Soldiers and Diplomats Help Trump Reshape Caribbean as an American Lake

Overshadowed by the attack on faraway Iran, President Trump is working closer to home — from Cuba to Panama to Venezuela — to reshape the Caribbean as an American lake.Echoing his political idol, President McKinley, Mr. Trump told reporters Friday: “We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba.” In 1898, at the apogee of American imperialism, Mr. McKinley sent soldiers to occupy Cuba and Puerto Rico.Last week, to open Cuba to private enterprise and American investors, a close advisor to Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly held talks with Raúl Guillermo Rodriguez Castro. This 41-year-old is the new generation leader of the clan that has ruled Cuba since the 1959 Communist takeover. The meeting took place in Saint Kitts and Nevis, on the margins of a meeting of CARICOM, the Caribbean’s economic and political union.“Cuba needs to change,” Mr. Rubio told reporters after the meeting. He added: “It doesn’t have to change all at once. It doesn’t have to change from one day to the next. Everyone is mature and realistic here.”The Trump administration is laying the groundwork for a gradual opening of Cuba by negotiating with one Castro who controls the economy and with another Castro who controls the all-powerful army and police. Raúl Guillermo Rodriguez Castro controls GAESA, Cuba’s largest corporate conglomerate, a multi-billion dollar, military-controlled enterprise. A grandson of Raúl Castro, the regime’s de facto leader, this Castro is a well-traveled businessman who could easily fit into a Miami boardroom.Two weeks ago, Rubio envoys met in Mexico with Alejandro Castro Espín, the only son of Raúl Castro. At 60, Mr. Castro Espín is a Brigadier General in the Interior Ministry. With his father, this Castro controls the military.To pressure the long-running communist government, the Trump administration has thrown a naval blockade around the island. No oil has arrived since early January. On Wednesday, Washington announced an exception: oil can be delivered to Cuba’s fledgling private sector.“The Cuban government is talking with us,” Mr. Trump said in Washington. “They have no money. They have no anything right now. But they’re talking to us, and maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.” Aware that Cuba’s leaders hope to wait out Mr. Trump, American negotiators are seeking agreement on month-to-month progress markers for a gradual economic and political opening.To keep talks going, both countries downplayed as a bump on the road with Wednesday’s high seas shootout between a Cuban coast guard vessel and Florida-registered speedboat. In the bloodiest confrontation in 30 years between Cuban exiles and Cuban soldiers, the shootout left one Cuban military officer wounded, four Cuban-Americans dead, and six more wounded.Occurring as bilateral talks look increasingly serious, some analysts in Miami speculate that the shootout was provoked by hardliners — of either side — to derail negotiations.Elsewhere, around the body of water that Mr. Trump calls the ‘Gulf of America,’ things are going Washington’s way.Largely ignored by the American press, Panamanian police seized two Chinese-run ports last week — one at the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal and the other at its Pacific terminus.One year ago, Mr. Trump loudly vowed to take back the ‘Chinese-run’ canal. Built by American engineers during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, Mr. McKinley’s successor, the canal was controlled by the United States from its opening in 1914 to its handover to Panama in 1999. To this day, five percent of world trade passes through the 51-mile long canal and lake system. In 1997, Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison started a 25-year-contract to run two of the canal’s five seaports. Founded in 1863 by a British colonial entrepreneur, the company keeps the British name, but now is completely China-controlled. Last year, the company handled 38 percent of the nearly 10 million containers that passed through the Panama canal.Last year, after Mr. Trump threatened to ‘take back’ the Canal, Panamanian president José Raúl Mulino quickly ordered an audit of the Hong Kong company’s operations in his country. In late January, Panama’s Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a 25-year-contract extension made in 2021.Last week, the ports went under the temporary management of two of the world’s largest shipping companies — Denmark’s Maersk and Italy’s Mediterranean Shipping Company. With the Chinese out, the American investment company BlackRock now wants to take over the two ports. The ports, employing a total 7,000 people, continue to function normally.After Beijing charged that Panama was bowing down to “hegemonic powers,” Panamanian President Mulino responded Thursday by warning China to “be careful,” noting “they need us more than we need them.” Further purging Panama of Chinese influence, Panama became Latin America’s first nation to pull out of Beijing’s Belt and Road transportation infrastructure initiative. At the same time, Panama allowed the United States to take down Chinese telecommunication towers and to return American soldiers to three former military training areas near the canal. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this deal was meant to keep Panama from “capitulating to coercion by the communist Chinese.”Next Saturday, Mr. Mulino is one of several Caribbean and Central American leaders expected to participate in Miami in the ‘Shield of the Americas’ at the Trump National Doral resort at Miami. The summit aims to reassert American influence in the region and counter the influence of other nations, notably China.This winter, Venezuela, long the biggest country player in the Caribbean, has quietly come under American control. After capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on January 3, the Trump administration has taken control of the nation’s financial lifeblood — its oil exports. By controlling the primary source of Venezuela’s budget money, Washington is working slow changes in Caracas. Cuban security advisors have flown home. American investors are welcome back.“Our new friend and partner, Venezuela,” is how Mr. Trump described the country to Americans in his State of the Union address. Referring to the apparent end of a 27-year-old anti-American government, Mr. Trump said: “This was an absolutely colossal victory for the security of the United States. A bright new beginning for the people of Venezuela.”“We’re working closely with the new president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, to unleash extraordinary economic gains for both of our countries and to bring new hope to those who have suffered so terribly,” he said.The next day, Mr. Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles, elaborated in his press conference with Caribbean reporters in St. Kitts. He said: “The new interim authorities, led by Delcy Rodríguez, have done things that eight or nine weeks ago would have been unimaginable. They have released political prisoners. They have closed Helicoide, which is their most infamous prison of all. They are, for the first time in a long time, generating oil revenue that’s going to the benefit of their people.”Since the capture of Mr. Maduro, details have emerged that must give pause to Cuba’s rulers. In the weeks leading up to the American operation, Mr. Rubio was in secret, but increasingly friendly, talks with Ms. Rodríguez, then Venezuela’s vice president. When the time came for the massive American military operation, Ms. Rodríguez was conveniently out of town. As 30 American war planes converged on Caracas, she was offshore celebrating New Year’s with her family on Margarita, a resort island 200 miles from the capital.Now, analysts say, Mr. Rubio’s mission is to ‘find a Delcy’ for Cuba.

Soldiers and Diplomats Help Trump Reshape Caribbean as an American Lake

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