U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio toured Salvadoran aircraft maintenance company Aeroman this week in a bid to increase cooperation between Central American countries and the U.S. amid growing Chinese influence in the region.
Before Monday’s visit, Rubio authored a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Thursday stating that countries in Central America can benefit from “greater cooperation with the U.S.”
“El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic—the countries I will visit on this trip—all stand to benefit tremendously from greater cooperation with the U.S,” he wrote. “These nations were neglected by past administrations that prioritized the global over the local and pursued policies that accelerated China’s economic development, often at our neighbors’ expense.”
U.S. airlines have relied on foreign repair shops like Aeroman as cheaper options to maintain their aircraft for over a decade now, according to reporting by the Los Angeles Times.
During Rubio’s tour of Aeroman’s maintenance facility – located next to the El Salvador International Airport – he said companies like Aeroman demonstrate how private investment can transform economies, generate well-paying jobs and offer stability to Salvadoran families, according to reporting by El Salvador in English.
Rubio Talks USAID
While at Aeroman, Rubio answered several questions from reporters regarding the Trump administration’s efforts to close the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“… [M]y frustration with USAID goes back to my time in Congress,” Rubio said. “It’s a completely unresponsive agency. It’s supposed to respond to policy directives at the State Department and it refuses to do so. So the functions of USAID – there are a lot of functions of USAID that are going to continue, that are going to be part of American foreign policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy.”
According to the U.S. Department of State, the department and USAID provided $706.3 million in assistance to El Salvador from fiscal years 2020-2023.
