Central America: On 7 September the US Department of State announced it was recalling the US Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Robin Bernstein; the US Ambassador to El Salvador, Jean Manes; and the US Charge d’Affaires in Panama, Roxanne Cabral, for consultations over the recent decisions by these countries to no longer recognise Taiwan as an independent country and to establish formal diplomatic relations with mainland China. Panama made the switch in June 2017, the DR in April 2018, and El Salvador in August 2018. The Dominican government has since come out and insisted that relations with the US are “excellent” and ruled out the possibility of “reprisals” over the issue. However, in a 9 September press release, Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela was more critical, stating that: “We respect the sovereign decisions of other countries and we will always ask the same respect for ours”. These sentiments were echoed by El Salvador’s presidential spokesperson, Roberto Lorenzana, who pointed out that by establishing relations with mainland China, the Salvadorean government was doing “nothing more than taking a decision that the US government itself took 40 years ago”.
Mexico: On 13 September Kenneth Smith Ramos, the director of the trade and North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) office at Mexico’s embassy in the US, said that if it is not possible to continue having a trilateral Nafta agreement (between Mexico, the US, and Canada), then Mexico is ready to advance on a bilateral trade agreement with the US. According to Mexico’s official news agency, Notimex, Smith said that since “the beginning of the renegotiation of [the] Nafta [terms] in mid-August of last year, Mexico has always said that the ideal scenario is to maintain a trilateral agreement”. Meanwhile on his Twitter accounted Smith posted that “we hope the US and Canada will conclude their bilateral #negotiation shortly. If that is not possible, we are ready to advance bilaterally” with the US.
Paraguay: On 5 September US Vice President Michael Pence spoke with Paraguay’s President Mario Abdo Benítez after it was announced that day that the new Abdo Benítez government had decided to move its embassy in Israel back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem. According to a White House press release, in a telephone conversation with Abdo Benítez, Pence strongly urged the Paraguayan president to follow through with an earlier commitment made by his predecessor, Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), to move Paraguay’s embassy to Jerusalem. In response, via his Twitter account, Abdo Benítez underscored the importance of achieving a swift and enduring solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, Abdo Benítez maintained that Paraguay’s decision to move its embassy to Tel Aviv was based on principle and on international law. Following the decision by the Abdo Benítez administration, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced via Twitter that he has decided to close Israel’s embassy in Paraguay with immediate effect.
Venezuela: On 10 September the US government urged United Nations (UN) member states to stop cooperating with the Venezuelan government, accusing President Nicolás Maduro of leading a “corrupt regime” that is threatening international security. US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, also denounced countries that are doing business with the Maduro government, claiming that Maduro is purposefully hurting his own people. According to Haley, Venezuela is a “wake-up call” to the world about the necessity of facing government corruption head on in order to prevent international crises. Haley maintained that the crisis in Venezuela is having a major effect on neighbouring countries as a result of the mass exodus of Venezuelan nationals to Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador. A UN report has found that as of June 2.3m Venezuelans had recently left their country, with nine out of 10 of them moving to these four countries. Haley’s words were aimed at countries that are “supporting Maduro” and those that are making money from the Maduro administration. The US has petitioned other countries to follow their example and impose sanctions on Venezuelan government officials, as well as to investigate any suspicious movement of capital. Russia, China, and Bolivia, however, did not attend the UN session in which Haley spoke, claiming that the crisis in Venezuela is an internal issue for the Venezuelan people to resolve.
