For decades, Washington behaved as though geography guaranteed American influence in Latin America. It does not.

While U.S. foreign-policy attention was consumed by conflicts and strategic competition elsewhere, China steadily built an economic and strategic presence across the Western Hemisphere through trade, infrastructure, ports, energy, telecommunications, mining, finance, and access to strategic resources. This was not one grand geopolitical maneuver. It was built incrementally, through investment and long-term relationships.