The general narrative of Foreign Policy magazine glorifying Vice President Kamala Harris’ diplomatic manoeuvres in Guatemala stands in stark contrast to the reality shared by the country’s former president in 2022. A far cry from any supposed triumph, the handling of Guatemala by the Biden-Harris administration has been disastrous. Famed for her dismissive attitude, Harris treated former President Alejandro Giammattei with an infantilizing scorn.
Despite Giammattei’s noble offer to regulate traffic through Guatemala’s southern border, a move that could have been a strong bulwark against immigration flowing towards our own open border, the Biden-Harris administration disregarded his offer. The former Guatemalan leader confided in us, sharing his concerns about the undue meddling from the Biden-Harris ambassador. The ambassador reportedly conspired with local indigenous leaders and interfered in Giammattei’s selection of his attorney general, the venerable Consuelo Porras.
Furthermore, the administration refused Giammattei’s proposition to cooperate on the border issue. Precisely ‘We proposed: You have a sizeable border with Mexico, whereas our borders with Honduras and El Salvador are small. Assisting us in closing them would make sense’, the former Guatemalan President outlined. However, the Biden administration’s rebuff ensured that the Guatemalan border remained porous, exacerbating illegal immigration into the US.
The Biden-Harris administration responded to the escalating migration crisis not by resolving the issue at its root, but by desperately turning to the dubious Mexican government for assistance. This undermined the United States’ ability to collaborate on more significant concerns like the fentanyl crisis. Biden and Harris’ method of selecting regional allies based on ideological conformity rather than on their potential as trusted partners has repeatedly proven to be misguided.
This pattern of favouritism is not limited to Guatemala. The administration openly prefers leaders who voice anti-American sentiments, such as Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Colombia’s Gustavo Petro and Chile’s Gabriel Boric. Their political ideologies favour Marxist approaches, while they maintain a long-held resentment against the United States. Yet, these are the figures Biden and Harris choose to laud.
In stark contrast, figures such as Argentina’s Javier Milei, Paraguay’s Santiago Peña and Guatemala’s Giammattei are disregarded and reprimanded by Biden and Harris. What deems them unworthy of the administration’s approval? It’s their pro-life, pro-market, and pro-Israel stances – but most significantly, their pro-American sentiments.
Juan Gonzalez, the top Latin American expert at the National Security Council, revealed in a closed-door meeting that the Biden-Harris administration even supported Lula over President Trump ally Jai Bolsonaro during Brazil’s 2022 election, despite acknowledging the potential foreign policy troubles this could bring to the United States. Apparently, the administration’s political agenda supersedes the nation’s well-being.
In 2023, the administration went a step further. It sent Democrat Party members Robert Gibbs, Jessica Reiss and Dan Restrepo to Buenos Aires to bolster the chances of the leftist candidate, Sergio Massa, during the elections. Despite their efforts, Massa failed to defeat Milei. Paraguay’s government, another pro-US ally, expressed its displeasure over our ambassador in Asuncion interfering in their internal matters.
In its three years of patronizing engagement with Guatemala, the Biden-Harris administration not only supported a radical contender, Bernardo Arevalo, during last year’s election but also applied immense pressure to dismiss any investigation into alleged irregularities linked to his party. Furthermore, those opposed to Arevalo’s rule faced visa restrictions, a move conveniently overlooked by the writer at Foreign Policy.
The Biden-Harris administration’s hypocrisy shines through in their approach to Venezuela as they removed sanctions on the hostile Maduro regime while intervening in Guatemala’s affairs. Robbie Gramer of Foreign Policy, however, does not see these actions as troubling. Instead, he commends them and views Arevalo’s subsequent popularity amongst the international left as a triumph.
The argument that attempts to portray the probe into Arevalo as Giammattei’s effort to undermine the transition is far from truthful. The truth is that the Guatemalan system was slowly but surely resolving its issues. It is telling that just last week, the Guatemalan Supreme Court rejected Arevalo’s proposal to strip Attorney General Porras of her immunity.
Gramer’s article exhibits alarming resemblances to the wide-spread lawfare tactics employed by the Biden-Harris administration. These dubious practices that trample over the democratic process, both domestically and internationally, are veiled under the cause of combatting autocracy. A similar case unfolded when Donald Trump was re-indicted for questioning the 2020 election outcome, a strategy the Democratic Party frequently employed in the past.
With its similarities to the administration’s narrative, Gramer’s Foreign Policy article is suspected of having been planted by Biden-Harris administration insiders, possibly Phil Gordon himself, Harris’ lead national security advisor. Gordon’s visit to Guatemala and a letter he carried for Arevalo are presented as evidence backing Gramer’s assertion.
In Gramer’s words, ‘The democratic transition in Guatemala represents one of the clearest victories of US President Joe Biden’s agenda to promote democracy worldwide.’ However, this ‘victory’ brings to light a concerning truth: it confirms their administration must bear the label of a bully, overriding its neighbours irrespective of the consequences. This hasn’t been a victory for democracy; it’s a showcase of the Biden-Harris administration’s manipulative tactics.
In actuality, the best approach to foster regional democracy is to respect each country’s unique processes and officials without any ulterior motives to reshape Latin America as per the extreme ideological preferences of the Biden-Harris administration. Unfortunately, this simple yet respectful approach remains a distant idea for the current leadership.
This article does not reflect the institutional view of the Heritage Foundation or its Board of Trustees, but solely that of the authors, including Mike Gonzalez, Heritage’s Angeles T. Arredondo Senior Fellow. Though it’s understandable that legacy institutions tend to separate themselves from the opinions of their affiliates, it could be said that those institutions miss the chance to be part of a clear-eyed critique of a series of blunders wrapped up in ideological fervour by the Biden-Harris administration.
Failed Diplomacy: Biden-Harris Administration Ruins Relations with Guatemala appeared first on Real News Now.
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