President Donald Trump announced this Tuesday the nomination of the United States Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Carlos Trujillo, 37, as head of Latin America in the State Department. If the Republican-majority Senate approves the appointment, Trujillo will be the fourth person to hold the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs during the Trump Administration. Among his responsibilities he must also advise the Secretary of State and the Under Secretary for Political Affairs.
Trujillo, the son of Cuban immigrants and born in New York, is also nominated to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Foundation, an autonomous body of the US Government that seeks to assist and promote the development of Latin America and the Caribbean. The politician would replace Michael Kozak, who has been in the post on an interim basis for six months, in the State Department. Trump put it there when former manager Kimberly Breier resigned from the post after 10 months. She, in turn, relieved the diplomat Francisco Palmieri, who was in charge of Latin American issues from the start of the Trump Administration in January 2017 to March 2018.
The current US ambassador to the OAS was a representative of Florida’s 115th district – which encompasses eastern Collier County, southern Broward County and northwest Miami-Dade County – in the state House of Representatives for four periods (2010-2018).
The republican politician, who speaks fluent English and Spanish, was one of the first to support Juan Guaidó, interim president of Venezuela recognized by almost 60 countries, and has described as “ridiculous” the idea that Evo Morales was the victim of a coup of State last November. As a member of the OAS, has passed resolutions against Nicolás Maduro and the Government of Cuba. Florida Senator Marco Rubio celebrated the appointment in a statement: “Few people understand the complexities and threats that our region currently faces as Ambassador Trujillo.” Rubio also serves as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Western Hemisphere.
The Economic and Commercial Council of the United States and Cuba, an organism created in 2015 to promote “a strong and strategic commercial relationship” between the two countries, assured through its website that the changes in the State Department will encourage “further expansion of restrictive policies towards the Republic of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, among other countries. “
The Trump Administration’s policy has been to backtrack on the “thaw” with Havana begun in the Barack Obama era, with measures such as limiting travel to the island, prohibiting trade flow with the military conglomerate, and allowing Americans sue a blacklist of companies for assets that were expropriated from them on the island during the revolution. In addition, it has imposed a package of sanctions to suffocate the Nicolás Maduro government, including the freezing of all the assets that the regime has in the United States, as well as sanctions on more than 100 Venezuelan individuals and entities, including the state oil company. PDVSA, the Development Bank of Venezuela and the Central Bank of the country.
According to the White House, Trump has also proposed three other names to occupy key positions within the Administration. Among the nominees is Joyce Louise Connery, member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The president’s intention is that he be reelected in office for a period that lasts until October 2025.
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