Possible Trouble to the South

For John, BLUF:  When I was a Student at Bancroft Junior High School, back in the day, Actor, Editor and Environmentalist Leo Carrillo came to give the keynote speech at our Pan American Day Celebration, in Pan-American Park.  Mr Carrillo said that the United States should stop pouring money down the sewers of Europe and Asia and focus on our Hemisphere.  Obviously, we did not follow that advice.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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As a Latin American populist shores up support, some see challenge for Biden

From The Christian Science Monitor, by Special Correspondent Whitney Eulich, 9 March 2019.

Here is the lede plus three:

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele won a decisive victory in last week’s elections – though his name wasn’t even on the ballot.

Strong support for his New Ideas party in the Feb. 28 midterms gives a seal of approval to his presidency.  It allows the party to confirm Mr. Bukele’s nominees to key positions in the independent attorney general’s office and the Supreme Court.  The party could also push for controversial moves like the removal of presidential term limits.  By potentially gaining a supermajority via an alliance with a smaller party, New Ideas’ consolidation has raised concerns around the erosion of checks on presidential power, which has important implications for the United States, as well.

Under former President Donald Trump, the U.S. used development aid as an incentive for Central American governments to crack down on migration at all costs.  In Mr. Bukele, the U.S. found a receptive partner.  Now, the Biden administration is pivoting, saying it wants to help Central American governments strengthen democracy and fight corruption so as to tackle the root causes of migration.

Mr. Bukele’s newly solidified power is not the first roadblock in the Biden administration’s efforts to pursue a values-based foreign policy:  Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, and others have presented early tests.  Arguably, President Joe Biden already had his work cut out for him in Central America, where some presidents hold onto power in highly contested, irregular votes, or barely go through the motions of fighting corruption.

We keep focusing on Europe and Asia, when important things are happening in our own back garden.  Sadly, I don't see this changing under the current Administration.

Further, there appears to be a massive backlog of refugees building in Columbia, working their way North.  War Correspondent Michael Yon talks about it here.  Mr Yon taught me something new.  I had not realized the Pan-American Highway did not go straight through from top to bottom.  There is the Darién Gap, about a 66 mile break consisting of jungle, passable by all terrain vehicles only.

Prople are coming through the Darién Gap, with the intention of coming to the United States.  Not just Venezualans escaping the Bolivarian Revolution (read Communist), but people from Asia and Africa, also escaping political or economic repression.

I am not sure we have a handle on this.

Regards  —  Cliff