“Each of these countries has their own interest in developing a good relationship with the Trump administration,” she said.
Rubio, a Cuban-American vociferously opposed to the island’s communist government, is also expected to promote Latin American conservatives in the region’s ideological tug-of-war.
Chief among them is El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who has earned hero status within Trump’s Republican Party for his no-holds-barred crackdown on crime in which tens thousands of people have been rounded up.
Human rights groups have criticized Bukele over detentions of innocent people. But once prevalent homicides have dropped sharply and he was re-elected last year with 80 percent of the vote, with Donald Trump Jr. attending his inauguration.
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader for his part has championed a Trump-style hard line on chronically unstable and impoverished Haiti, starting work on a wall and ramping up deportations.
Rubio will find a different dynamic in Guatemala whose president, Bernardo Arevalo, is an anti-corruption advocate who faced down threats by the conservative elite to take power after his upset 2023 election victory.
Arevalo — whose country is a major source of migrants — has been quick to cooperate with Trump, including by accepting deportees.
“Arevalo is looking for support from the Trump administration, because he knows his own government has been threatened by internal forces that oftentimes have had strong relationships with members of the Republican Party,” Meyer said.
© 2025 AFP
