The Trump administration on Monday expanded partnerships in Latin America as the White House looks to crush the supply of drugs coming from the continent to the United States.
The U.S. and Paraguay signed a security pact that could allow the Pentagon to conduct military operations in the South American country as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on “narco-terrorist” gangs, according to Bloomberg.
“The historic agreement establishes a clear framework for the presence and activities of U.S. military and Department of War civilian personnel in Paraguay … [and reflects] Paraguay’s growing importance as a regional leader and champion for security in our Hemisphere,” the Trump administration said after Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Paraguayan Foreign Minister Ruben Ramirez Lezcano to sign the “Status of Forces” agreement.
On the same day, Trinidad and Tobago said that it granted approval for U.S. military aircraft to use its airports in the coming weeks, in the wake of the Trump administration’s historic military buildup in the region.
The announcement garnered swift pushback from Venezuela, the South American country that has faced the most intense scrutiny on drugs from the Trump administration.
In a post to Telegram, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime announced the immediate termination of all “agreement, contract or negotiation[s]” on natural gas supply between the two countries, as it accused Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of turning the Caribbean nation “into an aircraft carrier of the American empire against Venezuela” in an “act of vassalage”.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Sean Sobers said the decision delivered concrete benefits to Trinidad and Tobago, including joint military training exercises, enhanced surveillance capabilities, and the installation of a radar system “that has contributed to the interdiction of millions of dollars’ worth of illegal narcotics.”
The development comes after Trump established the Western Hemisphere at the top of U.S. priorities in his new national security strategy published just weeks ago, marking a shift away from Washington’s policy traditionally favoring European allies.
The Pentagon is now eying plans that would include a reduction in the headquarters of U.S. European Command’s prominence to complement other efforts by the administration to shift resources from the Middle East and Europe and “focus foremost on expanding military operations in the Western Hemisphere,” according to the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, elections favoring the right-wing candidates in a slew of South American countries support the Trump administration’s efforts to grow relationships in the Western Hemisphere, offering the White House potentially vital allies in its war on drugs that are flowing from the region.
The latest of those elections occurred Sunday, when voters in Chile pushed Jose Antonio Kast across the finish line. The results mirrored recent electoral losses for socialists in Honduras, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Argentina.
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On Monday, Trump praised Kast as “a very good person,” adding, “I look forward to pay[ing] my respects to him,” in comments to reporters in Washington.
Rubio said he held a phone call with Kast to discuss “expanding economic ties and ending illegal immigration.”
