“Once at the margins,” says Manuel Quiñones in an essay in Politico, describing Puerto Rico, “the U.S. territory is now at the center of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.”
He goes on to share his family’s experience trying to return to the states after a visit to family, with the airspace near Venezuela closed to travel. He and his fellow travelers — or would-be travelers, since they were stuck waiting for clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration — talked about the U.S. capture of Venezuela’s President Maduro and his wife. It was this event that had shut down air travel from Puerto Rico to the states.
Quinones reported that he heard people speaking in favor of the coup and against it. He shared a quote from Puerto Rico’s Governor Jenniffer González Colón: “As Governor of Puerto Rico, I am proud that Venezuela will finally have peace without the narco-dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro and his cronies. The US Armed Forces and our Nation may continue to rely on Puerto Rico as a strategic partner in the mission to support our national security and bring stability to our hemisphere,”
He also gave his own impression of how the military buildup in Puerto Rico and the military actions in Venezuela might affect Puerto Rica’s political status: “Some Republicans like Sen. Mitch McConnell have scoffed at the idea of Puerto Rican statehood. Trump is said to have talked about selling or trading the island in the past. But the president’s geopolitical posture may have led him to reconsider any animosity. It also helps the territory has a pro-Trump governor.”
Quinones shared his belief that Maduro’s first stop in the United States was in Puerto Rico. “The giveaway?” he wrote. “The photo that Trump shared on social media of a blindfolded, handcuffed Maduro showed him holding a bottle of what appeared to be Nikini brand water — widely available in Puerto Rico.”
Foreign policy
Trump appeared to threaten other Latin American nations while traveling on Air Force One over the weekend. While his remarks also touched on Iran and Greenland, most of the nations he mentioned are in Latin America. If the current administration does indeed turn aggression toward Cuba, Colombia, and Mexico, then Puerto Rico will continue to be the most logical hub for that military activity.
The same is true for continued activity regarding Venezuela. While the removal of Maduro and his wife is being framed as the culmination of a carefully-planned action, the United States expects to be engaged in the region for the foreseeable future. The New York Times quoted Secretary of State Marco Rubio as saying “that the U.S. naval force that Mr. Trump massed in the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela over recent months — ‘one of the largest naval deployments in modern history, certainly in the Western Hemisphere’ — would remain in place to enforce the quasi blockade, with the aim of ‘paralyzing that portion of how the regime, you know, generates revenue.’” He further said that U.S. troops on Venezuelan soil were still a possibility.
President Trump has spoken frequently on the increasing influence of China and Russia in Latin America, and many members of the current government as well as earlier administrations have expressed concern about this issue. Puerto Rico again is the most logical hub for U.S. response to these threats to U.S. standing in the Western Hemisphere.
The recent National Security Strategy Document published by the White House describes the “Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine”:
“After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere. This ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests.”
It appears that consolidation of U.S. power and influence in Latin America is a centerpiece of the current administration’s foreign policy plans. If so, then Puerto Rico is certainly at the center of those plans.
