The United States Southern Command Chief General Laura Richardson has urged the country's leaders to create a "Marshall Plan" for Latin America to reduce Chinese and Russian influence in the region.
At the Aspen Security Forum last week, Richardson pointed out that not all countries have recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, making them vulnerable to help from Moscow and Beijing, who were "taking advantage" of the situation, Merco Press reported. The Aspen Security Forum is the leading conference on national security and foreign policy in the U.S.
The military expert in strategic matters explained that the U.S. can't match China's invitation to join the Belt and Road initiative, hence, "We need a 'Marshall Plan' for the region or an economic recovery act like the one in 1948, but in 2024, 2025."
Richardson was referring to the aid program created in post-World War II Europe by the then-Secretary of State in 1948. The Marshall Plan had benefited the U.S. by creating jobs domestically and increasing the export of U.S. goods to Europe. During the Cold War, it helped reduce the appeal of socialism in Europe and strengthened the divide between Western countries and the Soviet Union.
Richardson noted that the Latin American leaders "don't see what the US team is bringing" to their countries, and added that "even though foreign direct investment is really high, they don't see it."
"All they see are the Chinese cranes and all the development and the Belt and Road Initiative projects," she said. "If it's to do good in the hemisphere, then I'm all for it. But it makes me a little suspicious when there's a lot of investment in critical infrastructure - a lot in critical infrastructure in countries in this region - deepwater ports, 5G, cybersecurity, energy, space."
"I'm concerned about the dual-use nature of that. These are state-owned enterprises of a communist government, and I'm concerned that they will quickly turn into military applications."
The Marshall Plan provided $13.3 billion to 16 European countries, connecting their economies closely to the U.S.
Earlier this year, Latin American country Argentina officially requested to join NATO as a global partner, which, if approved, would lead to more cooperation in politics and security.
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