Sen. Mike Lee (right) discusses the challenges of drug interdiction and illegal immigration with Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mark Fedor (left) aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter ‘Tampa’ in the port of Cartagema, Columbia.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) returned here April 7 after a globe-trotting trip to Central and South America to support U.S. bilateral ties and counter growing Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere.
Lee traveled south as a member of a bipartisan congressional delegation led by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
The Republicans and a single Democrat visited Panama, long considered a principal U.S. partner in the Central American region, and other non-NATO South American allies Columbia, Argentina and Brazil.
“I was privileged to travel there and observe the challenges of illegal immigration, drug trafficking and the constant expansion of the influence of the People’s Republic of China in Latin America,” Lee said after returning from the congressional jaunt.
“These threats are serious and require the collective efforts of our allies in the Western Hemisphere to stabilize.”
The major bone of contention between the U.S. and Panama is the continued neutrality of the Panama Canal, given recent Chinese investments in that facility.
After being constructed and managed by the United States for much of the 20th Century, control of the 51-mile waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans was returned to Panama in 1999, thanks to a treaty negotiated by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.
Nearly 60 percent of the goods now transiting the canal originate in or end up in American markets, making the assured neutrality of the canal’s management essential to U.S. national security and its economy.
While state-owned Chinese companies do not actually operate the canal, they now control port facilities on both ends of the waterway. Moreover, recent Chinese investments in power plants, bridging projects and other economic concerns in Panama are seen as potential threats by U.S. diplomats.
In Panama, Lee and the members of the joint congressional delegation met with Ambassador to Panama Mari Carmen Aponte and with Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo and members of his administration.
They also discussed the growing Chinese influence with members of the U.S. Southern Command stationed around the Canal Zone.
To learn more about bilateral narcotics interdiction efforts, the delegation then traveled to Columbia.
In Bogota, they joined members of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Columbian law enforcement to tour a recently-seized drug lab and discuss policies to curtail drug trade in the region.
In the port of Cartagena, the delegation met with crew members of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa and received briefings about migration in that area from Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mark Fedor, the director of the Joint Interagency Task Force South.
After landing in Buenos Aires, they discussed bilateral trade relations and the potential for increased energy investment and economic growth with Argentinian officials.
While in Argentina, the delegation also met with members of the Tripartite Command, an interagency task force created by Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina to combat drug trafficking along their joint borders.
Finally, Lee and the other members of the delegation traveled to Brazil to meet with senior Brazilian military leadership to discuss joint security cooperation in the Atlantic Ocean to address illegal fishing by Chinese vessels.
Following the Central and South American fact-finding tour, Lee called the ever-increasing presence and impact of China in that region “…especially concerning.”
“It’s clear that these issues cannot be taken lightly,” he added.
In addition to Lee and Cornyn, other members of the bipartisan delegation included Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Ted Budd (R-NC).