Will the US increase pressure on Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua with Marco Rubio as Secretary of State?

Latin America is still cautious about the nomination of the Florida senator of Cuban origin, Marco Rubio, as the new Secretary of State of the United Stateswhich is expected to increase pressure on the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, of which it has always been very critical.

The president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, announced this Wednesday the nomination of Rubio, whom he described as “a highly respected leader and a very powerful voice for freedom.”

“He will be a steadfast defender of our nation, a true friend to our allies, and a brave warrior who will never surrender to our adversaries,” Trump said.

Marco Rubio, is a strong critic of the loss of democracy in Cuba or Venezuela

Cuba, which has been immersed in a deep economic and energy crisis for four years, faces this change with evident concern and has so far not taken a position on Trump’s return to the presidency, after in his first term he harshly considerably shape the sanctions regime and include Havana on the list of sponsors of terrorism.

Rubio has defended the policy of maximum pressure on Cuba for years and has criticized any approach to the island, including the period known as the “thaw,” when diplomatic relations were reestablished during the Barack Obama Administration.

To remove the sanctions, Rubio demands changes in human rights, the freedom of political prisoners and the democratization of the Cuban political system. Havana, for its part, demands respect for national sovereignty and points to human rights problems in the United States.

Rubio has also been a constant critic of the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, whom he accuses of being a dictator, of violating human rights, of staying in power through fraud, nullifying the opposition and imprisoning his possible rivals, for which he has requested sanctions and that international loans be denied to the Central American country.

Nicaraguan opponents, such as Arturo McFields and Jaime Arellano, see his nomination as a victory for the fight against Ortega, while others, such as sociologist Javier Meléndez, are skeptical, criticizing the focus on Nicaragua.

Guatemalan migration analyst Pedro Pablo Solares tells EFE that Rubio’s nomination “should be seen positively.”

The senator is “a critic of the loss of democracy in the region in countries like Cuba or Venezuela, that can be taken advantage of by diplomacy so that this Guatemalan Government seeks to maintain the support it has received from the United States in terms of democracy,” duck.

Along the same lines, Celia Medrano, former candidate for the Salvadoran vice presidency for the minority Nuestro Tiempo party (center-right) and expert on immigration issues, tells EFE that With Rubio, the new Trump Administration will be able to “increase pressure against Venezuela, Cuba and to a lesser extent Nicaragua.”

For Guilherme Casarões, professor of International Politics at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Rubio, as head of US diplomacy, increases the risk that the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will be seen in the White House as “a regional enemy” for being aligned with the Latin American left.

“Due to his statements and positions as a senator, Rubio is a subject who is very attentive to Latin American politics, who can come to conceive it as a dispute between good versus evil,” a vision that can lead to a “lack of political dialogue” bilaterally. and in a possible weakening of Brazil at the regional level, he explains to EFE.

The Colombian government, which has not yet commented on the designation, wants to maintain good relations with the United States, based on bipartisanship, but Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Rubio have differences.

«Even if our press does not like to say it, Senator Rubio is an expression of the most retarded sectors of American politics and has helped build a violent foreign policy. “This policy has murdered millions of people in the 21st century,” Petro said in a tweet from 2019, when he was not yet president.

For his part, Rubio has called the president “Gustavo ‘Chávez’ Petro” and has recently criticized the Colombian’s pro-Palestinian stance: “Unfortunate to see that a country as important as Colombia, whose extraordinary people have suffered from terrorist actions, which currently has a president who condemns Israel and compares its leaders to Nazis, while justifying and supporting Hamas.

Good news is the appointment of Marco Rubio

While for the government of Javier Milei in Argentina, a country that the senator visited in February of this year to meet with the ultraliberal president, it is good news.

During his visit, Rubio was “honored” to be received by Milei, whom he said he had “followed very closely” during his career for the Presidency.

Previously, he had described Milei as an ally that should be supported by the United States and urged the Biden Administration to pressure the International Monetary Fund to restructure Argentina’s debt, a central issue for the South American country.

On the other hand, the Republican He has been very critical of the former Argentine president Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) and last December sent a letter to Biden requesting sanctions against her for considering her a “convicted kleptocrat” who has favored China and Iran.

The Uruguayan vice chancellor, Nicolás Albertoni, views the name of Marco Rubio “with good eyes. He has a long parliamentary career in which he has highlighted the importance of the region and on different occasions he has mentioned the importance of Uruguay as a promoter of values ​​shared with the United States,” he told EFE.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama, Javier Martínez-Acha, congratulated Rubio on his nomination and He said he hopes to “strengthen” diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The elected governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer González, was “proud” that her “dear friend and one of the island’s strongest allies” in Congress.

“I have no doubt that with his unwavering commitment to our democratic values, he will continue to promote an agenda that firmly supports our allies and sanctions dictatorial regimes,” he commented.