The former US ambassador in Panama has launched a stinging criticism of Donald Trump’s approach to Latin America, comparing his actions to the actions of Tony Soprano, the boss of a ruthless, selfish fictional mob. I did.
In the first month of the presidency, the US president shocked some observers by actively focusing on areas that many expected him to largely ignore. Early measures include threatening to “recover” the Panama Canal, accusing the Mexican government of being in the Cahoots with Narco Traffic, sending envoys to meet Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, and Colombia President of Gustavo Peter includes clashing with deportation flight. .
John Feely, who was considered one of the top Latin American experts at the State Department until he resigned from his job in Panama during Trump’s first term, said he was terrifying, but he wasn’t surprised by Trump’s move.
“If you use the combination of Tony Soprano and Thucydides (for Trump) as your psychological paradigm, it’s not so surprising that he’ll be the first to go to America,” the former Ambassador said. I said. An ancient historian who recorded the struggles of the 5th century BC between Athens and Sparta.
Feely believed that the most famous line from Thucydides’ account of the war, “Do what they can, and the weak suffer what they have to do.”
“(He’s doing that) because he can. The asymmetry of American commerce and military power is very immeasurable in relation to Mexico, Central America, Panama and even Argentina’s Brazil. Because they can’t really do much other than suffering from consequences. The resignation in 2018 saw how Trump “distorted and betrayed… resigned from the traditional core values of the United States. “What?” said the former diplomat: .
“He’s a velociraptor… he kills what he perceives as a threat.”
Feely did not believe Trump would chase his threat of forcing the Panama Canal back if his demands for China’s interference on trade routes were not met.
“It’s all fierce. He has no votes for it. He ran on a ticket to isolated America… he doesn’t want to keep our base in Germany. He doesn’t want to protect Europe. He doesn’t want to send American blood and treasures to fight and die in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. He wants to “make America great.”
“His vision of the ‘Great America’ is America in its realm of influence, king in its own castle, and part of the world for American profits such as $500 million in the rare earth of Ukraine. exploiting the diplomats. He also worked in Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Mexico during his 28-year State Department career.
Feely praised Panama for dealing with the tactical concessions while maintaining control of the canal, which included Panama’s “trading without relent” tactics of the US president.
The former ambassador also saw a soprano-like technique in Trump’s engagement with Maduro. It appears that the US president has warmed up after he tried to overthrow him during his first administration.
“Gangsters don’t kill all of their competitors. Often he buys them. Often he corrupts them. Often he recruits them.” said. “And he saw a small gang in Maduro in the country he doesn’t care about. He can now send a bundle of C-17 Globemasters (transports) at this moment of trade. Abandoning a bunch of Venezuelans in a country that needs to be in an orange jumpsuit and shackle, and letting him go back to Magbass base and say, “Joe Biden letting these rapists and drug dealers in.” Please. I’ve kicked them out.”
Feely saw Trump’s involvement with Maduro was motivated by his massive deportation campaign, rather than his desire to access Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. “The US set up a record oil and gas production last year. You don’t need the black gold on the Orinoco belt.”
By signing a contract with Maduro and allowing him to send out deportation flights to Caracas, Feely widely believes that Trump beat the Venezuelan dictator in the presidential election last July. He claimed he betrayed opposition politicians. “He gave him a vote and then sold them to the river,” the former ambassador helps their country eliminate Maduro on Venezuelan Americans who supported Trump in the 2024 US election. He said he hopes that.
But if Trump had channeled Tony Soprano in his treatment of Latin America, Feely believed he would channel Trump as well. “Donald Trump’s approach to Latin America is reminiscent of the way he and his father operated the building in Queens. They are big C (“colored” for any application from black or Hispanic families. ) has been placed. And not surprising, those people didn’t get an apartment. They resolved the case at the Department of Justice in the 1970s. But it’s very clear that Donald Trump thinks Latin America is a place where he exploits and earns rent, but he won’t allow him to live in his buildings,” he said.
“I am ashamed of my country. I am angry with my country for choosing him. And we are not perfect, but strategic to keep us all safe. It is a place where we value strategic alliances to incorporate the concept of diplomacy and incorporate it into foreign policy, and we still have the guardrail of democracy. I hope that they will be there. A place where soft power is cultivated.”
