Remember way back in 2016 when Donald Trump called one of his opponents “Little Marco”? After being one of the speed bumps for Trump in the GOP nomination, Rubio returned to the Senate and honed his political craft enough to earn President Trump’s respect. The son of Cuban immigrants became Trump’s choice for secretary of state. As the president noted in his nomination announcement, “Marco is a Highly Respected Leader, and a very powerful Voice for Freedom. He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries. I look forward to working with Marco to Make America, and the World, Safe and Great Again!”
The only Cabinet nominee to get unanimous support from his fellow senators, Rubio has excelled at his task. Most recently, he made the rounds of South America, greeting some of our newest allies in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, or as Hot Air’s Beege Welborn called them, “the newest winners of the ‘no longer Marxist governments’ club.”
In each nation, Rubio had a slightly different agenda: Colombia was a chance to catch up with an old friend in newly elected President Abelardo de la Espriella and restore ties with a nation that had neglected its affairs with America over the last four years under a left-wing government. But as de la Espriella noted, “Colombia seeks to consolidate itself once again as the principal security partner of the U.S. in the hemisphere.” This is already beginning with cracking down on the drug cartels and increasing military cooperation with the United States.
Rubio’s next stop was Ecuador, where he met with President Daniel Noboa and received one of the nation’s highest awards, the National Order of Merit. But his agenda there was fighting terrorism, as Rubio announced an addition to the list of foreign terrorist groups as well as the inclusion of seven Ecuadorian officials on that list. “We’ll be announcing the designation of seven former members of the government here,” said Rubio, “for accepting bribes and for betraying their most essential duties on behalf of, and they did this on behalf of these terrorist organizations, these dangerous criminal groups.” He also made pointed remarks there about some of the left-wing holdouts in the region, which I’ll get to in due course.
Lastly, the secretary met with freshly elected Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori. There Rubio received the news that Peru was joining a Trump initiative called Shield of the Americas.
“I’m very, very happy to listen to the announcement that you will be partner of the Shield of the Americas,” said a pleased Rubio. “A shield against what, people may wonder? A shield against these criminal bands, criminal groups, terrorist groups that are a direct threat to the sovereignty to our countries. When we are encountering criminal bands that have more money and best military equipment than the military themselves, that is not acceptable. And against that is the shield. This is why we have 14 countries working together — hopefully we will add more countries – to confront and defeat forever these elements.”
We’ll also be working with Peru on trade issues, as Peru is one of the world’s largest producers of copper and would like to trim the tariffs President Trump imposed earlier this year.
Overall, it was a productive trip, but its real purpose was expressed in response to a question Rubio received on the Ecuador stop.
The question was whether I was worried about left-wing groups or left-wing movements rising and as a result of U.S. policy. Left-wing groups have already been here and they’ve destroyed the hemisphere.
The left-wing destroyed Venezuela, the left-wing destroyed Cuba, the left-wing destroyed Nicaragua. The left-wing has basically destroyed every country they’ve gotten a hold of in the hemisphere. Not only have they done that here in Ecuador as well, not only have they done that in Bolivia as well. Look at what Bolivia has suffered for 25 years because of left-wing governance.
And in fact not only did these groups destroy these countries because of bad economic policies, in places like Ecuador and in Colombia over the last four years, these left-wing groups are actually in alliance with these criminal narco-trafficking organizations. They are aligned with them, they are allied with them, they permit them to conduct these activities in a nefarious alliance between them.
So I’m glad that’s being confronted. And, by the way, these groups are not just threats to their country, they ultimately become threats to the United States. I work for the United States of America and if a threat in this region is emerging to the national security and national interests of our country, we are going to address it. And what we’re very happy about is that we can now address it in partnership with other presidents and other leaders in this region that feel the same way.
In the last year or so, those three nations have ejected left-wing governments in favor of right-of-center leaders who have expressed an interest in closer ties with America, particularly as opposed to China. And while we’ve devoted a lot of attention to Venezuela because of its oil reserves, many other nations in South and Central America have assets to share with America as well, presenting multiple opportunities for beneficial relationships that fulfill the initial idea of the Monroe Doctrine — which some wags have updated to the Donroe Doctrine in honor of the president’s efforts.
With so many nations in the region, though, some will work against us at any given time — Colombia was an example during the four years leftist Gustavo Petro was president. Without devolving back to the days of U.S.-backed banana republics south of the border, Marco Rubio could leave a foreign policy legacy in the Americas that would position him well for the higher office he sought back when Trump called him “Little Marco.”
Little Marco is making a large impact these days.
