Panama City – President Trump's top diplomat is going to be overseas this weekend and travels to Central America to bring the message home that the United States expect to work in the mass deportation of immigrants.
However, the newly confirmed State Secretary Marco Rubio has to make sure that we do not alienate the long -standing allies who say that they are already playing a robust role in the containment of illegal immigration and accepting deported.
Panama, Rubio's first stop on Saturday, is a particularly sensitive case.
Trump complicated the immigration question by declaring that he wanted to confiscate the Panama Canal, the 50-mile waterway, which connects the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, and is an important instrument in international shipping that Panama has checked for a quarter of a century.
“This matter is closed,” said Panamaic President José Raúl Mulino this week at a press conference. “The channel is Panamas.”
Mulino refused to think about a “negotiation process” on the channel that the United States fell in Panama in 1999 and ended the pain of US colonization in Latin America for many years.
For many Panamaians, the channel represents income, employment and identity. Last year, the channel was operated by an independent Panamaic Commission 2.4 billion US dollars for the state coffers.
The channel “is an existential capital” for Panama, said John Feeley, former US ambassador to Panama.
In the late 1800 and early 1900s, the waterway was split by French and then US engineers over the narrowest section of the Panamaic Landes. Thousands of mainly Caribbean workers died of illnesses and accidents. The then President Carter signed a contract in 1977 that gave control over the canal to achieve the full effect two decades later.
With regard to the effort of Panama's collaboration with immigration, the Trump government would “knock on an open door,” said Feeley in view of Mulino's zeal to support this topic. But the channel is another thing.
“In America who can withdraw the channel, it won't happen,” he said. “The only way … The United States will take control of the channel when there is another military invasion and occupation. And they show me, even under Trump voters, where the appetite is. I don't think you can find it. “
But Trump claims that the Chinese influence on the canal is now a threat to the US national security. Trump exaggerates this influence, experts say, but it is true that Chinese -controlled companies have part of a port and other assets. China throughout Latin America has made considerable progress in infrastructure and diplomacy, which often take advantage of us.
The channel is “no longer autonomous – you have to do everything the (Chinese) government tells you,” said Rubio about the Panamaic administration of the canal during an interview with Podcast moderator Megyn Kelly. “And if the government in China asks you to close the Panama Canal in a conflict, you have to.”
He added: “So it is a technique, but in reality you could really hinder the traffic in the Panama Canal. … and I think the president was pretty clear that he wanted to manage the channel again. “
Rubio has to reconcile his boss's demands to maintain good relationships with countries that are largely loyal allies for the United States, starting with Panama.
“Panama was very helpful in dealing with his border,” said Trump's special representative for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, on Friday in the preview of Rubios Reise.
Relationships with Colombia were more tense.
President Gustavo Petro has received hundreds of deportation flights from the USA for more than two years
But on Sunday he turned two military flights on which migrants had been tied up. He said I would continue to accept flights, but wanted “worthy conditions” for Colombian citizens.
Trump immediately threatened a tariff of 25% on Colombian exports – mainly roses, coffee and oil – and prevented thousands from getting visas to the United States.
The two leaders overcame the series quickly and the flights were resumed. The Trump government defended its aggressive approach.
“There is a message that … there will be consequences,” said Claver-Carone.
Rubio also travels to El Salvador and Guatemala. In El Salvador, officials from the Trump government praised the masses of President Nayib Bukele for alleged gang members. It is a system that has issued Bukele by suspending the constitution of his country and has caused criticism of human rights groups. Trump administration officials stated as a potential model for dealing with criminal migrants in the United States.
For the first time in modern history, the Foreign Ministry with experts from Latin America is first class and begins with Rubio.
But Trump has achieved a more transactional approach. A policy that focused on the attachment of democratic institutions and human rights for decades is replaced by experts by rewards for working with immigration.
The traditional approach of asking democracy in a way gave China an opening, which never made such demands. In contrast to China, the United States came with “a few lessons and no goodie bags,” said Ryan Berg, who heads the Americas program in the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Think Tank in Washington.
Berg in foreign policy said Berg: “To consider the region for granted, with high costs for the influence of the United States and creates a strategic vacuum in which China and less large power competitors have promoted their geopolitical goals with minimal setback.”
Panama's role in the immigration puzzle was primarily to repatriate citizens from other countries who are stranded in the country when they try to move north. This includes people from China, Sudan and other distant locations.
The recent temporary freezing of the Trump government in some foreign help also damaged Latin America, supporters and crippled life -saving food and heather programs.