Atlantic Geostrategy
“Something is simmering. Most likely an Atlantic stew, with the Azores as its principal ingredient…”
The visit to Portugal by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio—America’s chief diplomat and one of the central architects of the Trump administration’s foreign policy—at this critical juncture in international affairs is anything but innocent. It is a visit that reaffirms the importance the United States has always attached to its security strategy in the North Atlantic, particularly to the Azores and the American military base on the island of Terceira.
Although successive American administrations have partially withdrawn from that base, and although the current president himself contemplated further reducing its presence during his first term in office, world events have compelled Washington to reconsider its Atlantic defense policy. This reassessment has become all the more pressing as American military installations on the European mainland increasingly find themselves under threat.
The meetings between Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel and Secretary Rubio took place, accompanied by the customary press conference, which revealed virtually nothing of substance to the public.
Amid the profusion of compliments recently bestowed upon Portugal by American officials, we all know that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Something is simmering. Most likely an Atlantic stew, with the Azores as its principal ingredient.
The geography of the Azores, their strategic position in the heart of the great Atlantic Ocean, will forever confer upon this archipelago an exceptional geopolitical significance. And yet, the compensation arising from these agreements remains invisible, if not altogether nonexistent, for the Azorean people. The agreements between Portugal and the United States have yielded no discernible financial or social benefits for the islands. Nor has transparency emerged from the secrecy surrounding what is negotiated behind closed doors. For Azorean men and women, the fundamental questions are precisely those that should concern Portugal itself: What financial benefits are being derived from these arrangements? And why does Portugal not share those benefits equitably with the Azores?
The partnership between these longstanding allies, whose roots reach back to the very dawn of American independence, surely warrants fair compensation for the islands under such agreements, particularly those that may expose their insular territory to the dangers of armed conflict amid potential international confrontations.
The appetite of predators has been awakened, and should some superpower invade us, Portugal will not come to our defense. It will abandon us, just as it abandoned East Timor when Jakarta invaded that Portuguese possession.
Relations with the United States have always been shaped by Azorean influence. Portugal commands the diplomatic relationship by virtue of being the sovereign state to which the islands belong. Yet the Azorean diaspora, now extending into its tenth generation, has produced countless political figures of island ancestry at every level of American government. Marco Rubio himself, although only a second-generation Cuban American, has ascended to the highest echelons of political power.
In a world increasingly consumed by belligerence, where aggression intensifies across every quarter of the political landscape, the Azores can rely only upon the protection of a power genuinely capable of defending them. And in this case, that power will most certainly not be Portugal.
José Soares is a columnist for several newspapers and magazines in the Azores and in the Azorean Diaspora in North America.