Paraguayan President-elect Mario Abdo Benitez visited the headquarters of the US Southern Command in Miami-Dade County on Thursday, where he met with his commander, Admiral Kurt Tidd, said the Armed Forces institution today. Americans
Benitez, of the conservative Colorado Party, spoke with Tidd and other senior officials about the ties in defense that unite Paraguay with the United States, the sources said without giving details.
“There are many decades of strong security cooperation based on common interests, shared objectives and mutual respect,” they added.
Miami is the first stop of Benitez’s visit to the United States before taking office on August 15.
According to his schedule, before traveling to Washington a meeting was scheduled with the mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez; However, the appointment was canceled by the Consulate of Paraguay due to problems with the agenda, informed the mayor’s spokeswoman, Gabriela Castillo, to Efe.
Benitez, of the Colorado Party, received first-hand information about the mission accomplished by the Southern Command and its commitment to work closely with partners in the region such as Paraguay to support lasting peace and stability in the Western Hemisphere, the sources said.
Starting tomorrow, Tuesday, Mario Abdo Benítez will be in Washington, where he will meet with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, with the Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, the Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, and the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno, among other economic authorities.
As published by Abdo Benítez on social networks, the agenda of his visit to the US It has a marked economic character.
However, Washington is scheduled to meet with Republican Senator Marcos Rubio, one of the members of the upper house who is most concerned about Latin American issues.
On Thursday and Friday the president-elect will be in New York, where he will be received by local authorities and will hold meetings with representatives of Moody’s and Fitch rating agencies, as well as banks and investment funds.
Before visiting the US, Mario Abdo Benítez was in Guatemala, where he met with Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales.
