MIAMI (AP) — Growing up in Miami among Cuban exiles fleeing Fidel Castro’s revolution, Sen. Marco Rubio developed a deep hatred of communism. Now that newly elected President Donald Trump has become America’s top diplomat, he will use the same ideological ammunition to reform US policy in Latin America.
As the first Latino secretary of state, Rubio is expected to pay significant attention to what has long been disparagingly called Washington’s backyard.
As the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a longtime member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, he has used his knowledge and unparalleled personal relationships for years to advance U.S. policy in the region.
Since the end of the Cold War, Latin America has disappeared from the US foreign policy agenda for decades, even as US adversaries such as Russia, Iran and especially China have made deep inroads. If confirmed, the Florida Republican will likely end the neglect.
But Rubio’s reputation as a national security hawk, embrace of Trump’s plan for mass deportation of migrants and his knack for polarizing rhetoric are likely to alienate even some U.S. allies in the region who are unwilling to join the America First foreign policy of the new president.
“Normally, Latin American policy is left to junior officers,” said Christopher Sabatini, a researcher at Chatham House in London. “But Rubio’s reflexes are firmly focused on the region. He will pay attention, and governments will need to work more together in their larger relationship with the US if they want to get closer.”
Rubio, through a Senate spokeswoman, declined to comment on his foreign policy goals.
But his views on Latin America are well known and stand in stark contrast to the Biden administration’s preference for multilateral diplomacy and dialogue with US critics.
Based on instructions from his boss, Rubio will probably focus mainly on Mexico in the region, in the areas of trade, drug trafficking and migration. Once a sponsor of bipartisan reforms that gave undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, Rubio transformed himself during Trump’s first administration into a loyal supporter of his calls for increased border security and mass deportations.
Rubio has said little about Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office last month. But he was a fierce critic of her predecessor, Andres Manuel López Obrador, who defiantly skipped the US-hosted Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in 2022 for a meeting of left-wing leaders in Cuba.
Rubio accused López Obrador of capitulating to drug cartels and acting as an “apologist for tyranny” in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The Mexican president responded by calling Rubio a “racist.”
Despite the criticism, the Mexican president was welcomed to the White House by President Joe Biden as a ‘friend’ and ‘partner’ three weeks later.
“That won’t happen under Rubio,” Sabatini said. “He keeps a close eye on who follows his policy preferences.”
Rubio, 53, has long been Trump’s listener to Latin America — and has not hesitated to use that access to promote his hardline agenda. He is one of the most outspoken critics of Russian and Chinese economic, political and military overreach in the region, and is expected to punish countries that align with America’s geopolitical rivals, or those that fail to target Israel to support.
When Trump canceled what would have been his first presidential visit to Latin America in 2018, Rubio was there to fill the void, meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Peru and taking photos with regional leaders from Argentina, Haiti and elsewhere.
“There is no one in the U.S. Senate who comes close to his affinity and depth of knowledge about Latin America,” said Carlos Trujillo, Rubio’s close friend and former U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States. “Not only does he have personal relationships with dozens of officials, some for decades, but he has vetted nearly every U.S. ambassador to the region. It is a significant advantage.”
Among those eager to work with Rubio is Argentine President Javier Milei, whose combative style, attacks on institutions and transformation from TV personality to far-right leader have drawn comparisons to Trump.
Another ally is El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, whose crackdown on the gang violence that once drove millions of Salvadoran migrants to the U.S. has been praised by Rubio.
Rubio has not hesitated to use his power to bully left-wing leaders who he believes harm U.S. national security interests. Even democratically elected moderates have been targets. Earlier this year, he denounced Chilean President Gabriel Boric, a critic of Israeli actions in Gaza, for allegedly providing safe haven to Hezbollah backers, calling him “one of the leading anti-Israel voices in Latin America .”
In 2023, he called Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a former member of the guerrilla group M-19, a “dangerous” choice to lead a country that has been the US partner in the war on drugs for years.
But it is on Venezuela that Rubio has left his greatest mark.
Within weeks of Trump taking power in January 2017, Rubio brought the wife of prominent Venezuelan dissident Leopoldo Lopez to the White House. The visit to the Oval Office, marked by a photo of a grinning Trump and Rubio flanking the then-jailed activist’s wife, immediately put Venezuela at the top of the US foreign policy agenda, in a break from previous US administrations’ attempts to to keep distance from American politics. problems.
Over the next two years, Trump imposed crushing oil sanctions on Venezuela, accused numerous officials of corruption and began talking about a “military option” to oust President Nicolás Maduro. In 2019, at the height of Rubio’s influence, the US recognized National Assembly President Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate leader.
But the combative attitude – popular among exiles in South Florida – continued to haunt Trump, who later acknowledged he had overestimated the opposition. By strengthening Maduro’s hand, it also paved the way for deeper Russian, Chinese and Iranian interests in the country, while at the same time exacerbating a humanitarian crisis that has uprooted millions of people, with many migrating to the US.
Michael Shifter, the former president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, believes Trump may prove more forgiving of Maduro this time, even with Rubio heading the State Department, and the path of engagement and enlightenment of sanctions pursued by the Biden administration.
“Trump could start treating Maduro the way he typically treats other strongmen around the world, and focus less on the Cuban-American exile community in Florida,” Shifter said.
Trujillo said Rubio’s reputation for outspokenness will serve him well in negotiations with America’s friends and enemies, even if he has to tone down his sometimes heated rhetoric.
“He will now play a different role, but he is an exceptional negotiator and I have no doubt he will rise to the occasion,” Trujillo said.
Now that Trump has appointed another vocal Maduro critic, Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, as his national security adviser, Trujillo said the Venezuelan leader and his authoritarian allies in Cuba and Nicaragua should be concerned.
So far, officials in Venezuela and Cuba, who routinely criticize the U.S. on social media, have not commented on Rubio’s nomination and have remained largely silent on Trump’s victory.
“There is an opportunity to negotiate, but it will have to be done in good faith,” Trujillo said. “If they don’t, there will be consequences.”
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Mark Stevenson and Maria Verza in Mexico City, and Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report
