These are Joe Biden's plans for Latin America
Many Latino Americans voted for Joe Biden. But will Biden be able to strengthen Latin American countries politically and economically and bring them closer to the United States? These challenges will be faced by the new president.
Two out of every three ballots of Latin American voters in this presidential election in the United States went to Joe Biden. As Barack Obama's vice president, Biden was the man in charge of Latin America. Experts say there will be more cooperation now than with Donald Trump. The Democrat has appointed Juan Sebastián González, a native of Colombia, as his "National Security Advisor for the Western Hemisphere." These are just some of the most important challenges that you will have to tackle together:
Control migration:
Migration is, indeed, the subject of Latin America on which the outgoing president and the future differ most clearly: Donald Trump, who would have preferred to avoid any kind of immigration to the United States, and Joe Biden, who promises to give them, those who immigrated as children, the opportunity to acquire US citizenship. But the real problem for the United States remains on the border with Mexico, where millions of people dream of a better future in the north of the continent. Whoever thinks Joe Biden will roll out the red carpet for him is wrong. Two of his advisers made it clear in a written interview with the Spanish news agency EFE, at the end of December 2020: "Migrants and asylum seekers should in no way believe that the border will suddenly open." However, Biden wants to speed up the asylum process so that there are more applicants in the U.S. In addition, Biden has allocated a total of four billion dollars to help Central American governments control poverty, violence, and thus combat at the same time the permanent trickle of people fleeing their countries of origin.
Funds for Central America
In addition to Mexico, Biden will also focus on Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Harold Trinkunas, from Stanford University, California, sums up the dilemma in an interview with DW: "The government of Guatemala has disassociated itself from the UN-backed Commission Against Corruption. The government of El Salvador is ruling increasingly authoritarian, and the president of Honduras is accused of participating in international drug trafficking. " Cooperation with Mexico will not be easy either. The policy of "hugging instead of shooting" of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to the drug cartels, whose excessive violence has caused the expulsion of countless Mexicans from their homeland, has not worked, he explains to DW, for his part, Shannon O'Neil, from the Council of the US Foreign Relations Ideas Laboratory, in an interview with America's Quarterly magazine.
Overcome COVID-19
The most pressing issue right now is probably the coronavirus crisis. Not just the disease itself, but also the countermeasures of many governments and the weakening of world trade have caused the already shaky US economy to collapse. There will be no major US economic stimulus program for the region, but there will be medical aid, especially in the distribution of vaccines. The United States is concerned about two things, says Trinkunas: "The United States still regards Latin America as an important trading partner, and an ongoing health crisis in the South could lead more people to seek their luck in the North."
China monopolizes ground in Latin America
Biden described China's growing influence in Central and South America as a threat to national security. The reason, according to him, is the lack of leadership of the outgoing government. Mexico is now the only large country in the region that is still closely tied to the United States economically. For the rest of the region as a whole, China is the main trading partner. In some countries, public finances are highly dependent on Chinese demand. Ecuador, for example, sells almost 100 percent of its oil exports to the most populous country in the world.
Venezuela and Cuba
The lack of prospects, the crime and the terror that gangs loyal to the government of Nicolás Maduro sow have expelled millions of Venezuelans from the country. The effects can also be felt in the US In addition, drug trafficking is also present, which, according to the US, heads north from the Andean countries, via Venezuela, with direct government participation. Joe Biden declared the goal of restoring democracy in Venezuela. The question is in what way?
The US rapprochement with Cuba under Barack Obama was seen by many observers as promising. On the contrary, for the Cubans in exile it was a very controversial matter; in Florida, the majority voted for Donald Trump in the last election. He reversed part of the "normalization" at the beginning of his presidency, and a few days before the end of his term he put the country back on the list of "sponsors of terrorism." This will make it difficult for Biden to continue the thaw where the Democratic government left off in 2017, John Kavulich, president of the United States-Cuba Economic and Trade Council, told the BBC, because Trump cited Cuba's ties with Venezuela as one of the reasons for it.
