Dominican Republic is the last stop on the multinational tour that Secretary of State Marco Rubio performs for Latin America and the Caribbean focused on strengthening cooperation in security and migration.
The United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is in the Dominican Republic on Thursday to talk with leaders from the Caribbean country on the last scale of their multinational tour of Latin America.
Rubio plans to meet with the Dominican President Luis Abinader and Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez in Santo Domingo.
The head of the US diplomacy traveled to the island nation from Guatemala, where he announced Washington's plans to support Guatemala with new infrastructure projects and sign exemptions to foreign aid to strengthen the US Association with that country on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the two countries have reached a new immigration agreement according to which Guatemala will accept 40 % more deportation flights from the United States, including both Guatemalan citizens and individuals from other nationalities.
Speaking together with the Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo at a joint press conference, Rubio said that the president had signed “a support letter” in which he promised to fully cooperate with the State Department in an association between Guatemala and the body of United States Army Engineers.
The initiative aims to “initiate preliminary planning for expansion” of “two new port facilities”, together with road connections and railroads to position Guatemala as a regional commercial center and boost its economic opportunities.
“Today, I will be signing exemptions to the foreign aid that will continue that association, and I hope to continue taking advantage of it,” Rubio told journalists.
He said that United States foreign aid has contributed to the arrest and extradition of criminals, including members of transnational groups.
“Certain individuals” and “fugitive” can be extradited, and are actually “strategic objectives” for both for the United States and its allies, said Rubio while visiting an installation near the base of the Guatemala Air Force, where the flights arrive of deportation.
According to the State Department, this initiative has led to the arrest of more than 1,400 criminal fugitives upon arrival in Guatemala City.
Deportation flights
After talking with Rubio, President Arévalo said that the two countries will establish working groups to finalize the details and processes to increase deportation flights from the United States.
“Within that framework, we have agreed to increase the number of deportee flights by 40 %,” both Guatemalan nationals and “deported from other nationalities” for repatriation, said the president through a translator.
He clarified that the “third safe country” was not approached in the title or in the content, emphasizing that the new arrangement with the US guarantees safe and human conditions for repatriation.
The United States repatriated almost 70,000 Guatemalans in 2024.
“Together with Monday's agreement in El Salvador, as well as the hardening of the immigration agreement and repatriation flights with Panama, the Trump administration focuses on the strangulation points in access to the southern border. Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala and the maintenance of the application of immigration laws with Mexico will probably lead to a drastic reduction of migrants on the southern border, “he told the America of America On Wednesday Ryan Berg, director of the Americas program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Third Safe Country Agreement
In 2019, former President Guatemalan Jimmy Morales signed a Cooperation Agreement on Asylum, commonly known as the Third Safe Country Agreement, with the first Trump administration.
The agreement was seen as part of Trump's strategy to stop the flow of migrants to the United States.
In 2021, the Biden administration fulfilled a campaign promise and suspended the agreement, which allowed the United States to reject asylum applicants at the border and deport them to a third designated country, where they would be demanded that they request asylum.
Critics argued that the policy exposed asylum applicants to unsafe conditions.
Ties between Guatemala and Taiwan
Guatemala remains one of the few countries that maintains official links with Taiwan. President Arévalo has reaffirmed his commitment to recognize Taiwan throughout his term, despite China's efforts to influence Guatemala towards Beijing.
“We have stated from the first moment that we maintain our diplomatic relationship with Taiwan,” said Arévalo through an interpreter during the press conference when asked about his position on China and Taiwan. He added that his government seeks to “develop even more” ties with Taiwan in “economy and investment.”
The Rubio Secretary of State expressed the support of the United States to the expansion of ties between Guatemala and Taiwan beyond diplomacy towards economic cooperation.
In recent years, several nations of the Western hemisphere (Panama, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras) have changed their diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. These changes have been influenced by the growing economic investment of China in Latin America.
In a speech in Guatemala City, Rubio warned against what he described as the “debt trap” of China.
“We have seen attention after the case that the Chinese government arrives with billions of dollars, promises, starts a project” and “brings its own workers to do the job”, but “in the end the project is incomplete” or the countries They stay with mass debts.
In Washington, the spokesman of the Chinese embassy, Liu Pengyu, dismissed Rubio's statements as “malicious slander”, urging the US to focus on promoting “mutually beneficial cooperation” and “common global development.”
Guatemala is the fourth stop of the five nations tour of Rubio through Central America and the Caribbean, focused on curbing illegal immigration and fighting drug trafficking.
After visits to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, Rubio traveled to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to continue conversations with regional leaders.