President Donald Trump on Tuesday dropped out of a planned trip to South America, but in his absence, Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) will be taking a larger role at the 8th Summit of the Americas in Peru.
The White House announced early Tuesday morning that Trump would no longer be going to Latin America this week so he could remain in the U.S. to oversee the "American response to Syria and to monitor developments around the world."
"President Trump will not attend the 8th Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru or travel to Bogota, Colombia as originally scheduled," White House Press Secretary Sanders said. "At the President’s request, the Vice President will travel in his stead. The President will remain in the United States to oversee the American response to Syria and to monitor developments around the world."
Rubio will also be traveling to the summit, according to the Miami Herald. While Rubio had already intended to make the trip to Peru before the White House announcement, his role will be elevated to help Pence, who does not have as much experience dealing with the area.
Rubio has dedicated his Senate career to the subject, so he can tell world leaders of the continued U.S. interest and commitment to Latin America. But as a single member of the U.S. Senate, Rubio’s influence has its limits.
Rubio is expected to discuss with Pence the importance of U.S. leadership and commitment to working with regional and international partners to provide more humanitarian aid through nongovernmental organizations to the suffering Venezuelan people.
On Cuba, he’ll urge the administration to increase efforts to support the country’s movement on democracy and human rights, and stress the importance of meeting and engaging with Cuba’s pro-democracy civil society.
Rubio downplayed his role at the summit compared to Pence's, and he said policies related to Venezuela will take precedence at the event.
"It’s to obviously focus on the Venezuela situation, but also on some of the issues that other nations in the region are ready to work together and confront," Rubio said.
Rubio also estimates that economic engagement will be an important issue at the summit.
"The more economic engagement we have with these countries going both ways is mutually beneficial, the easier it will be to get policy makers in the United States to care about the Western Hemisphere because they’ll have economic constituencies in the United States who care about the future of the region," Rubio said.
Since Trump took office last year, he has been listening to Rubio, who has been described as the "Trump whisperer" on Latin America issues.
Ambassador Roger Noriega said Rubio will be careful not to overstep Pence, but he said his role could be more significant. And Trump’s departure could actually be an opportunity for Pence and Rubio to work without all the added dynamics and distractions that come when a U.S. president or secretary of state attends a summit.
"A lot of the dynamic of the summit is the corridor conversations," Noriega said. "The pull-asides that can be arranged among the leaders and one-on-one conversations that can get to the nub of these issues in a very candid exchange. This is another set of hands to take on those responsibilities on behalf of the U.S. point of view. "