Biden sends senior advisor for Latin America to Buenos Aires

WASHINGTON.- The President of the United States, Joe biden, sends its main responsible for Latin America to Buenos Aires. Juan Gonzalez, director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the White House National Security Council, is Biden’s collaborator who pulls the strings with the region, and the primary interlocutor with the government of Alberto Fernandez in Washington and his trip is a sign of rapprochement in the relationship with the United States.

González, 45, Colombian born in Cartagena, grew up in the United States, where he moved with his parents as a child, and has worked with Biden since presiding over Barack obama, when Biden, then vice president, enlisted in the region and recruited him to the State Department. Since Biden’s assumption of the presidency, his work has mainly focused on Central America and the new wave of migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico which has led to arrests in the border at levels not seen in decades. But González has in his wallet other topical issues, such as the crisis in Venezuela, and must continue Washington’s ties to a fractured Latin America with no natural allies for the White House.

The White House has informed that González will be traveling with the region’s senior diplomat from the State Department, Julie chung, on a tour that will also include Colombia and Uruguay. This is the first official trip by officials of Biden’s government to South America. González has already visited Mexico at the end of March with other advisers to the president.

“In Bogotá, they will discuss economic recovery, security and rural development, the Venezuelan migration crisis and Colombia’s regional climate leadership. In Argentina and Uruguay, they will discuss regional priorities, including addressing the challenges of the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic and threats to democracy, human rights and security in our hemisphere and around the world, ”said the spokesperson for the National Security Council Emily Horne in a statement.

González, who occupies the same post as Mauricio Claver-Carone during the Donald Trump administration, will be received by the president, Alberto Fernández, official sources have confirmed. González’s trip sends a new signal of rapprochement with Buenos Aires after the visit of Craig Faller, the head of the Southern Command, who was in the country this week, where he delivered three mobile hospitals to strengthen the local health system in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Faller also met with Defense Minister Agustín Rossi to bolster the security agenda, and said Argentina was “a long-standing and reliable security partner”. Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Felipe Solá had a good first contact with State Secretary Antony Blinken. And the president, Alberto Fernández, plans to attend the first global climate summit under Joe Biden’s presidency later this month, which will be virtual.

Amid doubts in the United States over Argentina’s direction, the government worried about laying the strings with the Biden administration, whose support will be instrumental in successfully negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF ) to refinance the debt. about 45,000 million US dollars that the government of Mauricio Macri took. The Argentine Ambassador to Washington, Jorge Argüello, highlighted the last signs of rapprochement, indicating that they are “signs of political will” between the two governments.

“There is good will. I have found an excellent interlocutor in González, we are carrying out the agenda with a lot of collaboration and a lot of dialogue. Both parties have a clear vocation for dialogue and rapprochement, ”said Argüello.

As the principal official of the National Security Council for Latin America, González holds the key to the relationship with the White House, and contact with President Fernández will be vital in deepening the nascent bond between the two governments and shaping the vision. in Washington on the Argentine Government. Although the official agenda is not yet complete, González is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Solá.