Opinion — China’s worst year in Latin America is just getting started

Just one month in, this already seems like a bad year for the Chinese Communist Party in Latin America.

Last week, it lost its influence over two strategic ports in Panama. The CIA returned to Venezuela. China’s BRICS alliance experienced still more friction. What’s more, the Cuban dictatorship began to crumble, and Latin America is generally slamming the door on buying military equipment from Beijing.

From the first day of his second term, Trump was clear. He announced that one of his objectives was to recover the Panama Canal from powerful Chinese influence. Two weeks later, Panama did the unthinkable, withdrawing from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the communist regime’s most powerful economic and geopolitical strategy.

But things don’t end there. Last week, the Supreme Court of Justice of Panama declared unconstitutional the concessions allowing Hong Kong’s CK Hutchinson Holdings to operate the Balboa and San Cristobal ports. Believing that this was merely a judicial ruling or a regular day on trade issues would be a grave mistake. This is a devastating defeat for China and a massive victory for the Trump administration in Latin America.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio put it this way: “The United States is encouraged by the recent Panamanian Supreme Court’s decision to rule port concessions to China unconstitutional.”

China’s defeats extend also to Cuba. During the 1960s and until 1990, Cuba was a bastion of Russian geopolitics, but for the last 20 years, it has been a key partner of Beijing, especially in the installation and renovation of espionage bases. This is coming to an end. The U.S. has declared Cuba an unusual and extraordinary threat, cutting off its oil subsidies from Venezuela and forcing it to negotiate.

“Cuba would be free again,” President Trump stated last weekend. For the first time in 67 years, the communist dictatorship is facing a real threat to its repressive, corrupt and impoverishing model. The U.S. president believes he has strong chances to reach an agreement for change, another significant defeat for communist China.

In the military sphere, two months ago we saw how China lost another battle in Argentina. The South American nation rejected the Asian JF-17 fighter jet and opted instead for the purchase of 24 F-16s from Denmark, with U.S. authorization. The armies of Uruguay and Paraguay are also relying on U.S military equipment, including Oshkosh M-ATV armored vehicles. And it’s not just the equipment but the training and the relations that grow strong between the U.S. and these countries’ militaries.

China suffered still another setback in Peru. The U.S. has expressed interest in designating Peru as a major non-NATO ally; a transcendental positioning on security and defense issues.

The Trump effect has also affected the BRICS alliance. China wanted to demonstrate strength with a military exercise in South Africa, but India and Brazil, founding members of the bloc, decided not to participate — a harsh and unexpected blow.

The CIA’s return to Latin America kicked off in January with two strategic visits. Director John Ratcliffe arrived in Venezuela, and Deputy Director Michael Ellis attended a key meeting with the Brazilian Federal Police. China is losing ground, even with some of its all-time left-wing allies in the region.

The communist superpower is also losing leverage in promoting its infamous debt trap. It will no longer be able to follow its Africa playbook with these Latin American countries — that is, to saddle them with unpayable debts that force them to compromise their natural resources and sovereignty.Bolivia, which has only recently broken with 20 years of socialist rule, has once again prioritized its relationship with the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank. The Bolivian government recently signed a $4.5 billion agreement to stabilize the economy, restore growth, and expand job creation. In addition, Argentina signed a historic $20 billion agreement with the IMF, and Ecuador maintains an extended $5 billion program.

Let’s be clear, China has not lost all its power and influence in Latin America, but the new U.S. National Security Strategy, and in particular the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (“Donroe”), is slowing down and reversing Beijing’s advance in the region.

The capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, maximum pressure on Cuba, the end of 20 years of socialism in Bolivia, the ports in Panama, Peru drawing closer to NATO and the military preeminence of the U.S. in the Americas is a historical event. The U.S. is back, its leadership is stronger and the region is safer.

Arturo McFields is an exiled journalist, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States, and a former member of the Norwegian Peace Corps. He is an alumnus of the National Defense University’s Security and Defense Seminar and the Harvard Leadership course.