TEHRAN, Apr 14 - The United States, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, is looking to regain some of its past influence in South America while also trying to access the region’s oil reserves and curb immigration from the continent, says an American analyst.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Keith Preston, director of the Attackthesystem.com, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent tour of South American countries revolved around these three key issues.
The Trump administration has been maintaining regional pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his government amid an ongoing political crisis caused by US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has declared himself “interim president” of the oil-rich nation.
“For quite some time, the nations of Latin America have largely functioned as puppet states or client states of the United States,” he told Press TV on Sunday.
However, countries like Venezuela, Argentina and Bolivia have tried to change that trend, making a dent in America’s regional influence, he added.
“But it appears as though the Trump administration is trying to reclaim some of the traditional hegemony that the United States has exercised over Latin America,” Preston argued.
The analyst said the White House was specifically focused on removing Maduro from power because his government remained one of the “most defiant” against US demands.
The other reason behind America’s Venezuela policy was the country’s vast oil reserves.
“A crucial issue regarding the relationship between the United States and Venezuela involves the fact that Venezuela is sitting on a rich supply of oil and the United States want access to that,” he explained.
The third reason was what Preston called the ongoing “migrant crisis” caused by people fleeing economic and political problems in Venezuela and other countries to live inside America.
Preston argued that since Trump’s base were mostly anti-immigration and the Republican president had to take action to appease his supporters in order to secure their vote for re-election in 2020.
“Some of those (Venezuela migrants) actually become involved in caravans from Central America and Mexico that are now migrating towards the American border and that’s currently a very controversial issue in the United States,” he said.
Source: Press TV
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