Tag: latin america

Last week, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., questioned U.S. ambassador nominees for Latin America and the Caribbean at a U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing. Witnesses: Mr. William H. Duncan, to be U.S. Ambassador to...

This week, U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez, D-NJ, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., paired up on a bill to improve “bilateral and multilateral security cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as a push...

The three South Florida Republicans are championing a proposal to “prioritize COVID-19 vaccine distribution to Taiwan and Latin American ally countries determined by the Secretary of State to have diplomatic, military, or cultural ties with the United States” and trying to send those vaccines before China does. 

The Biden administration announced last month it will make 20 million Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine doses available to the international community, on top of the 60 million unused Astra-Zeneca doses announced in April. The doses have not yet been committed to a specific list of countries.

As the pandemic continues to ravage multiple countries in the region, Latin America and the Caribbean already account for approximately one third of the total COVID-19 global death toll. 

Rubio is backing the “Inter-American Development Bank General Capital Increase Act” from U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-NJ. The proposal would increase American funds for the IDB by $20 billion. The IDB is run by almost 50 counties, including the U.S., and is the largest source of support for Latin American and Caribbean economic development. Other backers of the bill include U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Mary., Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Tim Kaine, D-Va.

At the end of last week, state Rep. Adrian Zika, R-Land O’Lakes, introduced the “Portraits in Patriotism Act" with the backing of state House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor.

The resolution opposes "any inclusion of apparel, textile, and footwear products in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).”

Rubio’s office noted that the bill “would strengthen economic competitiveness, expand safeguards for physical and digital infrastructure, and address human rights abuses from digital surveillance technologies in Latin America and the Caribbean" and is “the first comprehensive effort to improve U.S. economic engagement and diplomatic presence, and address the Government of China’s economic, political, security, and intelligence activities in the region.”