Brian Winter Speaks on Trump and Latin America on the What Next Podcast
Brian Winter Speaks on Trump and Latin America on the What Next Podcast
"The region may be even more aligned with President Trump a year from now than it is today," said Americas Quarterly's editor-in-chief.
Brian Winter, Americas Society/Council of the Americas vice president of policy and Americas Quarterly's editor-in-chief, spoke on Slate's podcast What Next about U.S. President Donald Trump's policies towards Latin America.
Journalist Mary Harris asked Winter how would he sum up the "Trump Doctrine" in the region.
"That's hard. And it's hard even for somebody who's tried to spend the last year really focusing on what they're doing. And you know, the lament in Latin America for the last 40 years has been the United States doesn't pay enough attention to what's happening down here. And many have joked in the last couple of months, oh well, be careful what you wish for," said Winter.
Harris spoke about how, on one hand, the U.S. administration has pledged billions to Argentine President Javier Milei and his government to bolster the South American nation’s collapsing currency, while on the other, Trump's government has bombarded small boats accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela.
Winter explained how there's a very large U.S. military presence off the coast of that country.
"They are kind of purposefully ambiguous about why they're there. We have everything from destroyers to vessels that could drop small amounts of U.S. special forces, for example, on the Venezuelan coast," said Winter. "This makes me think that at some level it's not exactly a bluff, but it's an attempt to scare the Venezuelan military."
Winter also talked about how it seems like the political pendulum in Latin America is swinging to the right, citing as an example Ecuador and Bolivia. Several other countries, like Chile, Colombia and Peru, have upcoming elections in which the right is favored.
"I would say many people in the region have these deep-seated objections that you're describing to what the Trump administration is doing. But people also have other priorities. They are worried about organized crime. They are angry at what they see as the left's mismanagement of economies over the last couple months. And so, as incredible as it may seem to some people here in the United States, Latin America as a region may be even more aligned with President Trump a year from now than it is today," Winter said.
