EGN NEWS DESK
Growing up in Miami amongst Cuban exiles who fled Fidel Castro’s revolution, Sen. Marco Rubio developed a deep hatred of communism. Now as President-elect Donald Trump’s selection for America’s high diplomat, he’s set to deliver that very same ideological ammunition to reshaping U.S. coverage in Latin America.
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As the primary Latino secretary of state, Rubio is predicted to commit appreciable consideration to what has lengthy been disparagingly known as Washington’s yard.
The high Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a longtime member of the Foreign Relations Committee, he’s leveraged his data and unmatched private relationships to drive U.S. coverage within the area for years.
For a long time for the reason that finish of the Cold War, Latin America has pale from the U.S. overseas coverage agenda whilst U.S. adversaries like Russia, Iran and particularly China have made deep inroads. If confirmed, the Florida Republican is more likely to finish the neglect.
But Rubio’s fame as a nationwide safety hawk, embrace of Trump’s plan for mass deportation of migrants and knack for polarizing rhetoric is more likely to alienate even some U.S. allies within the area unwilling to fall in step with the incoming President’s America First overseas coverage.
“Typically, Latin America coverage is left to junior officers,” stated Christopher Sabatini, a analysis fellow at Chatham House in London. “But Rubio’s reflexes are firmly targeted on the area. He’ll be paying consideration, and governments are going to must be extra cooperative of their bigger relationship with the U.S. in the event that they need to draw shut.”
Rubio, by way of a Senate spokeswoman, declined to remark about his overseas coverage targets.
But his views on Latin America are well-known and distinction sharply with the Biden administration’s choice for multilateral diplomacy and dialogue with U.S. critics.
Taking cues from his boss, Rubio’s primary focus within the area is more likely to be Mexico, on commerce, drug trafficking and migration. Once a sponsor of bipartisan reforms permitting undocumented migrants a path to citizenship, Rubio remodeled himself throughout Trump’s first administration right into a loyal supporter of his requires elevated border safety and mass deportation.
Rubio has stated little about Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took workplace final month. But he was a fierce critic of her predecessor, Andres Manuel López Obrador, who in 2022 defiantly skipped the U.S.-organized Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles for a gathering of leftist leaders in Cuba.
Rubio accused López Obrador of capitulating to drug cartels and serving as an “apologist for tyranny” in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The Mexican President responded by calling Rubio a “racist.”
Despite the snub, the Mexican President was welcomed by President Joe Biden to the White House three weeks later as a “good friend” and “associate.”
“That gained’t occur underneath Rubio,” stated Sabatini. “He retains shut tabs on who’s following his coverage preferences.”
Rubio, 53, has lengthy had Trump’s ear on Latin America—and hasn’t hesitated to make use of that entry to advertise his hard-line agenda. He’s been one of the vital outspoken critics of Russian and Chinese financial, political and navy outreach within the area, and is predicted to punish international locations who cozy as much as America’s geopolitical rivals, or those that fail to assist Israel.
When Trump canceled what would have been his first presidential go to to Latin America in 2018, Rubio was there to fill the void, sitting for conferences and photograph ops on the Summit of the Americas in Peru with regional leaders from Argentina, Haiti and elsewhere.
“There’s no one within the U.S. Senate who comes near having his affinity and depth of data on Latin America,” stated Carlos Trujillo, Rubio’s shut good friend and former U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States. “Not solely does he have private relationships with dozens of officers, a few of them for many years, however he has vetted virtually each U.S. ambassador deployed to the area. It’s a major benefit.”
Among these desperate to work with Rubio is Argentine President Javier Milei, whose combative fashion, assaults on establishments and transformation from TV persona to far-right chief have drawn comparisons with Trump.
Another ally is El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, whose crackdown on gang violence that when drove tens of millions of Salvadoran migrants to the U.S. has drawn reward from Rubio.
Rubio hasn’t hesitated to make use of his energy to bully leftist leaders he sees as harming U.S. nationwide safety pursuits. Even democratically elected moderates have been targets. Earlier this yr, he slammed Chilean President Gabriel Boric, a critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, for allegedly offering secure haven for Hezbollah financiers, calling him “one of many main anti-Israel voices in Latin America.”
In 2023, he known as Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla group, a “harmful” selection to steer a rustic that has been the longtime U.S. associate within the struggle on medication.
But it’s on Venezuela that Rubio has left his greatest mark.
Within weeks of Trump taking workplace in January 2017, Rubio introduced the spouse of distinguished Venezuelan dissident Leopoldo Lopez to the White House. The Oval Office go to, marked by a photograph of a grinning Trump and Rubio flanking the then jailed activist’s spouse, instantly thrust Venezuela to the highest of the U.S. overseas coverage agenda, in a break from earlier U.S. administrations efforts to maintain a distance from the nation’s troubles.
Over the subsequent two years, Trump slapped crushing oil sanctions on Venezuela, charged quite a few officers with corruption and commenced speaking of a “navy choice” to take away President Nicolás Maduro. In 2019, on the top of Rubio’s affect, the U.S. acknowledged National Assembly President Juan Guaidó because the nation’s official chief.
But the combative stance—widespread amongst exiles in South Florida—got here to hang-out Trump, who later acknowledged he had overestimated the opposition. By strengthening Maduro’s hand, it additionally paved the best way for deeper Russian, Chinese and Iranian pursuits within the nation, all of the whereas aggravating a humanitarian disaster that led tens of millions to uproot, with many migrating to the U.S.
Michael Shifter, the previous president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, believes Trump could show extra forgiving of Maduro this time, even with Rubio heading the State Department, and proceed the trail of engagement and sanctions aid pursued by the Biden administration.
“Trump could start to deal with Maduro as he sometimes treats different strongmen world wide, and cater a bit much less to the Cuban-American exile group in Florida,” Shifter stated.
Trujillo stated Rubio’s fame for candor will serve him properly negotiating with America’s pals and foes alike, even when he has to mood his sometimes-heated rhetoric.
“He’s going to be enjoying a distinct position now, however he’s an distinctive negotiator and I’ve little doubt he’ll rise to the event,” Trujillo stated.
With Trump’s collection of one other vocal Maduro critic, Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, as his nationwide safety adviser, Trujillo stated the Venezuelan chief and his authoritarian allies in Cuba and Nicaragua must be apprehensive.
So far, officers in Venezuela and Cuba, who routinely criticize the U.S. on social media, haven’t commented on Rubio’s nomination and have remained largely muted on Trump’s victory.
“There is a chance to barter however it must be in good religion,” Trujillo stated. “If they don’t, there will probably be penalties.”
—Goodman reported from Miami. Mark Stevenson and Maria Verza in Mexico City and Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires contributed to this report.
