Marco Rubio, the first U.S. Secretary of State of Hispanic heritage, will go down, according to President Donald Trump, as “the best in history.” Undoubtedly, his popularity in conducting foreign policy has been remarkable.

A year has passed since the son of Cuban exiles made his mission and vision clear at the end of January 2025. “In the realm of diplomacy, this means paying more attention to our own neighborhood: the Western Hemisphere,” he wrote in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal about the meaning of America First, the movement that fuels the current White House.

Intentionally, Rubio's first trip abroad as secretary of State was to Central America. This coincides with the recently announced Donroe Doctrine, which places the Western Hemisphere at the center of American diplomatic efforts.

“This is unusual among Secretaries of State of the last century,” Rubio emphasized at the time. “For many reasons, some justifiable, U.S. foreign policy has long focused on other regions and overlooked our own. As a result, we have allowed problems to fester, missed opportunities, and neglected our partners. That ends now.”

Beginning with securing the country's borders and reversing the open-door policy of the previous administration, Rubio stressed that they must work with the countries of origin to stop and deter new migratory flows, and to ensure they accept the return of their citizens illegally present in the United States.

In this view of the world, Rubio promised when he began his duties (and he has delivered), to reward countries that cooperate with Washington. “We can strengthen trade ties, create partnerships to control migration, and improve the security of our hemisphere.” And the caravans ended.

In addition to the cartels (categorized as foreign terrorist organizations), the focus of this first year in foreign policy has been on illegitimate regimes such as those of Cuba and Venezuela. The pressure in this regard is visible.

Just this week we’ve seen an even greater estrangement between Havana and Caracas. Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez (with the Damocles sword of a new removal à la Maduro hanging over her head) announced via her X account the removal of Cuban national Leticia Cecilia Gómez Hernández from her position as minister of Tourism. Yes! You heard that right: a foreigner was in control of one of Venezuela's main industries.

While the situation is still unfolding, we also have the pressure measures against the Cuban socialist tyranny, a hub of guerrillas, terrorism, and operations by enemies of the United States. As a deterrent, tariffs seem promising against countries that sell oil to Cuba.

Another issue the State Department worked on throughout 2025 was repelling the diplomatic and economic influence of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal. Well, now a court has annulled the contract of the Chinese company CK Hutchison (0001.HK) to operate two ports in that strategic interoceanic passage.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said of the decision that “Panama is a State of Law and respects the decisions of the Judicial Branch, which is independent of the Central Government.” Is the Trump administration's continental security strategy aligned with that of a particular country? Yes.

In Rubio's words, a year ago, this is a “foreign policy approach based on concrete common interests, not on vague platitudes or utopian ideologies,” because “fortunately, the Western Hemisphere harbors more congruent interests than conflicting ones.”

Trump's idea, executed by Rubio, on how to deal with states that pose a danger to national security is far from the unpopular wars that last for years, such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are more like surgical strikes, accompanied by strong economic pressure against the enemies of the United States.

During Rubio's first year in office, we saw in this regard the bombing of Fordo, the main site where Iran was developing its nuclear program. In January 2026, we witnessed this in the operation that captured dictator Nicolás Maduro, who was wanted by the U.S. And, in addition, we can add to the list the bombing of Islamist militias in Nigeria and the protection of Christians.

Were there any mistakes in these first 12 months? From my perspective, there have been some: the release of the former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was prosecuted for alleged drug trafficking offenses, and the support for the new Syrian regime, which pretends to be moderate but ruthlessly attacks Kurds and Christians.

Generally speaking, however, the promise Rubio made a year ago to focus on the neighborhood has been fulfilled. The hemisphere looks less chaotic and has more allies than enemies.

The idea of ??America for the Americans is undoubtedly much better than that of an America for China, Russia, or Iran. Because a power vacuum is a fallacy that only fools mistake for a kumbaya of nations. Politics is the art of the possible, and a United States as a global hegemon is, to this day, the best of all possibilities.