Donald Trump did a lot of relationship damage dealing with Latin America, well beyond his “rapists and murderers” remark about Mexican immigrants at the border. His outright lambasting of troubled nations below the border, his politics of blame and derision, turned many of those countries even more against the United States, a factor which opened the door to China’s stepping in for its own economic gain at our expense. Biden’s administration may have inherited this mess, but his efforts – including sending VP Kamala Harris south on a disappointing effort to mend fences – fell incredibly short in the eyes of Latin American leaders.
Indeed, Biden seemed almost Trumpy in barring Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from the Ninth Summit of the Americas held from June 6th to 10th in Los Angeles. This pushed Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to do what he had warned he would do: drop out of the Summit of the Americas. What’s worse is that Latin American countries are acutely aware that their powerful Narco cartels would not exist but for US demand for narcotics and American gun laws that allow easy access even to military grade assault weapons, which have become the backbone of cartel power.
Not to mention China’s relatively unrestrained checkbook as an easy alternative to the US. Recognizing that China’s inroads have grown strong and deep, and that the United States can no longer force Latin American nations to do much of anything anymore, President Biden sent Secretary of State Anthony Blinken back to Latin America to begin to rebuild our once powerful influence in that region… with Blinken’s addressing a lukewarm crowd at the October 6th meeting of the Organization of American States in Lima, Peru. China’s footsteps were already everywhere.
“As part of its $4.3-trillion Belt and Road Initiative, China has invested in infrastructure, mining and other projects across the globe, including in Latin America. And it never makes demands on human rights or other political steps, as Washington does… According to the World Economic Forum, in addition to more than $130 billion in investments made over roughly the last two decades, trade between China and Latin America has also grown from $12 billion in 2000 to $315 billion in 2020 and is expected to double in the next 10 years.
“The projects, such as a canal across Nicaragua, are often pipe dreams that allow China to control ports and waterways without actually completing the proposals. U.S. officials maintain that Beijing makes the loans to gain political influence then holds host countries hostage to its terms… China rejects that position. Blinken had just departed Santiago when the Chinese ambassador to Chile, Niu Qingbao, wrote a letter to the editor of the leading El Mercurio newspaper titled, ‘Response to Blinken.’… ‘As to whether Chilean and Chinese cooperation is a good thing, Latin American countries have their own evaluation,’ the ambassador wrote. ‘China insists ... in not interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries, in not imposing political conditions on cooperation… China also would be very happy if the United States would really consider what it means to be ‘partners’ to Latin American countries, helping them sincerely to develop their economies and improve the welfare of the people.’
“When [Blinken] was meeting with Pedro Castillo in Lima, the Peruvian president was facing impeachment for a litany of charges — and not for the first time… More than 2,500 miles to the north on the same day, in Mexico City, [President Obrador], arguably the United States’ most important regional ally, was railing publicly against U.S. policies… And in the ‘Northern Triangle’ of Central America — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — initially chosen by the Biden administration as a major focus of U.S. attention, plans have crashed harder than churning waves breaking on the Pacific coast…
“From Mexico and Central America, all the way through the Andes, U.S. officials have struggled to find partners to work with and policies that will stick as they attempt to reassert U.S. influence, once dominant in the region but now in stiff competition with other powers, most notably China…. On Oct. 6, Blinken completed a weeklong, three-nation tour through South America, which included a day of talks with two dozen countries at the annual summit of the Organization of American States in Lima. His reception, by most accounts, was a mixed bag.
“A major challenge was to court newly leftist governments. But that was only part of the difficulty in finding interlocutors. Though the ‘pink tide’ shift to the left in Latin America has ebbed and flowed over the decades, there may be more left-leaning countries than ever if former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wins his race this month [still facing a very Trump-like Jair Bolsonaro].
“More concerning, analysts say, are the numerous regional leaders drowning in corruption allegations, fighting for their own political survival against inflation and popular discontent, and unwilling to follow the traditional democratic rule of law. In some countries like Peru, instability has become the norm… ‘There has been a rise in anti-democratic practices across many countries in Latin America as well as around the world,’ said Cynthia Arnson, a Latin America expert and distinguished fellow at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington. ‘There are any number of governments that simply don’t share interest in democratic values and human rights and open markets.’.. At the same time, the U.S. is constrained in what it can offer the region amid a growing backlash against free trade agreements, she added.
“There remains a deep sense of distrust of the U.S. among many Latin American politicians and leaders. For decades, the single most thorny point has been Washington’s maintenance of a 50-year-old economic embargo and other punishing sanctions on Communist-ruled Cuba… Many throughout the region cheered when then-President Obama in 2015 embarked on a rapprochement with Havana. He did not lift the embargo — only Congress can do that — but he renewed long-frozen diplomatic ties, reopened the U.S. Embassy in Havana, and made travel, trade and sending remittances easier for Cubans and Americans…
“‘After years of self-imposed distancing, the U.S. is finding countries totally turned around toward Chinese capital and commerce, or they maintain pragmatic relations with Russia, which blocks any kind of condemnation of aggression against Ukraine,’ said Juan Pablo Toro, director of the AthenaLab security and foreign policy think tank in Santiago… At the OAS assembly, three of Latin America’s biggest countries, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, refused to sign a U.S.-backed resolution against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Many in the region also thought relations might be easier with President Biden, who frequently boasts of his many trips to Latin America and first-name-basis relationships with heads of state. But there’s a new crop of leaders now. Biden was well into his second decade as a U.S. senator when the president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, was born.” Tracy Wilkinson, writing for the October 14th Los Angeles Times/AP. The Monroe Doctrine is long gone. Trump took away any possible American claim to a moral high ground, and China’s checkbook has been profoundly challenging for American diplomacy, further exacerbated by our “immigration policy of blame.”
I’m Peter Dekom, and in addition to our diplomatic inconsistencies and the Chinese alternative, countries in Latin America look at our own political instability and polarization as just one more reason not to trust or rely upon the United States or any of its pledges.
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