While State Secretary Marco Rubio begins his first foreign trip on Saturday in Panama, Central America countries are generally cheering for the weight of the President Trump President’s confrontation approach, Including the threats of military forces to return the Panaman channel and forcing nations to accept military planes filled with deported migrants.

The visit comes during the tense period for the region, which faces the potential economic consequences of Mr. Trump’s policies, such as mass deportations and stops in foreign assistance.

“That’s every country for itself,” said Michael E. Shifter, president of the Med and American Research Institute for Dialogue in Washington. American leaders know “how fragmented the region is and how easy it is to choose them,” he said. “And Trump works best.”

Despite several attempts to ensure meetings with Mr. Trump team In running its presidency, the region faced consistent bumbeat. Now, with Mr. Trump on the office and treating Latin America as a critical focus – as noted in his inaugural address, in which he mentioned Panama six times, while traditional enemies like Iran and Russia were never raised – the role is high.

Mr. Rubio will land in Panama on Saturday and then move to Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Talks are expected to focus on immigration, suppress Chinese influence in the region and prevent medication flow, especially fental, to the United States.

Latin American nations want to maintain the status quo in their relationships in the United States: maintaining an outdoor store, maintaining American investments – which Mr. Trump says he wants to bring home – and leave open sides of foreign assistance. One of Mr. Rubioa’s biggest demands will most likely be that these countries sign “Safe Third Land” agreements, in order to accept asylum seekers from other countries seeking refuge in the United States.

Nations such as El Salvador and the Dominican Republic consider this to strengthen their relationships with Washington, while Panama, already in the spotlight, is on the verge of preparing to defend his interests in the conversations ahead.

Here are five countries that the gentleman Rubio will visit and the biggest questions on the table.

Panama

Although President José Raúl Mulino from Panama excluded negotiations last week with Mr. Rubio on the Panaman Channel, the topic will continue to be at its peak when the leaders meet on Saturday.

Mr. Trump falsely accused Panama of letting China to stable troops On the canal and unjust treatment of US ships and goods by charging excessive fees. The Management Board of the Panaman Channel, which manages the waterways regardless of the government, refused these claims.

Although there are no Chinese troops on the navigable path, a company based in Hong Kong called CK Hutchison Holdings has been governing two seaports for decades at each end of the Panaman channel.

Mr. Trump may not be serious about using the US army so he can get a channel, analysts say, instead, placing an extreme negotiating position to conclude another contract. Perhaps watching the lower fees for US goods exceeding the channel or greater cooperation on migration.

The second main question that the gentleman and Panaman leaders will probably discuss is immigration and Darién Gap, a dangerous jungle route between Panama and Colombia, which have used hundreds of thousands of migrants in recent years to embark on the United States.

Panama will probably ask the United States to invest more in Panama if it seeks to suppress the Chinese influence in the region. Panaman politicians and business leaders complain That when the country outlines offers for large infrastructure projects, US companies often absent while the Chinese want to offer.

In exchange, Mr. Rubio could ask Panama to sign a third-third agreement, which will absorb this by non-Panaman migrants. Analysts say that Mr. Rubio could use threats to pull the channel to press Panama to accept these asylum seekers or make them throw CK Hutchison Holdings from those ports.

Guatemala

Guatemala appeared as a country that is eager to show that it is open to collaboration with Trump’s administration, especially when it comes to migration. The Guatemal Government was the first country to receive US military flights to carry deported, which used to support Mr. Trump’s claim that migrants were best resolved by force.

Instead of talking about deportations, the government launched a “return home” plan reintegrated deported Guatemalan.

“The most important thing for us is to present ourselves to the US, in the new administration, as a reliable and strategic partner in the region,” said the Guatemala Minister, Carlos Ramiro Martínez, in an interview last week.

About 675,000 unfathomable Guatemalanians have lived in the United States since 2022, according to the Pew Research Center, making it one of the largest sources of illegal migrants After Mexico, India and El Salvador.

Guatemala also shares a border with Mexico, and migrants from all over the world go through their trips to the north. Mr. Rubio could invite the nation to do more to prevent migrants from reaching Mexico, analysts say.

Asked if Guatemala would host asylum seekers deported from the United States as part of a “safe third country” agreement, Mr. Ramiro said nothing was on the table before the visit. “I don’t exclude anything because negotiations are still ongoing,” he said at a press conference last week.

He will also counteract the table with illegal drug trade and organized crime, said Mr. Ramiro.

Bernardo Arévalo, President of Guatemale, is facing intense internal opposition and will most likely try to find an ally in Mr. Rubiou, to do his position at home and protect the economy. The United States is the primary trading partner of Guatemala, which accounts for more than 30 percent of the export in the country, including coffee and bananas.

El Salvador

Of all the countries in the region that Mr. Rubio plans to visit, El Salvador stands out because he has already established a somewhat warm relationship with Trump’s administration.

“Within the internal circle of Loyalist Maga, Bukele has a great appeal,” said Manuel Meléndez Sánchez, a Salvadorane Political Science from Harvard University, President El Salvadora, Nayib Bukele.

Recently the Salvadorane Government Break up for sinister gangs who terrorized the country was delighted by the traditional Republicans law and order. Mr. Bukele’s antiglobalist and what he calls “Anti-Budan“Politics fascinated American conservatives. And his hugs of technology, including Bitcoin as an official currencyHe won technological billionaires, like Elon Musk.

In a phone call between Leaders last weekMr. Trump praised Mr. Bukele’s leadership before talking about two main questions, Mr. Rubio will probably appear during his visit: illegal immigration and gang control.

The priority of Trump’s administration is to attract the country to take over deported that are not Salvadorane from the United States.

Earth signed a similar job In 2019 after Trump’s administration officials interrupted some help of El Salvador, accusing the country of not doing enough of suppressing illegal migration. But the agreement never came into force and was terminated by the Biden management.

In a brief call on Friday, Mauricio Claver-Carone, a special envoy of Mr. Trump for Latin America, told reporters that the United States had been dedicated to the efforts “to revive that agreement.”

Mr. Bukela’s spokeswoman refused to comment.

During the visit of Mr. Rubioa, Mr. Claver-Carone added, he will also try to persuade El Salvador to accept deported members of the infamous gang of de Aragua, Venecuelan Criminal Group This expanded its reach to the United States.

“If Caracas does not accept them, the bouquel will receive them,” María Elvira Salazar, a Republican Congress woman, said Last week. “And Bukele’s prisons are very big.”

Costa Rica

Mr. Rubio’s visit -and most likely to focus on US investments, migration policy and a continuous fight against international drug trafficking, according to the authorities of the Costa Ricarne authorities.

President Rodrigo Chaves provides for more transaction relationship with Mr. Trump.

“These are international trade issues, capital flows and investments,” he told reporters last week.

Criticism of Mr. Trump From the Law on Chips and Sciences of Biden – and his overall attitude against US companies that invest abroad – they are nervously admitted to Costa Rica, the center of the production of the semiconductor. The Era Biden program was to reduce the reliance of the United States on China to produce microchipa by encouraging neighboring countries to enter the industry.

In addition to attempting to maintain US investment, Costa Rica will be shown as a key ally in the war against drugs during negotiating with Mr. Rubio. Costa Rica has become a major cocaine praet Intended for the United States, contributing to the record rate of murder in the country since 2022.

Arnoldo André, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica, described a joint fight against organized crime and drug trafficking as “Questions that we are sure we will be able to reconcile with the new US authorities.”

If Mr. Trump wants Costa Rica to continue suppressing drug trafficking, economic investments must be maintained, say current and former government officials. Or poverty can make the earth mature for cartels running amok in the region.

Dominican Republic

During the hearing on the confirmation of the Senate, Mr. Rubio mentioned the Dominican Republic as one of the Latin America countries that “did it in the right way.”

Under this Mr. Rubio can mean Trump’s way. The Caribbean land builds a wall along its border with Haiti, and the government has pledged to deport 10,000 haicans per week – which has moved the human rights groups criticized as full of abuse.

The Dominican Republic, a country of 11 million, shares an island with Haiti, a nation that has dropped into chaos From the assassination in July 2021 of his last elected President, Jovenel Miïse. Gangs earning illegal checkpoints, extortion and abductions have used a political vacuum to expand their territory to control about 90 percent of Haitian capital.

Some million Haićans left their homes, according to Migration International OrganizationMany crossing the porous border to the Dominican Republic.

Driving a wave of nationalism, President Luis Abinader was re -elected last May at a landslide, reinforced by Anti-Hait feelings This is wild among the population, as he advocated for a more severe immigration policy.

The Dominican Republic also appeared as a key safety partner for Washington, breaking the routes for drug smuggling and smuggling weapons that encourage violence throughout the region. Trump’s administration wants more cooperation there.

Reporting contributed Mary Triton Zea from the town of Panama; Jody Garcia from the city of Guatemala; Gabriel Labrador from San Salvadora; and Hogla Enecia Pérez from Santo Domingi, Dominican Republic.