The listless Biden Administration is not just losing in places like China, North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, India, and Eastern Europe, they are losing closer to home. By inaction, stupidity, and indifference, they are losing Latin America. That could be devastating.
In less than two years, Biden has empowered communist Cuba, Venezuela, and leftist parties in this hemisphere. But the damage is deeper.
Having spent time in many of this hemisphere’s countries, watching the loss of close US allies, reversal of free markets, pro-American, pro-free speech, pro-democracy, anti-terrorism, anti-narcotics trafficking regimes is stunning.
During Biden’s tenure, we have – rather incredibly – lost formerly pro-US and democratic allies in Peru and Colombia, not to mention other nations in South and Central America. From Brazil to Panama, Guatemala through Mexico, what was respect, cooperation, coordinated and peace-through-strength has become disorientation, leftist advances, populations pockmarked by fear.
Over the past 20 years, we spent billions to educate, title land, seed human rights, teach respect, fortify rule of law, tamp down public corruption, elevate public health and self-government, end overt terrorism, reduce drug trafficking homicides, rapes, kidnappings, and other crimes. Now, all that slips away.
Our allies globally see this loss of regional influence, cohesion, respect for democracy, individual liberty, and rule of law. China sees and cheers this loss of US presence, loss of traction for self-determination, human rights, and the prosperity that free markets brought. They are positioning to replace us.
The damage is profound and continues, chiefly because the Biden Administration cares little about this region, except apparently as a source of illegal aliens who offer an underclass dependent on largess, thus assisting the leftist push to consolidate power at the federal level. All this is disappointing.
Respect for US leadership in the region, once strong, thoughtful, respectful, and resilient, is now in retrograde, being backfilled by a surge in human and drug trafficking, lawlessness in these nations.
Worse, the Biden Administration is now fumbling, gradually importing this same regional lawlessness, drift to public corruption, drug addiction, personal violence, disrespect for law, and civic conflict – into the United States.
Over the past 25 years, sitting with Presidents, Foreign Ministers, Attorneys General of Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Mexico, and others in this region – all of whom respected, most of whom admired, the United States, seeing this slide is heartbreaking.
Perhaps the punctuating event was this week, after Biden lost our longtime regional ally Colombia to leftists. Biden did not even seem to notice. “The commander of U.S. Southern Command…raised concerns” in Congress, that we are losing decades of traction, commitment, ideological, economic and security ties, as “the U.S. is not matching China’s grand strategy in Latin America.”
Moreover, civilian, economic, and military losses to China could easily go military, creating a kind of slow-motion checkmate. The Commander is – in a word – “concerned.” In addition to losing vital minerals, medicines, trade, and sweet crude, we could lose the strategic southern part of this hemisphere.
History is won and lost less by bold moves than by insidious increments, ignoring realities which in time prove game-changing, underestimating an enemy’s will, intent, power, grip and – in some cases – malice aforethought.
We are in that place with leftists around the world, and China leads the communist push, not only in their own hemisphere, but in this one. They would love nothing better than to turn the dial, realign the southern hemisphere against us, keep shipping drugs, violence, and illegals.
All this can be stopped, lost alliances regained, lost freedoms and free markets, and security agreements reestablished, democratic and honest leaders supported, fair elections applauded – but only if we get the stakes, care enough to be engaged, understand the real game, and value freedom. We did. We need to again. Soon.
Yes, the dominos are falling quite rapidly in the South America. All without one shot being fired. It’s just the same, sweet refrain of the socialist message being pitched to the overwhelmingly ignorant percentage of the population in each of those countries thinking incorrectly that what they have voted for is going to yield them a better life. They will all soon realize it won’t, but by then it will be too late to undo the situation they have placed themselves in. It’s easy to vote socialism in power, but extremely difficult to extricate one’s self from the mistake afterwards.
One nation after another in South America is voting in socialism or communism. The CCP sees an opportunity to leveage an unstable region of the world for China’s gain, so they are more than willing to step right in and leverage the Belt and Road Initiative to sew up large parts of South America’s valuable resources for both economic and military gain. Why not? It is the same strategy that the CCP used in Africa to lock-up so much of the world’s resources related to “the green agenda” and establish key military posts in the area. The current United States administration is too incompetent to be proactive and have ignored or even encouraged much of the leftist activity in South America over the last 18 months. So now we find ourselves with far fewer allies in South America and even less influence on the world stage.
We could have a debate on whether this can be turned around, but that would largely be an abstract discussion. The Democrats will control the White House and thus foreign policy for another 2.5 years. That’s an incredibly long time in terms of changing geopolitical shifts in South America and elsewhere. Brazil is the next major nation, with both massive oil and mineral reserves, in South America that is at risk of returning to socialist rule in the upcoming elections. A feckless United States administration is something we can never tolerate even in the best of times and these are NOT the best of times due to the series of man-made crisis this administration has created in such a short time span.
Examine our history since the 1870s to date: Mexican Revolution, Spanish American War,
Bananna Wars, 80s Narco Wars etc for move to Left & Chinese
Having spent a lot of time in Panama and having residency there, I find it unconscionable and incomprehensible that the United States has done this. China already has a strong foothold in Panama and it will only take a “feather” for them to control the Canal. People said I was “crazy” and “misinformed” when I said that Miley was a disastrous choice for CJCoS. I was right and I don’t want to be right again…
Remember the monroe doctrine? Kennedy and Cubar; Reagan and Grenada.
The U.S. and Canada have ( had ) been the only nations in the Western hemisphere that hadn’t tried or gone socialist at some point since the early 20th century.
Completely nonsense! First the United States has never respected democracy in Latin America starting with the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala, Salvador Allende and Hugo Chavez. The United States policy to confront elected leaders that don’t support their views is complete demonization of their leaders. And the so called respect is only thru economic and military coercion.