Marco Rubio’s Comically Tragic Trip to Latin America
The Secretary of State spent much of his time striking deals with Latin American leaders who agreed to do things they were already doing
After normalizing relations with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and granting Chevron a six-month license extension to import Venezuelan oil, the White House sent Secretary of State Marco Rubio on a tour of Latin America. The goal was to secure deals to send migrants from the United States to third countries using a “do as we say or there will be consequences” approach netting little results and instead creating more ire for the administration.
Let’s start with the most recent news and work backward.
On Thursday, Rubio posted an image on X (formerly Twitter) claiming to have seized a plane from Maduro. The problem is that it appears to be the same plane the Biden administration had already seized in early September.
On the same day, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino denied a claim made by Rubio saying his country had reached a deal allowing U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal for free. This came days after Rubio was in Panama and its president shut down claims made by President Donald Trump about China controlling the canal.
Dominican Republic
Thursday proved to be a busy day for Rubio. He and the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, held a joint press conference. They discussed energy security and the use of semiconductors for medical and defense technologies. They also discussed entering a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two countries to formalize the presence of a Customs and Border Patrol agent, presumably to assist with stopping Haitians from entering the Dominican Republic which has been a key focus of Albinder for years.
“I am happy to announce today that we have entered into an MOU to formalize the presence of a CBP agent, Customs and Border Patrol from the United States, to work together with the national police to improve our efforts,” said Rubio. “And we will see how we can enhance access to certain technologies which will allow to grow what you are doing, and we will do this together.”
Abinader emphasized his fixation with Haitian immigration into the Dominican Republic and restated that his country has no interest in helping its neighbors – an issue that has existed for hundreds of years due to many ethnic and cultural differences. These contrasts culminate from the French colonization of one side of the island and the Spanish colonization of the other. It has grown to one of racial animus that resulted from the Haitian Revolution in 1791 and continues today.
“We have reiterated that there is no Dominican solution for the Haitian crisis,” said Abinader. “That is why we have highlighted the urgent need to have greater financial support for the multilateral support led by Kenya, the goal being to expand its operational capacity and ensure effective actions. We also highlighted the important – importance of re-establishing humanitarian assistance to avoid a worsening of the crisis and a possible uncontrollable migration wave that would affect both the Dominican Republic and the United States.”
Guatemala
On Wednesday, Rubio held a press conference with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo where they discussed an agreement similar to the one under the previous Trump administration that had Guatemala accepting migrants from third countries. Guatemala repatriated them on behalf of the U.S. for a substantial sum. The inhumane treatment of migrants by a country that lacks the infrastructure to expel migrants is raising many questions.
“The president who has made the offer today, then we’ll be working on the details of all this – but the offer to increase these flights – these – by – and these deportations by 40 percent,” Rubio said. “It’s very important for us in terms of the migratory situation that we’re facing. His willingness to accept not just nationals but those from other nationalities as they seek to ultimately return to their own homelands is also important.”
As noted by Rubio’s statement, Guatemala is already doing this. The United States is essentially planning to appropriate more money for Arévalo to increase the acceptance of deportees from the U.S. and deport them to other countries. Guatemala is a country where the U.S. has ignored people being “deprived of their liberty,” for more than a decade, as reported by the United Nations and many other human rights groups.
As of this writing, no formal agreement has been reached and no start date for the increased expulsion of deportees to Guatemala has been set.
Costa Rica
Rubio’s visit to Costa Rica wasn’t much of a news story in any sense, especially immigration. Both Rubio and Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles spoke during a press conference about creating a secure 5G network in the country and discussed involving the DEA and the FBI in assisting Costa Rica in battling drug trafficking.
When it came to immigration, Rubio mentioned how Costa Rica is often a destination for migrants from all over the world and speculated about the country being used as a transit point to reach the U.S. Unsurprisingly, he used African migrants as an example to make his point and equated them with terrorism.
“But you have also seen that there have been attempts to come through your borders, migration that are from different countries like – and continents such as Africa,” said Rubio. “And these people may have ties to terrorism, but they were in route to the United States. So, we will continue to work as strongly as ever with biometrics, et cetera, to identify these people and prevent them from damaging you, us, or any other country in the region for that matter.”
Enemies of Humanity
On Tuesday, Rubio blamed Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua for increased migration to the U.S. which he called “enemies of humanity,” echoing John Bolton when he referred to the three countries as the “Troika of Tyranny” under the previous Trump administration. Rubio ignored the U.S. sanctions that have contributed to increased migration from those countries.
USAID
While all this was happening, Rubio was appointed as acting administrator of USAID, an agency tasked with delivering humanitarian aid but had also been used to help overthrow governments around the world. By putting Rubio in control of the agency, a Secretary of State now has unprecedented power over countries in need because aid can now be used as a tool to force people into compliance.
“The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has long strayed from its original mission of responsibly advancing American interests abroad, and it is now abundantly clear that significant portions of USAID funding are not aligned with the core national interests of the United States.“
Side Note
While in Guatemala, Rubio was asked about Darren Beattie, someone Trump once fired for attending a white nationalist rally. He responded by bloviating a little and ultimately dodged the question about Beattie’s qualifications and whether he is best suited for the position. Rubio’s disregard for the matter speaks to the white nationalist culture he is fostering at the Department of State.
Conclusion
While much of the trip seemed pointless and everything Rubio did could have been done with phone calls or emails, what is becoming clear is that the Trump administration is using tariffs and policy as messaging to take credit for what the previous administration had already achieved. Meanwhile, Rubio’s tour was also being used to flood the news cycle with empty nonsense so that Elon Musk could continue to dismantle the government.
However, Trump’s messaging and these international relationships built on power trips are no less dangerous. While misleading, how governments treat migrants in various places in Latin America is signed off on by the United States. High-ranking government officials empower other leaders to treat migrants inhumanely and keep their heads in the sand as it happens. This is the U.S. putting the burden on other countries taking the risk off of itself.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and its Western counterparts continue to subvert countries and are the biggest drivers of irregular migration all over the world. Every Secretary of State throughout history has employed the same tactics in countries the U.S. wants to undermine. It is here that the U.S. and its partners bear the responsibility for mass migrations. Now, with USAID under Rubio’s control, it’s likely to only get worse considering his department’s focus.
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As always, thank you Arturo. I think the very critical issue for the week was Rubio's appointment to also head USAID, and I hope we all can watch this closely, with the cases being heard in our court system. If everything else Rubio did was smoke, mirrors, and distraction, this could be a very big deal. Also, thank you for bringing up the "dark side" of the aid we provide through this agency, that is not presented currently in the media, and is always both a carrot and a stick to align 3rd world countries in need with US colonialist goals. We have so far to go.
USAID being placed under the control of the secretary of state (regardless of which administration is currently running the country) has frightening quid pro quo possibilities. It happening under THIS administration brings a specter of School of the Americas style support for exporting fascism in the most troubling ways. The only positive I see here is the strength of the electorate and the will to remain sovereign in each South American country itself, after decades of continuous interference and the resulting civil wars, forced instability, and needless suffering. Hopefully most of them are in no hurry to go back to those bad old days. Perhaps instead they provide some guidance on the importance of actual democracy our political class seems to have forgotten.