President-elect Donald Trump wants a deal. Out of nowhere, the next president decided that one of his first foreign policy declarations would be the following demands: better conditions for passage On the Panama Canal, even though he didn't mention it at all during his campaign.
Naturally, he briefly ramped up his rhetoric, but then moved on to his old hobby: horses. buy greenland — an 836,000 square mile fixer-upper. That name proves that in the real estate industry, if you're not lying, you're not trying.
It would be great if President Trump could get a special discount on the Canal EZ Pass. But that's not the problem. This issue is one of our priorities.
U.S. economic and security issues in Latin America do not begin and end with the canal tolls. Drug smuggling, illegal immigration, and political instability in Mexico are the biggest crises to date. Fortunately, Team Trump has focused on these issues.
Next up is Cuba, not Panama. And then, most pressingly, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Considering lawless Haiti, poor security in Honduras and Guatemala, and money laundering, the Panama Canal's tolls may not even make it into the top 10.
After four years of weak, pious, and incompetent national security policy under President Biden, President Trump has a real opportunity to fundamentally improve U.S. security in the Caribbean and benefit the economy. . But you can't waste your time without any problems.
The best chance is Cuba. In the past 65 years, Cuba's brutal Marxist regime has never come close to collapse.
A democratic Cuba would bring enormous security and economic benefits. And it's a golden political and historical opportunity for Trump. President Trump needs to ask himself which is more impressive. To be known as the president who did what 11 other presidents couldn't do (free Cuba) and to be known as the man who cut canal tolls by a few dollars?
Cuba's government is becoming corrupt and the country is in dire straits. Nationwide electricity power outage occurs regularly. Inflation is rampantIt has never fallen below 20% in the last three years. The country is It is also rapidly depopulating.More than 2 million people have retired in recent years.
The Cuban government is bankrupt — even if the thieves running the show aren't. miami herald As a result of research, Marxists who call themselves defenders of the proletariat billions stolen Stash large amounts of dollars in hidden accounts. The Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA, a conglomerate group controlled by the communist government and military, is actually a collection of gangs that keep Cubans in desperate poverty.
Unlike any period of bad government in the past 60 years, Cuba now has virtually no friends. More importantly, its friends are unable or unwilling to rescue the country.
Russia is currently unable to provide any military aid and instead Bringing together Cuban youth suffering from poverty Enter a meat grinder war. Thieves in Venezuela and Nicaragua seem focused on consolidating their power and stealing whatever they can.
Add all this up and the benefits of expelling the criminals running Cuba will be far greater than just the discount on the canal.
Cuba has been engaged in espionage against the United States for decades and is a center of anti-American activity in the Caribbean. Communist Cuba destabilized the government, confiscated U.S. assets, and helped establish a Venezuelan regime whose criminal organizations threatened Americans. America can't even do that. deport illegal Cuban immigrants Because the government won't take them back.
Aside from that, Cuba behind the attack Attacks on American diplomats are the only reason for an aggressive response.
President Trump should start by keeping the government and military in Cuba. Return to list Those who support terrorism. Incredibly, after the Miami Herald's corruption revelations, Biden handed Havana's authoritarians and thieves a farewell gift that removed them from the list.
President Trump should use his social media megaphone to shine a spotlight on Cuba's suffering and the Latin American left's complicity in keeping him in power. It is outrageous that Mexico is sending heavy oil to bail out Marxist thieves. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum shamefully She declared “unity” With the thieves who have oppressed the Cuban people for decades.
In that case, President Trump should demand that Cuba release all political prisoners, return the funds stolen from the Cuban people, and allow free and fair multiparty elections. In return, it should offer the lifting of all sanctions and travel restrictions and normalization of relations, but only if all conditions are met.
If the Cuban government does not agree, President Trump should strengthen the embargo and add to his long list of demands for Sheinbaum to end Mexico's subsidies to Cuba's criminal regime. President Trump should also deploy American military assets to prevent Venezuela and Nicaragua from sending military aid.
Cuban thieves are as weak as Bashar al-Assad and as afraid of popular uprising. Therefore, Mr. Trump should continue to work as hard as he can and refuse to let up. He could offer leaders the option of a safe exit, which many leaders would accept, especially if they believe Trump could be removed by force. I'm sure it's deaf.
Just as when Saddam Hussein (and Assad) was removed from power, Cuba's freed people celebrated their newfound freedom and still portrayed these criminals as heroic revolutionaries. It would be a disgrace to all the idiots on the left who think that. And because Cuba is a unified nation with a single language and Western culture, it will not fall apart, unlike Iraq or Syria. The island looks much more like Poland or the Czech Republic before the fall of the Iron Curtain than the Middle East, a cauldron of ethnic jealousy.
Defeating the Cuban thieves is a perfect opportunity for President Trump to show the world he means business and re-establish American deterrence stripped away by former Presidents Barack Obama and Biden. Cuba has few friends and its military assets cannot match those of the United States. Venezuela and Nicaragua may be stronger, but neither has any hope of projecting enough force to support Cuba's dictatorship.
There will be opportunities for trade, repatriation of illegal immigrants, and removal of centers of espionage against the United States.If Trump really wants to put America first, his priority should be not the quick buck, but the biggest buck. It should be profit and long-term benefit.
keith nortonHe is a co-founder of Silent Majority Strategies, a public and regulatory affairs consulting firm, and a former Pennsylvania political campaign consultant.
