United States Ambassador to Costa Rica Nomination of Francis J. McNeil.

The President today announced that he will nominate Francis J. McNeil, of Lake Worth, Fla., to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Costa Rica. He would replace Marvin Weissman, who has been appointed Ambassador to Bolivia.

McNeil has been a Senior Inspector in the Office of the Inspector General at the State Department since 1978 and has been a Foreign Service officer since 1956.

He was born March 3, 1932, in Pittsburgh, Pa. He received a B.A. from the University of Florida in 1954 and served in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1956.

McNeil joined the Foreign Service in 1956 and was posted in Tokyo, Guatemala, Nagoya, and at the U.S. Mission to the Organization of American States (OAS). In 1971-72 he was a visiting fellow at the Institute of Political Studies and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

From 1972 to 1974, McNeil was Alternate U.S. Representative to the OAS, and from 1974 to 1975, he was Acting Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the OAS.

From 1975 to 1977, McNeil was counselor for political affairs in Madrid. From 1977 to 1978, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.