Rubio off to Central America with Panama Canal and immigration top of mind

Secretary of State Marco Rubio embarks this play connected his archetypal overseas travel successful office, heading to Central America to property President Donald Trump’s apical precedence — curbing amerciable immigration — and bring the connection that the U.S. wants to reclaim power implicit the Panama Canal despite intense resistance from determination leaders.

It’s an antithetic destination for the maiden voyage of America’s apical diplomat, whose predecessors person mostly favored Europe oregon Asia for their archetypal outings. It reflects not lone the idiosyncratic involvement that Rubio — the archetypal Hispanic to clasp the nation’s astir elder Cabinet station — has successful the portion but besides the Trump administration’s intent to absorption overmuch of its foreign argumentation energy close to home.

“It’s nary mishap that my archetypal travel overseas arsenic caput of authorities volition support maine successful the hemisphere,” Rubio wrote successful The Wall Street Journal connected Friday.

Limiting migration and warring narcotics smuggling are large elements of that effort, but different cardinal precedence volition be curbing China’s increasing influence in the Western Hemisphere, topped by reasserting U.S. power implicit the Panama Canal. The American-built canal was turned implicit to the Panamanians successful 1999 and they entity powerfully to Trump’s request to manus it back.

Mass migration, drugs and hostile policies pursued by Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela person wreaked havoc, Rubio said successful the Journal sentiment piece. “All the while, the Chinese Communist Party uses diplomatic and economical leverage — specified arsenic astatine the Panama Canal — to reason the U.S. and crook sovereign nations into vassal states.”

Indeed, Rubio’s archetypal halt connected the five-nation circuit Saturday volition beryllium Panama, whose president, José Raúl Mulino, says determination volition beryllium nary dialog with the United States implicit ownership of the canal. He said helium hoped Rubio’s sojourn would alternatively absorption connected shared interests similar migration and combating cause trafficking.

“It’s impossible, I can’t negotiate,” Mulino said Thursday. “The canal belongs to Panama.”

Yet Rubio said helium volition marque wide Trump’s intent. In an interrogation Thursday with SiriusXM big Megyn Kelly, helium said Trump’s tendency to retake power of the Panama Canal is driven by morganatic nationalist information interests stemming from increasing concerns astir Chinese enactment and power successful Latin America.

“We’re going to code that topic,” helium said. “The president’s been beauteous wide helium wants to administer the canal again. Obviously, the Panamanians are not large fans of that idea. That connection has been brought precise clear.”

Chinese investments successful ports and different infrastructure and facilities astatine some the Pacific and Caribbean ends of the canal are a origin for large concern, leaving Panama and the captious shipping way susceptible to China, helium said.

Rubio added that “if China wanted to obstruct postulation successful the Panama Canal, they could,” and that would beryllium a usurpation of the 1977 pact signed by erstwhile President Jimmy Carter nether which the U.S. aboriginal ceded control.

Despite Mulino’s rejection of immoderate dialog implicit ownership, immoderate judge Panama whitethorn beryllium unfastened to a compromise nether which canal operations connected some sides are taken distant from the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports institution that was fixed a 25-year no-bid hold to tally them. An audit into the suitability of that hold is already nether mode and could pb to a rebidding process.

What is unclear is whether Trump would judge the transportation of the concession to an American oregon European steadfast arsenic gathering his demands, which look to screen much than conscionable operations.

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“In immoderate ways, Trump is pushing connected an unfastened door,” said Ryan Berg, manager of the Americas programme astatine the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington deliberation tank. “But it volition beryllium connected however his reddish lines are defined.”

“There’s been a batch of dense rhetoric and it volition beryllium up Rubio to clarify it,” Berg said, adding that immoderate benignant of compromise was imaginable “but we’ll person to spot if he’s truly superior astir taking it back. If that’s the lawsuit past thing abbreviated of that volition fulfill him.”

Rubio will get successful Panama connected Saturday for meetings the pursuing time with Mulino and the canal administrator. He volition past question to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

His accomplishment volition travel conscionable a time aft the U.S. resumed visa processing astatine its embassy successful Bogota, Colombia, which had been unopen down Sunday aft the Colombian authorities refused to judge 2 planeloads of Colombian deportees from the United States.

Previous secretaries of authorities person often traveled overseas with alleged “deliverables” — assistance packages, caller practice initiatives and the similar — that they tin denote astatine each stop. However, specified arsenic with Colombia, Rubio may lone beryllium capable to bring constricted alleviation from a U.S. frost connected overseas assistance that Trump ordered pending a reappraisal of each programs.

In Latin America, specified programs person mostly focused connected policing, counternarcotics operations and efforts to stem amerciable migration. Rubio has made provisions for definite programs offering life-saving assistance to beryllium exempted from the backing pause, and waiver applications for programs successful respective of the countries helium volition beryllium visiting are nether review.

Among the countries for which waivers for definite programs person been submitted are Panama, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and its neighbor, Haiti. Although Rubio will not beryllium traveling to Haiti, the State Department has already allowed immoderate $41 cardinal successful enactment of an planetary peacekeeping unit determination to spell ahead.