Concludes tour of Marco Rubio for Latin America, these were the results

From February 1 to 6, the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, traveled to five Latin American countries, to address priority issues of the new administration of the country.

The first Hispanic and son of Cubans in that position toured Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic and achieved important agreements.

In one of the interventions, he stressed that among his priorities is to ensure that US foreign policy is one in which it is better to be a friend than enemy. «It is better to be allied than someone who creates problems,» he said.

Panama

On his first trip abroad as the highest American diplomat toured the Central American Nation and the Panama Canal, where he held conversations with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, who has resisted the pressures of the new US government about the Panamanian administration of this vital navigation route for global trade.

Mulino told reporters after the meeting that he feels that «there is no real threat to resume the channel or use of force.»

In statements in the name of Trump, who has demanded that the channel return to the United States control, Rubio informed Mulino that Trump believed that China’s presence in the area of ​​the channel viola a treaty that led Washington to deliver the road to Panama in 1999. That treaty requires the permanent neutrality of the channel, which unites the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean, built by Americans.

Mulino indicated that Panama would not renew his agreement with the Initiative of the Belt and Route of the Silk of China once it expires, and even questioned the signing of the agreement.

Panama joined that initiative, which promotes and finances infrastructure and development projects, after the Panamanian government stopped recognizing Taiwan and recognized Beijing. Critics say that these projects leave poor member countries very indebted with China.

Rubio also emphasized Trump’s main approach – to terminate illegal immigration – telling Mulino that it was important to collaborate in the work and thanked him for accepting the migrants of that country back.

El Salvador

After conversations with the president of the Salvadoran Nation, in the second destination of the tour, Rubio said that President Nayib Bukele offered to accept people deported by the US of any nationality, as well as violent US criminals who are currently imprisoned in USA

Bukele «has agreed to the most extraordinary immigration agreement anywhere in the world,» said Rubio, during a ceremony in which an agreement not related in civil nuclear energy was signed with Salvadoran Foreign Minister.

«He has also offered to do the same with the hazardous criminals currently in custody and fulfilling his conviction in the US, even if they are US citizens or legal residents,» added Rubio, who had just held a meeting with Bukele in the residence of Field of the president on the outskirts of San Salvador.

The agreement to accept foreigners detained in the US for violations of immigration laws is known as a “third safe country” agreement, which would allow Washington to deport non -Salvadoran migrants from USA to El Salvador to El Salvador .

Costa Rica

The diplomat continued to Costa Rica, a country that described as «example and model» in a press conference with President Rodrigo Chaves Robles. There he referred to migration, emphasizing the influence of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua on the instability of the region.

«In my opinion, those three regimes that exist in Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba, are enemies of humanity and have created a migratory crisis. If it were not for those three regimes there was no migration crisis in the hemisphere. They have created it because they are Countries where your system does not work, «Rubio said.

He added that Costa Rica is not a source of migration, but a route, so he promised to support the country’s immigration control efforts by trying to provide more biometric technology to identify who was in transit by that Central American nation.

He also said that the US will continue to help them in the field of cybersecurity and in the fight against drug trafficking.

Guatemala

The fourth country visited by Rubio was Guatemala, where President Bernardo Arévalo said, in a joint press conference, which will accept 40% more deportation flights from the US.

Guatemala will receive both Guatemalans and deported from other nationalities and strengthen their border security, while Rubio promised support for those efforts.

In his speech against Arévalo, the American diplomat thanked Guatemala to maintain his relationship with Taiwan, an ally of the United States and reason for friction with China.

The Guatemalan ruler said that his government hopes to deepen diplomatic relations with Taiwan and develop ties with that territory also in the areas of economy and investment.

Dominican Republic

The Haitian crisis, migration, regional security, the fight against drug trafficking and the strengthening of bilateral relations were some of the points addressed in the last destination of their tour.

The joint work in the rare earths in the Dominican Republic was also one of the topics discussed. «Something that will be extremely important for the future of the world, for the modern economy,» Rubio said in a press conference with Dominican President Luis Abinader.

In addition, the Secretary of State was present in the confiscation of a Dassault Falcon 200 plane belonging to the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is currently in the Caribbean country. The aircraft has been used by Maduro and its main advisors, to travel around the world visiting countries such as Greece, Turkey, Russia and Cuba, in what Washington describes as violations of the sanctions of the United States.

In the press conference Rubio referred again to Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela, in response to the questions of a Dominican journalist about his qualification of these countries as «enemies of humanity.»

“I do not know what the other way to talk about a regime that, for example, has forced almost eight million of its citizens to abandon Venezuela, who imprisoned, torture, murders innocent. In the case of Cuba, more than 10% of the population has abandoned the country, which has at this time more than 400, 500 people, including young children aged 16, 17, because they went out to demonstrate in the streets. And in the case of Nicaragua, which ends and continues to fall up to all opponents, ”he said.

With AP report