Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Marco Rubio is a man hobbled by the past. The secretary of state’s early career was built on the foundation of his family’s experience of self-exile and displacement from Cuba in advance of Fidel Castro’s communist takeover of the island nation in 1959. He has long kept tabs on Latin America, particularly on the left-wing authoritarian regimes seated in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, through the eyes of that generational trauma. To a lesser or greater extent, we all do this — our personal or familial history with Japanese internment camps or Jim Crow laws or migrant farmwork feeds our perspective, and fuels our advocacy, activism, or public service. It is not this that hobbles Rubio, however. For that, you have to look at the antiquated political worldview of the authoritarian to whom Rubio has hitched his wagon in this, the second phase of his public service. The soon-to-be octogenarian leader of our nation is living in the past aesthetically, temperamentally, and politically. Nowhere is this more readily evident than in the Trump administration’s approach to Latin America. The Trump administration’s escalating rhetoric about Venezuela, and the deployment of warships to the Caribbean, hearkens back to the 19th and 20th centuries, when the United States directly and indirectly intervened in Latin American self-determination — waging war to expand territorial and business interests, bolstering the regimes of friendly authoritarians, and undermining (and deposing) popularly elected leaders. » READ MORE: We’re executing people with impunity. Why are so many of us OK with this? | Luis F. Carrasco President Donald Trump’s threats to “take back” the Panama Canal, his taxpayer support of Argentine pal Javier Milei, his attempted interference in the Brazilian judicial process, and his extrajudicial strikes on boats in international waters, reportedly to effect regime change in Venezuela, are all callbacks to a time when the U.S. declared itself the hemisphere’s police officer, overseer, and big brother. But while our president may be governing from his 19th and 20th-century imperial la-la land, the world is not the same place as it was back then. The 21st century has seen the rise of the Global South — projected to significantly challenge the Global North’s domination of the global economy by 2030 — and the establishment of south-south trade patterns, and other efforts to shift traditional power dynamics. In his pre-Trump days, Rubio understood that living in the past hobbles you — and your nation — for the future. Into this changed and changing world, the Trump administration has focused on “America First” policies that have, among other things, dismantled efforts by the U.S. Agency for International Development that have contributed to building goodwill in Latin America. Moreover, Trump has deployed punitive, economically coercive tariffs. In doing so, the administration has created a space for China where the U.S. once stood. According to the Economist, a poll it conducted in May found that a number of South American countries now view China as a “more respectful superpower and the more reliable trading partner” than the United States. “Any efforts to persuade South Americans to push China back are hampered by the Trump administration’s all-stick-no-carrot approach. Deportations, tariffs and threats dominate headlines,” the Economist reported. Rubio himself warned about China’s efforts to make inroads in Latin America in 2022, when he was part of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations: “[China’s] intentions in the region are not to be active because they want to make life better for people living in the Western Hemisphere. They care only about power and influence. They don’t care about stability or economic development.” Of course, our intentions haven’t always — or even mostly — been about making life better for people living in the Western Hemisphere, either (time to review that timeline of U.S. interventions if you think otherwise). But at least back in his pre-Trump days, Rubio understood that living in the past hobbles you — and your nation — for the future. » READ MORE: I’m feeling ‘pena ajena’ for Marco Rubio. In other words, he’s cringe. | Sabrina Vourvoulias As I’ve written before, I’ve never been much of a Rubio fan, but I can say that these days I feel a tiny bit sorry for him — even as I find his actions as secretary of state morally repugnant (especially the ideologically instigated visa revocations and his elimination of lifesaving aid). We Latinos are 20% of the population of the U.S., but we have few representatives in the upper reaches of power. I can’t think of another Latino politician who has filled as important a role within a recent U.S. administration — and Rubio’s had to work twice as hard and take on twice the responsibilities of his Anglo peers in doing so. I’m gonna bet that every Latino out there can sympathize with that. As a Gen Xer, I figure he’s got at least another decade to solidify how his public service contributions will be remembered — and perhaps it will be for that: he’s a hard worker. But, I’d like to hope for more for Rubio. Perhaps he could use the battle group currently in the Caribbean to spearhead assistance to the Jamaican people in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. Or maybe he can finally prod President Trump into actually enacting real sanctions on Russia to bring the war to an end without sacrificing Ukraine. Or perhaps he’ll find his spine, remember that he once truly believed in protecting human rights, and restore genuine reporting on its abuses. But maybe it’s all too much to hope for from a man willing to trade the future at the whim of an aging and raging commander in chief, who thinks he’s living in 1898.
