Secretary of State, Washington (AP) -marco Rubio, began his first foreign trip this weekend and is heading to Central America to suppress illegal immigration, and the United States is in the intense resistance of local leaders. Despite the Panama Canal.
Full workers are generally unusual destinations for virgin navigators of the best diplomats in the United States who prefer Europe or Asia for their early picnics. It reflects the intention of focusing a lot of foreign policy energy close to the home, as well as personal interest in this area, Rubio, the first Hispanic in the region.
Rubio was written in the Wall Street Journal on Friday.
Immigration restrictions and drug smuggling fights are the main factors of that effort, but another main priority is to suppress China’s increasing effects in the fruits by reconstructing our control over the Panama Canal. In 1999, the Canal, produced in the United States, was handed over to the Panama and strongly opposed Trump’s demands.
Rubio said that mass migration, drugs and hostile policies pursued by Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have been confused. “The Chinese Communist Party uses diplomatic and economic leverage, such as the Panama Canal, to oppose the United States and change sovereignty into VASSAL countries.”
Bloomberg through Getty Image
In fact, on Saturday’s five tours, Rubio’s first stop will be Panama, and Panama said that President José Raúl Mulino will have no negotiations with the United States about ownership of the canal. He said that Rubio’s visit to focus on common interests, such as fighting with migration and drug trafficking.
On Thursday, “It’s impossible. I can’t negotiate. ” “The canal belongs to Panama.”
But Rubio said it would clarify Trump’s intentions. In an interview with Megyn Kelly, Sirius XM host, Thursday, Trump’s desire to regain control of the Panama canal is led by legal national security interests that are more concerned about Latin America’s Chinese activities and impacts.
“We will deal with that topic,” he said. “It was clear that he wanted to manage the canal again. Obviously, the Panama is not a passionate fan of the idea. The message is very clear. ”
At the end of the Canal’s Pacific and Caribbean Sea, China’s investment in port and other infrastructure and facilities is a major cause of concern, and Panama and important transportation paths are vulnerable to China.
Rubio added, “If China wants to stop traffic in the Panama Canal, you can do it.” This is a violation of the 1977 treaty signed by former President Jimmy Carter, who later exercised control.
Despite the rejection of negotiations on Mulino’s ownership, some people can open the compromise from Hong Kong, which has been given a 25 -year extension for 25 years in Panama’s transportation for 25 years. I think. them. The audit of the expansion of the expansion is already in progress and can lead to leading processes.
What is unclear is whether Trump meets his demands and accepts more than just an operation to accept the transfer of concessions to the US or European company.
Ryan Berg, head of the Washington think tank strategy and international research center, said, “In some ways, Trump is pushing the open door.” “But it depends on how his red line is defined.”
Berg said, “There were many investigations and would be a Rubio to clarify it. In that case, what is lacking in it will not satisfy him. ”
Rubio will arrive in Panama on Saturdays for meetings with Mulino and Canal Administrator on Saturday. Then we will travel to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Dominican Republic.
His arrival will arrive a day after the Colombian government refused to accept two Colombian deports in the United States, and then resumed the visa at the Colombian Boguta Embassy on Sunday.
The former Secretary of State has often traveled abroad that can be presented at each station through the so -called “output” (support package, new cooperative initiative, etc.). But Rubio, like Colombia, can lead to a limited slogan from the US freezing to foreign support that Trump has been waiting for all programs.
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In Latin America, these programs generally focused on their efforts for policies, many operations and illegal migration. Rubio has created a provision for a specific program that provides life -long support to be exempt from the suspension of funding, and is considering an application for exemptions for programs in various countries to visit.
Among the countries that have been submitted to a specific program are Panama, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and neighboring Haiti. Rubio doesn’t travel to Haiti, but the State Department has already allowed about $ 44 million to support international peacekeepers.
