TAKING LATIN AMERICA SERIOUSLY: A SHIFT IN U.S. POLICY
This past September, I posted an article responding to Hill’s Rafael Bernal’s article, “Latin America Hedges its Bets Amid US Disinterest.” Bernal’s article at the time discussed the concern by many in Latin America that the US was not interested in the region. This past Tuesday, President-elect Trump announced the appointment of Rep. Michael Waltz and Sen. Marco Rubio to serve as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, respectively. This is newsworthy because both men have an interest in the region.
As an example of Waltz's interest in Latin America, Congressman Waltz and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz saw their sponsored bill, The Bolivar Act, passed by Congress. The legislation intends to extend the Venezuelan sanctions program to “impose…contracting restrictions” on Federal contracting companies. The Sanction program is currently enforced by the Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC). A link to the bill is found here.
If confirmed, Senator Rubio will be the first Hispanic to be appointed Secretary of State. As the son of Cuban immigrants and growing up in Miami, there is a strong possibility that Latin America will be taken seriously. I use the word “possibility” because, if anything, foreign policy in the last four years under the Biden Administration has been one of reacting to world events instead of being proactive. As a result of this approach, Latin America has been at the bottom of the priority list in the Biden Administration. We have seen China fill that vacuum because Latin America was not a priority, and the events in Lima serve as a reminder of that neglect.
Recently, Cosco Shipping, a Chinese company, completed the construction of a mega port in Chancay, Peru. Chancay is north of Lima, Peru’s capital. The port's opening coincided with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Peru for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, which was hosted in Lima. ?
The mega port serves as a symbol for China, Peru, and the United States. For China, it reminds the rest of the world that it seeks to be equal to the United States and later a dominant force. As reported in Reuters, “General Laura Richardson, former U.S. Southern Command chief, warned earlier this month that Chancay could be used by the Chinese navy and for intelligence-gathering.”
For Peru, it serves as an opportunity to be "the Singapore of Latin America," in the words of Peru’s Minister of Transport and Communications, Raul Reyes. The mega port allows “…direct routes to Asia, particularly to ports in China, which will be cut by 10, 15, 20 days depending on the route…It would compete with Mexico's Port of Manzanillo and eventually Long Beach in California. In addition to the port’s construction, the Peruvian government is starting a $10 billion railway project to complement it.
The opening of this port serves as a reminder of US policy in Latin America and its neglect of the region. Despite the region's close geographical proximity to the US, China is becoming many countries' number one trading partner.? The question that should be asked by both the incoming administration and Congress is, “Why could we not do this?”
With this new administration, there is an opportunity to reassess previous policies and develop a new vision of engaging Latin America. As this Congressional session ends, some bills would have addressed Washington’s neglect of the region (i.e., the Americas Act). It will be a good idea for the Trump Administration to signal Congress to have these bills re-introduced and passed. We cannot apply the “in case of emergency, break glass” approach to Latin America. We can’t view Latin America in terms of security threats and developing policies in response to the crisis.
This new administration must refrain from reverting to old policies because they have worked in the past. Instead, we need to understand why they work and see if we can apply them to the region as they do now. The proverbial wheel does not need to be reinvented, but we must reassess our policies and approaches. The Rocha scandal should have taught us this lesson. ?
In closing, the selection of Rep. Waltz and Senator Rubio to serve President-elect Trump in the foreign policy realm is a hopeful sign that Latin America will be taken seriously. The next step is to develop and implement policies that signal to the region that the US does take them seriously- policies that balance free trade and national security. ?