Latin America has captured the attention of U.S. lawmakers eager to build ties with a region that is often ignored despite its growing geopolitical and economic influence.
This month, the bicameral group visited officials from Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Guatemala, seeking to expand its influence among regional powers at a crossroads after recent elections in the first two countries.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Delaware) led a delegation to Mexico where lawmakers met with outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and President-elect Claudia Scheinbaum, who will become North America’s first female and first Jewish head of state in October.
“To have a majority-Catholic country elect the first woman in the history of our country, a Jewish woman, as president, means something is happening. I think that’s a good thing. I think that’s encouraging,” Carper told The Hill.
Sheinbaum is Lopez Obrador’s political successor and his handicapped successor, but the two men have clearly different personalities and backgrounds.
“Sheinbaum’s election is an opportunity for Mexico to re-engage with the U.S. Congress after years of neglect by the AMLO administration, which was almost exclusively focused on the White House and the executive branch, and at times openly attacked Republicans,” said Duncan Wood, president of the Pacific Council for International Policy.
Mexico’s lack of involvement with the U.S. legislative branch is chronic: Diplomats often point out that Mexico’s main embassy is closest to the White House in Washington, while Canada’s is just around the corner from the Capitol.
And with the notable exception of Colombia, most Latin American countries have also historically centered their Washington activities around the White House.
The executive branch focus carries great risks: As the administration focuses its diplomatic efforts elsewhere, Latin American issues often slip completely off Washington’s radar.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) accused the Biden administration of ignoring the region at a hearing this week, while Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols defended the administration’s stance ahead of Venezuela’s elections this weekend.
“For the past four years, President Biden and Vice President Harris have made it clear that Latin America is not a priority for our country,” Salazar said. “These decisions have been disastrous for our economy, our national security, and the well-being of our allies. If we lose Latin America, we lose our homeland. Wake up and save our hemisphere.”
Biden appointed former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) as his adviser on Latin America in 2022. Dodd has aligned with leaders across the region who support private consultations with U.S. agents close to the president.
Parliament, an institution that likes to be persuaded before the public, often prioritizes ties with Europe, the Middle East and East Asia.
But Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led a congressional delegation to Argentina last week, with stops in Brazil and Guatemala, to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1994 bombing at the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA), which killed 85 people and injured more than 300.
“When I first went to Argentina for the 10th anniversary of AMIA, I don’t think there was a delegation from Congress or from world Jewish organizations. [the American Jewish Committee (AJC)] “And maybe one. We had about 500 people here today from all over the world,” said Dina Siegel Vann, director of the AJC’s Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Institute for Latin American and Latino Affairs.
Ironically, the new priority given to the AMIA attack and the high-ranking guests invited to mark the anniversary was driven both by the normalization of Judaism in the largely Catholic region and by rising anti-Semitism around the world.
Argentina’s President Javier Milley, a populist liberal who was raised Catholic and took office in December, said Jewish mysticism is garnering interest among his people and that they may convert.
His newfound passion for Jewish religious ritual dovetails nicely with his public support for Israel in its war with Hamas — a position not shared by many Latin American leaders — but it also puts him in league with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who awarded Millay the Medal of Freedom last month in honor of the Argentine president’s support for Ukraine amid Russian aggression.
To Democrats like Cardin, Milley’s hardline pro-Ukraine stance puts him in common with foreign leaders who have openly praised former President Trump and have ties to ultra-conservative movements in the United States and Europe.
“We received a very warm welcome from him and we hit it off. I mean, he’s very pro-American, I don’t see him as a partisan guy. As I’ve conveyed to him and as I’ve conveyed to the ambassador, he’s saying things that are very appealing to Democrats, he’s very strongly supportive of Ukraine and I think he sees this issue the same way we do,” Cardin told reporters in a conference call on Tuesday.
Latin American leaders have historically avoided taking sides on geopolitical issues, partly because of the region’s relative isolation from conflict zones and partly because of a deep-rooted distrust of the international ambitions of the United States and Europe.
But Latin America is taking on new geopolitical importance not only as a source of natural resources and migrants, but also as a target for Russian influence and Chinese investment in the Western Hemisphere and, in the case of Mexico, replacing China as the United States’ largest trading partner.
“We’re working to reduce our reliance on trade with China and encourage nearshoring and fair trade that strengthens the economies of Mexico and countries to the south. And strengthening economies creates incentives for people in countries to the south to live, work, stay and raise their families here, rather than trying to cross the border. [to] “They cannot enter the United States,” Carper said.
While Millay’s pro-Western stance is unlikely to be well-received among his colleagues in the region, particularly left-leaning leaders such as Scheinbaum, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Chile’s Gabriel Boric, three decades of free trade between the United States and Mexico proves that the United States and Latin American countries can peacefully share those economic incentives.
Experts say foreign adversaries such as Russia and Iran are trying to create instability in the Americas by any means possible, including by rekindling distrust between the United States and Latin American countries and stoking anti-Semitism.
“A few weeks ago, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines identified Iran as being responsible for stoking antisemitism on and beyond college campuses, and we have clear evidence that it’s happening. And it’s happening in Latin America,” said Siegel Vann.[NationalIntelligenceAvrilHaines”severalweeksagoidentifiedIranasbeingresponsibleforstokingantisemitismoncampusesandbeyondandtheyhaveclearevidencethatit’sshrinkingandthatit’sshrinkinginLatinAmerica”saidSiegelVann[NationalIntelligenceAvrilHaines“severalweeksagoidentifiedIranasbeingresponsibleforstokingantisemitismincampusesandbeyondandtheyhaveclearevidencethat’shappeningAndthat’salsohappeninginLatinAmerica”saidSiegelVann
“There’s Russia. We mustn’t forget that Mexico is also known as a country that has a lot of Russian spies. Even after the Ukraine crisis, there is still a Russia-Mexico Friendship League in the Mexican Congress.”
With the U.S. presidential election looming, some Latin American officials are preparing for a possible reelection of President Trump. A select few like Milley, ideologically aligned with Trump but geographically separated from him, might benefit from having a like-minded figure in the White House.
Sheinbaum, a self-described leftist and less transactional than Lopez Obrador, is likely to create more headaches with Trump as he co-manages the 2,000-mile border and $800 billion trade relationship.
“Clearly, Claudia would do better with Harris, who is continuing Biden’s policies, than with Trump, who is attacking Mexico as part of a populist movement.” Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, a former Mexican diplomat and fellow at the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, said Trump “has taken the easy route by blaming foreign countries for the problems of the American working class.”
Carper, who is not seeking reelection, said the US election could determine whether the two neighbours further three decades of integration or see that progress halted altogether.
“I think that under President Kamala and President Scheinbaum, we have a good chance of continuing to build on the great progress that we’ve made in improving our relationship and deepening our economic interests. With President Trump, I don’t know. To be generous, I don’t think the progress that we’ve made over the years is going to continue. And both countries need that to continue,” Carper said.
