Undoubtedly, 2024 will be a convulsive year for the Western Hemisphere.
Libertarian and conservative governments will be trying to repair the immeasurable damage left behind by socialist regimes, while defending themselves from the weaponized and false narratives from the globalist press, organizations, and governments concurrently.
On the other hand, left governments. in Latin America and elsewhere, are getting free passes from the global community for their seemingly blatant, highly questionable transnational practices, inclusive of more than questionable activities with currencies, inclusive of suspicions of being involved with drug trafficking.
A phenomenon extant now for nearly a decade, if not longer.
These free passes continue as long as the governments in question toe the line and keep sending illegal migrants, mainly towards the U.S.
And all this, while the Western Hemisphere appears to be being weaponized to influence the U.S. November elections in the United States.
It can't be ignored anymore that the crisis at the southern border is possibly one of the biggest blunders in national security, foreign policy, and human rights ever committed by a U.S. administration.
Millions of illegal immigrants have flooded th U.S., mostly uninterrupted (except for the great state of Texas) during 2023 (over 2.5 million), almost surpasses now the population of Chicago.
Leaving aside the opportunities for gerrymandering that this planned invasion and resettlement will present in the future, most U.S. media outlets and U.S. public are ignoring the real human tragedies of what these weaponized migrant caravans are causing in the region.
Seemingly, the current U.S. administration has ignored (read: via border neglect), (additionally-if not criminally) other multibillion dollar trafficking industries now allowed to freely operate in the entire Western Hemisphere.
This scenario has been extant for three years: drug trafficking and human trafficking.
While some media outlets, politicians, policy makers and opinion leaders are finally raising the alarm about the current invasion happening in the United States via the southern border, most if not all the news media ignore, or have been hoodwinked to ignore (and that's doubtful), the unprecedented increase in cocaine trafficking and human smuggling that this planned and weaponized migration not only hides, but benefits.
For decades, the United States government pressured and assisted Latin American governments to spearhead the global "War on Drugs."
During all time, U.S. political pressure, and somewhat assisted (tutelage) counternarcotics and law enforcement efforts had been successful as well as sustained throughout the region.
However, the current U.S. administration appears to have completely abandoned the war against the biggest financier of political corruption in Latin America, drug trafficking, and has taken steps that some are already considering to be "aiding and abetting" the cartels that swarm the region.
One example repeatedly coming to mind is the situation in Colombia.
President Gustavo Petro, has been accused by his own son of receiving millions of dollars from Colombian drug cartels to finance his election and pay for questionable votes.
The counternarcotics apparatus (mostly financed by the U.S.) has been dismantled by the Colombian Minister of Defense Ivan Velasquez, however, the current U.S. administration appears to not only be turning a blind eye towards this, but also assisting them by cancelling U.S. funded-and-operated counternarcotics intelligence programs in Colombia, and counternarcotics law enforcement cooperation programs in other countries.
This "quasi-criminal" attitude towards drug trafficking, the biggest corruptor of Latin America, has resulted in an stark increases in drug production and trade, not only in the Western Hemisphere, but globally.
The Latinists
Is this "empowerment by proxy" of cartels, and of leftist movements by the current U.S. administration just poor judgment (doubtful)?
Or, is it part of some big geopolitical strategy aimed at forcefully "balkanizing" the Western Hemisphere through sanctioned corruption, socialism-causing-impoverishment, and provoked social unrest; then redesigning the region to provoke more illegal mass migration of future potential voters to the U.S.?
Undoubtedly, someone needs to be answering many questions regarding current U.S. policies towards Latin America.
The American public is purposely being kept in the dark about the tragedy that this planned migrant invasion is, and the additional tragedies it will engender in America.
It can't be said that U.S. policymakers are in the dark, but it can be said that they are oblivious.
With the hundreds of thousands of deaths that the migrant invasion is leaving along the Darien straight, Central America, and Mexico, 30% more drugs flooding the global market, rampant human trafficking, the cabal of U.S. bureaucrats, playing deadly ant-farm with the Western Hemisphere need to be held accountable, both at national and global levels.
Ironically, while these "toy interventionistas" in the current U.S. administration cater to their Latin-American socialist, and former soviet funded guerrilla buddies, these play footsie under the table with the U.S. biggest adversaries, China, Iran, and Russia.
Now, more than ever, it's necessary, and urgently critical that our esteemed members of Congress demand from the bureaucrats supposedly in charge of dealing with the Western Hemisphere: its drug and human trafficking — just what are the real, specific intentions of their seemingly nefarious and failed current policies towards Latin America.
That congressional demand must occur now.
We can no longer afford to hesitate.
Mario Duarte is co-founder and CEO of DH Global Strategy, a global consulting and lobbying firm. He is the youngest and longest serving Secretary of Strategic Intelligence to hold office in Guatemala. His professional credentials include more than 18 years of experience in the fields of intelligence, national security, consulting, and strategy development in several countries. Follow Mario Duarte on Twitter: @MarioDuarteGar and Instagram: @marioduartegar. Read Mario Duarte's Reports — More Here.