Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R) is calling on the Biden administration to improve its relations with Paraguay.
This week, the House Foreign Affairs and Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chair Salazar sent a letter to the Biden administration, calling on them to include Paraguay in the group of countries that comprise the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP).
In the letter, Salazar writes, “if APEP is a group of democracies that are friends to the United States, then Paraguay absolutely belongs on that list.” “President Biden, please do the right things and include Paraguay where it belongs – in APEP with America’s friends,” she urged.
President Biden proposed an economic growth framework called APEP, which would be between the Biden administration and the U.S.’s partners across Latin America.
Salazar concludes that if Paraguay is not included in APEP, it is an act of turning our back on Paraguay.
“At a time when so many countries in Latin America are enhancing their ties with China, Paraguay insists on keeping its strong relationship with the United States and continuing to recognize Taiwan as the sole legitimate government of China as it has for the last 66 years,” Salazar writes in the letter, noting that “just last week, Paraguay was one of only 14 countries to stand up for Israel at the United Nations and voted no on the resolution that had no condemnation of Hamas terrorism.”
In a press release from Salazar’s office, her office expresses that “all of South America now only recognizes the People’s Republic of China, except for Paraguay which continues to support Taiwan.”
The Chinese Communist Party has made an effort in the last several decades to establish military and economic dominance over the Americas. This includes “predatory lending and infrastructure projects” as well as “working with our adversaries in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua to build military and spy installations right in our backyard.”
