For his first official trip abroad in early February – to Panama, Guatemala, Salvador, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic -, the American Minister of Foreign Affairs Marco Rubio arrives in a region jostled by Donald Trump, his boss. In less than a week, the president did not just claim the return of the Panama Canal to the American fold. He also “clashed”, and spectacularly, with the president of the neighboring country, Colombia.
Former Guerillero of M-19, Gustavo Petro opposed on January 26 at the landing in Bogota of two military planes filled with migrants, on the grounds that they deserved to be “treated with dignity” and, according to him, to travel aboard civil aircraft. Donald Trump’s anger: The president immediately announced the establishment of customs duties of 25 % on Colombian imports (which would have destabilized the coffee sector) and restrictions on the visas.
In two hours, the ex-revolutionary has turned around, sold to pressure and announced the sending of two line planes to recover “its” migrants to the United States … We thus see a new Trump method which -It is counter-intuitive-consists in attacking his friends rather than his enemies. Like Denmark, a faithful ally of Washington, abused about the issue of Greenland, Colombia is historically the main military partner in the United States in South America. All other countries are warned. If Trump thus treats his best allies, what can they expect?