Latin America is in processing mode for the visit of Rubio

As Secretary of State Marco Rubio Begins His First Overseas Trip on Saturday in Panama, Central American Countries Are Large Reeling Under the Weight of President Trump’s Confrontational Approach, Including Threats of Military Force to Reclaim The Panama Canal and Coeraming Migrants expelled.

The visit comes during a tense period for the region, which has been faced with the potential economic repercussions of Mr. Trump’s policies, such as mass deportations and the cessation of foreign aid.

“It’s all countries for himself,” said Michael E. Shifter, president of the Institute for the Research for Inter-American Dialogues in Washington. American leaders know “how much the region is fragmented and how easy it is to eliminate them,” he said. “And that’s what Trump is doing the best.”

Despite several attempts to provide meetings with Mr. Trump’s team in the accounting of his presidency, the region was faced with coherent bands of bands. Now, with Mr. Trump in power and dealing with Latin America as a critical objective – as indicated in his inaugural speech, in which he mentioned Panama six times while traditional enemies like Iran and Russia have never been raised – the issues are high.

Mr. Rubio will land in Panama on Saturday, then go to Guatemala, Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Discussions should focus on immigration, slow down the influence of China in the region and thwart the flow of drugs, especially fentanyl in the United States.

The Latin American nations want to maintain the status quo in their American relations: maintain the open trade, maintain American investments – that Mr. Trump says that he wants to bring home – and leave the assistance abroad abroad . One of Mr. Rubio’s largest requests will most likely be that these countries sign “third-party” agreements to accept asylum seekers from other countries looking for refuge in the United States.