility for our own future,” said the former chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, continuing, “We take responsibility for knowing that our own actions drastically impact – disproportionably impact, sometimes – what happens in Central America.”

Arias, who opened the press conference by saying that the Obama administration appeared to be putting together a “Good Friend Policy” toward Latin America – a hallmark to former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's regional “Good Neighbor Policy” – smiled when a reporter from the business daily La República asked Biden if the Costa Rican president was becoming something of a spokesman between Central America and the United States.

But Biden, who said his government was “in listening mode,” said the United States was seeking strong bilateral ties with every country in the region.

“We don't need any interlocutor,” Biden said. “We want direct, immediate and personal contact with each of the leaders, each of the countries in the region.”

In a second effort in as many weeks to further open the country to tourism, the government of President Daniel Ortega recently announced that Nicaragua will no longer charge Costa Rican tourists a $25 tourism visa to enter the country.

Ortega announced the measure during a speech last weekend in which he and his wife, Rosario Murillo, called for “responsible and dignified tourism” to combat poverty in Nicaragua.

“Where tourism advances, poverty recedes,” said Murillo, quoting the World Tourism Organization.

The move to eliminate the tourism visa comes right before Holy Week vacation, in an effort to lure more Costa Ricans to visit Nicaragua during one of the country's most important weeks for generating income. Nicaragua does not have the same “dry law” that Costa Rica has during Holy Week, presenting an attractive and close option for Tico partygoers.

The $25 visa for Costa Ricans was applied by the previous administration of President Enrique Bolaños, as a tit for tat for Costa Rica imposing a similar visa on Nicaraguans.

The unilateral decision to lift the visa is the second initiative the Ortega government has taken in the past two weeks to facilitate tourism.

On March 13, Ortega signed a separate decree to eliminate all consular visa requirements to travel to Nicaragua, allowing tourists from around the world to get their visa at their port of entry and save themselves from trekking to the closest Nicaraguan consulate to process a visa request to visit here.

“We are a country with open arms,” Ortega said.

Meanwhile in Costa Rica, Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno told the daily La Nación on Monday that it would be “very difficult” for Costa Rica to adopt a similar measure for the benefit of Nicaraguans, but that the Immigration office would look into it.

Newswire EFE contributed to this report.

It was a kick: Jill Biden, educator and wife of the U.S. vice president, visited Ciudadela de Pavas Elementary School on Monday.

Nick Coté | Tico Times

As her husband and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spent the morning speaking with Central American heads of state, Jill Biden opted for third graders.

Biden, who has a doctorate in education and background as an English-as-a-second-language teacher, visited the Ciudadela de Pavas Elementary School Monday morning, where she was greeted by more than 150 children waving small U.S. and Costa Rican flags.

“I feel right at home in this school,” Biden told the gathered children, whose school in the western San José neighborhood of Pavas lacks both a playground and a gymnasium.

The school's director, Nuria Campos, thanked Biden, and a fourth grader, Juan Gabriel Solano, who read a short speech in Spanish highlighting the school's poor conditions and asking for a donation to build a gymnasium.

Biden then went to observe a third grade English class, asking in English the age of one boy, who counted to nine.

The school is part of Costa Rica Multilingüe, an Arias administration initiative that works to promote English in Tico public and private schools.

Courtney O'Donnell, Biden's communications director, said the former teacher requested the visit, which is her first to a foreign school since her husband was sworn in as vice president in January. Though she was in Chile the day before, schools there were closed because it was a weekend, so instead she visited the home of famed poet Pablo Neruda.

“She loves being in a classroom,” O'Donnell said. “It was important to her.”

Biden was accompanied by Caroline Cianchette, wife of U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica Peter Cianchette, embassy staff and Secret Service officials.

The visit to the elementary school was coordinated by the U.S. Embassy, located only a few blocks from the school. The embassy has been working with the elementary school since 2007, putting on art and music workshops as a way to teach the children English, as well as donating materials to build a roof over the outdoor breezeway where Biden was greeted.

Tico Times reporter Holly Sonneland contributed to this report.

A delegation of Nicaraguan farmers, businessmen and government officials traveled to Venezuela Monday to obtain the release of six containers of Nicaraguan beef held up in one of the South American country's customs offices.

The group went to Venezuela to “resolve as quickly as possible” blocks Caracas has put on the bovine meat before it can enter Venezuela, Ronald Blandon, head of the Nicaraguan Farming Commission (Conagan), told EFE. He also added that the issue was not with the quality of meat itself, but rather the Venezuela bureaucratic process.

Blandon did not know the total weight or value of the meat.

Conagan President Sergio Argüello, however, said it was “worrisome” that Nicaraguan beef ran into difficulties entering the Venezuela markets, as similar problems happened last year. The farmers, he said, “don't just need agreements so that Nicaraguan products such as meat and dairy can enter freely (into Venezuela) … but a free trade agreement … that is formal and serious.”

Nicaraguan exports to Venezuela more than quadrupled from 2007 to 2008.

Nicaragua is a member of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), an alliance headed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.