The Trump Administration in Latin America: Continuity and Change

In: The international journal of cuban studies: journal of the International Institute for the Study of Cuba, Band 11, Heft 1

Abstract

Donald Trump won the 2016 US presidential election without a clearly articulated policy for either Cuba or the Latin American/Caribbean region as a whole. Two years into that presidency, this article seeks to describe that policy and place it within Trump's wider foreign policy. The article deconstructs the worldview of 'America First' as lying within the perspective of the neo-conservative wing of the Republican Party, epitomised by John Bolton, the current National Security Advisor. The implications of that worldview for Cuba and Latin America make for a reversal of Obama's opening to Cuba, a hardline on immigration from Mexico and Central America, and greater pressure for regime change in both Venezuela and Nicaragua. Also analysed is the resonance of Trump's policies with the recent turn to the political right in Latin America, notably in Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Colombia.