In the first eight days after inauguration on January 20, the U.S. administration's executive orders have hit three countries Cuba, Mexico and Colombia. The other left regimes like Venezuela, Bolivia, Honduras may face attacks from the Trump 2.0 Regime shortly.
The earlier Democratic president Joe Biden at the fag end of his tenure withdrew the name of Cuba from the list of terrorist states under American administration. This was welcomed by Cuba as it enabled the Communist nation to get some facilities from the U.S. and opened the prospects for the follow up actions like the withdrawal of the economic blockade by the USA. But soon after taking over power, President Trump cancelled the Biden directive and reinstated the earlier U.S. directive of including Cuba in the list of terrorist states. This has dashed all hopes of Cuba getting out of economic blockade in future.
As regards Mexico which is run by the left wing coalition Morena, Trump issued order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Already Google has started implementing it in its maps. But Mexico has the powers to fight for it in international agencies including the United Nations to challenge the unilateral change of name by President Trump. More serious for Mexico is the order imposing 25 per cent tariff on Mexican exports to USA with effect from February 1. Further, U.S. has largest number of undocumented Mexican people working in USA. These people will be sent back to Mexico. The process has already started.
Colombia elected a leftwing government only in the last national elections. Till then, it was a protégé of USA. The American companies are very angry with the President Gustavo Petro for his policies of encouraging the public sector and the domestic companies in core sectors of the economy restricting the operations of the multinational companies. The U.S. has also a large number of undocumented Colombian labour. Immediately, those were deported as criminals to Colombia which was strongly objected by the Colombian President. There was a big confrontation between the two Presidents.
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Colombia finally backed down from a looming trade war with the United States hours after US President Donald Trump threatened Bogota with tariffs and visa restrictions for turning away US military aircraft carrying deported migrants. The climbdown late on Sunday came after Colombian President Gustavo Petro had announced retaliatory tariffs on US imports and insisted he would not accept migrants who were not treated with“dignity and respect”. In a late-night news conference, Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said officials had“overcome the impasse” and would accept citizens deported from the US.
A White House statement said Colombia had agreed to all of Trump's terms, including“unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on US military aircraft, without limitation or delay”. Washington and Bogota had been poised for a damaging trade war after Trump announced he would hit Colombian imports with a 25 percent“emergency” tariff, rising to a 50 percent tariff from next week, in response to Petro's refusal to accept the deportation flights.
Trump also said he would impose a“travel ban and immediate visa revocations” and“visa sanctions” on government officials, as well as their family members and supporters, and enhance border inspections of all Colombian nationals and cargo.“These measures are just the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!” Trump said on his social media network Truth Social.
Petro swiftly responded to Trump's announcement by promising to impose retaliatory tariffs of up to 50 percent. In a lengthy diatribe on X, Petro, a former member of the leftist M-19 armed rebel movement, said he did not like travelling to the US as it is“a bit boring”, though he acknowledged his appreciation for Walt Whitman, Paul Simon and Noam Chomsky.
Colombia, which counts the US as its biggest trade partner, is one of a minority of nations with a trade deficit with the US exports to Colombia in 2022 were worth $28.7 billion, compared with imports of $24.8 billion, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
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U.S.-Colombia bilateral trade is broadbased. Top US imports from Colombia include crude oil, coffee, cut flowers and gold, while Colombia imports large amounts of US gasoline, corn and soybeans. Trump's immigration crackdown has elevated tensions with governments across Latin America, the source of the lion's share of the estimated 11-14 million undocumented migrants in the US.
Brazil also on Saturday accused the Trump administration of subjecting migrants to“degrading treatment” after deportees were reportedly handcuffed during a commercial flight to return unauthorised migrants to the Latin American country. The Brazilian President Lula is the target of the MAGA supporters. In Trump's inaugural function, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was invited. He is known as Trump clone in Brazilian politics.
The other Left wing forces in the Latin American region will be facing major test in the year 2025 as crucial Presidential elections as also the polls to the parliament will be held in four countries, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile and Honduras. Out of the four, excepting Ecuador, the other three countries are being ruled by the Left coalitions. Apart, elections will be held in Argentina but that will not cover the Presidential elections, only elections to the national assembly will be held.
For the Latin American left, the year is crucial as in all three left regimes, the ruling presidents are suffering from anti-incumbency though all the three presidents took enough progressive measures in the their tenure. The incumbent presidents are also facing troubles in the ruling coalition. All these factors have emboldened the right wing conservative forces in all the three countries. The anti-Left parties are getting political support from the new Trump regime.
Further, the corporate media and the rich businessmen are allied against the Left regimes. Funds are also being channelized to the right wing parties for stepping up their campaign. For the Latin American Left, the political situation is very challenging in 2025 as Trump regime is giving full backing to the far right forces in Latin America just as they are doing in Europe. The positive feature is that the Latin American Left are also jointly working out the strategy to win elections as also to combat the onslaught from the Trump.2.0 regime. (IPA Service )
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