Yes, I said re-gifting, not grifting. (Grifting is the senator’s Standard Operating Procedure.) Rubio has latched on to a ‘gift’ from Sen. Richard Durbin’s CODEL to Guatemala with the following press release:
RUBIO, CARDIN LEAD COLLEAGUES IN ISSUING BIPARTISAN STATEMENT ON GUATEMALA
The title alone should clue you in: Rubio is shutting out leading Democrats from any credit. Read on:
On August 20, 2023, Guatemalans democratically elected Bernardo Arévalo as their President and Karin Herrera as their Vice President. They will assume office in January 2024.
U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) issued a bipartisan statement calling for the respect of the rule of law and a peaceful transition of power to be upheld in Guatemala.
- “Friday’s announcement by Guatemalan prosecutors to strip President-elect Arevalo of his legal immunity and cast doubt on his January 14, 2024 inauguration is a threat to Guatemala’s democracy. Together, with democratic actors and international organizations from around the world, we stand in solidarity with the people of Guatemala in the defense of the rule of law and democracy.
- “We urge Attorney General Porras to ensure that the Public Prosecutors Office upholds the Rule of Law, and reject efforts that undermine the peaceful transfer of power. We call on President Giammattei to insist that Guatemalan institutions join with the private sector and civil society to advocate and respect a peaceful transition of power, as expected of every democracy. A commitment to uphold Guatemala’s place among the community of democratic nations will be crucial for the future of U.S.-Guatemala relations.
Bill Cassidy? He says the same thing. (I’m not posting the links but you can check both senators’ .gov accounts.)
Now, it is quite a gift for Rubio to actually support the incoming administration of an anti-corruption ‘crusader’ (the New York Times’ description) as Rubio led the charge to dismantle the UN-sponsored anti-corruption commission (Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala, CICIG - International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala) that was tackling corruption in... Guatemala!
So did Rubio and Cassidy actually go the Guatemala and try to meet with current President Alejandro Giammattei or some of the opposition including former prosecutor Virginia Laparra and jailed journalist Jose Ruben Zamora as did the rest of the CODEL? Oh, no — hell, no!
Sen. Durbin’s press release tells us who really was interested in the situation in Guatemala:
In addition to Durbin and [Sen. Tim] Kaine, U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Laphonza Butler (D-CA) and U.S. Representatives Norma J. Torres (D-CA-35) and Delia C. Ramirez (D-IL-03) were also in attendance.
(In case you did not know, Rep. Ramirez is the daughter of immigrants from Guatemala.)
Durbin’s statement continues:
“Unlike other elections in Central and South America, this election where Mr. Arévalo prevailed, was monitored by international sources, votes were audited, and [the election] was found to be still in his favor overwhelmingly,” Durbin said. “In fact, shortly after President Giammattei didn’t show up for a meeting with us one morning, his government crudely tried to annul the recent election results. This clumsy coup attempt—which was globally rejected—must not succeed. The Guatemalan voters’ choice must be respected.”
* * *
Video of Durbin’s floor speech is available here.
There is more to unpack with Durbin’s statement, including the dig at Honduran president Xiomara Castro questioning “her commitment to democratic norms” but I will leave that for another time. Not a word from the senator about Nayib Bukele unfortunately.
For your information, Florida is the second largest Guatemalan population of all the states, with the Miami metropolitan area having the fourth largest Guatemalan population in the US. Do you think Rubio allows them to register to vote? Speaking of Nayib Bukele, guess how Rubio feels about Bukele’s deprivation of constitutional rights in El Salvador. (Hint: Rubio loves it! Source: Rubio press release on April 17, 2023.)
Despite my best efforts (including help from the UN and Mexican media and government officials), my efforts to attend the inauguration are failing. If that changes, I’ll will be writing about it and reporting for Mexican television.
“Don’t Cry for Milei, Argentina” (Oh, I could not resist.)
If you dare venture onto Rubio’s cesspool of press releases, you will also find one about Argentina. Yesterday, Rubio ‘wrote’ a piece for Medium advocating closer US alignment with the new Argentine government. After all, Rubio ‘writes’:
Milei, by comparison, is a breath of fresh air.
And, unless those ‘socialists’ Milei replaced, this total conservative should get an international socialist bailout:
Specifically, President Biden should use the United States’ influence at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help President Milei restructure Argentina’s debt.
Rubio also lashes out at Mexico’s Obrador, Colombia’s Petro, Honduras’s Castro, and Brazil’s Lula for their independence in the international community and failure to lick the boots of Rubio’s corporate backers. You know, the usual Rubio silliness wrapped up in faux-diplomacy.
Thank you for reading,
Alejandro Morales