(AFP) – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Colombia Tuesday, the first stop on a Latin American tour designed to bolster pro-US leaders and cement Washington’s influence in the region. Rubio is visiting Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, after a string of elections that brought right-wing leaders endorsed by President Donald Trump to power.
In a sign of Washington’s push to build a regional security bloc, Rubio announced Tuesday that Peru would become the latest member of the “Shield of the Americas” coalition to combat drug trafficking. The visit comes just weeks after the election of Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella, a flamboyant 48-year-old millionaire who was elected in June on an anti-establishment and pro-US platform.
“I think it’s part of a trend that you’re seeing in the Western Hemisphere of alignment with the US and US interests,” Rubio said of the Colombian election as he departed from Miami. Rubio will meet the new Colombian president in his stronghold of Barranquilla, a Caribbean port city more famous for being pop star Shakira’s hometown than as a venue for geopolitics.
Since De la Espriella took office, Colombia has stepped up air assaults on armed drug trafficking groups and authorized joint military operations with the United States. Rubio, whose wife’s family comes from Colombia, said a focus of the trip would be “taking on regional, transnational criminal terrorists and also economic engagement. We’re hoping to wrap up good, solid trade deals.”
Colombia’s Foreign Minister Omar Bula said Rubio’s visit would help start “rebuilding a strategic alliance with the United States” after ties atrophied under Colombia’s previous leftist president, Gustavo Petro. In Barranquilla, Rubio will also discuss reconstruction after an August 10 earthquake that struck the country’s coffee-growing region, killing more than 330 people, according to State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.
The quake destroyed schools, hospitals, and scores of residential buildings across several towns and cities. The new president has requested US assistance and, in particular, a suspension of customs duties to support reconstruction.
– Hegemonic ambitions –
Washington is openly asserting its desire for hegemony over the South American continent, trying to curb the influence of China, Russia, and Iran. This ambition is spelled out in the new US National Security Strategy, and Rubio, himself of Cuban heritage, is its chief architect.
Since the start of the year, the United States has captured and jailed Venezuela’s anti-American leader Nicolas Maduro and imposed a fuel blockade that has crippled communist Cuba’s economy. “For too long, actors from outside the hemisphere backed by foreign states, particularly China, have entered our region with promises that conceal predatory practices,” he said in an opinion article published Tuesday in Latin American newspapers and magazines.
After Colombia, the top US diplomat will travel to Ecuador, where he will meet President Daniel Noboa. Washington and Quito are carrying out operations against boats they say are linked to the criminal group Los Choneros, which is involved in drug trafficking in Ecuador. A year ago, the US government launched a campaign of air strikes against vessels suspected of being used for drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.
The attacks have left more than 200 people dead. The administration has failed to provide evidence against these vessels, drawing accusations that the attacks amount to extrajudicial killings. The final stop is Peru, which has been led since late July by right-wing President Keiko Fujimori.
“We are synchronizing efforts to protect our hemisphere from transnational and regional threats by bringing Peru, now a major non-NATO ally, into the Shield of the Americas,” Rubio said.
– Léon BRUNEAU
© 2024 AFP
