Latin American leaders spent millions of dollars to hire top lobbyists in Washington to push a list of requests for free trade deals, security aid and energy investments that the Trump administration has heard.

Since Donald Trump was elected president in November 2024, the Justice Department records show that at least 10 top officials and envoys from Latin America and the Caribbean are serving as foreign principals under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). FARA’s goal is to promote transparency by requiring foreign agents to disclose their activities and compensation.

“Under Trump’s leadership, we’ve seen a more direct approach to dealing to impact the administration,” said Jake Johnston, director of international policy at the Washington Center for Economic and Policy Research (CERP). "The very personal relationships established in Latin America with the far right have gone directly to the White House. I wouldn't say that this influence is unprecedented, but the scale is."

Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, can be said that his three-year, $1.5 million lobbying hype was the biggest return. Since February, Bucker has held an Oval Office meeting with Trump, a nuclear energy deal, the U.S. assurance to help expand its country’s infamous large prisons and receive an upgraded travel safety rating from the State Department.

A lucrative contract with Mercury Public Affairs could help Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa secure his highly sought-after photo with Trump in Mar-A-Lago, winning approvals to increase arms freight to cope with the security of development and obtain a positive intellectual assessment among candidates in the United States before winning the president's presidential shooting shot, which is in the event of winning the president's run and escape.

Argentina's Javier Milei has taken a somewhat different route to becoming Trump's “favorite president”, spending tens of thousands to dine with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and appearing alongside Elon Musk at February's conservative CPAC conference in Washington, easing the path towards a $20bn, US-backed IMF deal and a visit to Buenos Aires from the treasure secretary, Scott Bessent, with expectations of an Oval Office access and trade agreement are coming soon.

From Panama to Guyana, Honduras to Haiti, the Dominican Republic to Colombia (and Venezuela’s opposition), leaders throughout the hemisphere are playing Trump’s unique trading game to cover up controversial policies, to possess controversial policies, to position themselves, and to enjoy the company of the highest legislators and officials as Curry, and in the next four four years they often move towards the country they often move to in four countries.

Key to those efforts is the Argentine U.S. Damian Merlo of the Miami-based Latin America Advisory Group, who renewed his $75,000 monthly contract with Bukele last June and lobbied with Milei, Argentina in June last year.

After winning the December 2023 election in Argentina, Milei dropped off experienced Republican insider Merlo to soothe everything with the Biden Apchistration. Since then, Millie’s engagement with the Trump World has only become stronger, promoted by US and Argentina operators at tactical consultancy Tactic Global, which helped organize the CPAC Argentina conference last December, and recently hosted Los Amberes Ambers and Los Absporsion officials at Paraguay’s president Santiago Peña and Ecuador’s Ambassador.

Merlo, a fixture in Trump’s circle, stood in the Oval Office with members of the “Venezuelan Shadow Cabinet” of the President of El Salvador, a lobbying company run by five-year vice president Otto Reich, a long-time Republican official focused on Latin America.

Cuban American Reich introduced another Cuban-American lobbyist, Mauricio Claver-Carone, to Trump's then national security adviser, to Mauricio Claver-Carone, who brought the latter to the 2018 National Security Council Latin American policy official.

Claver-Carone, through the Um-Cuba Democtal Charity Action Commission, has helped legislators on both sides of the aisle to pool millions of dollars to lawmakers to stop the growing calls for interaction with Cuba, now a Trump special with Latin America, working with his longtime allies, state secretary, Marco Rubio.

In January, Rubio was another Trump-related Latin American lobbyist, retired Cuban-American ambassador Carlos Trujillo was widely rumored to have been eliminated in the new administration as a senior position.

Trujillo, who served as Trump's ambassador to the United States National Organization (OAS) in Washington, was later nominated but not identified as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, and most recently served as the Caribbean nation of Haiti, Guyana and the Dominican Republic, as a client of his Continental Strategy LLC, with Ribio tobio ob Ribio to contips of Rubio to contips of Ribio to rip of Ribio to rip to rip to rip to rip to rip to rip to rip to rip to rip to rip to rip to rip to rip to rip to ribio.

Trujillo's company made $3.6 million in the first quarter of 2025, added 50 new clients since Trump's victory, and also hired Katie, daughter of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Alberto Martinez, the Senate Director of Rubio.

Continental reportedly is key to facilitating a $23 billion deal for a BlackRock-led consortium that includes its client Mediterranean transport company, controlling control from Panama and global strategic ports, which Trump calls a step towards the Panama Canal, a top priority for his administration.

Like Colombia and Honduras, the Panama government retains a more ideological group of lobbyists to preserve historical bipartisan foreign policy objectives, including limiting the U.S. military presence in the Panama Canal region, maintaining trade preferences for Colombia exports, and enjoying trade preferences in the Colombian trade type, and enhancing U.S. Hondor's cooperation in immigration and immigration.

To those ends, Panama hired the Democratic strategic Manuel Ortiz, together with the longtime Trump ally David Urban, in January as part of $2.5m deal with BGR Group, while a month before Trump's election Colombia extended a $60,000-a-month agreement with Squire, Patton and Boggs, tapping a former Obama administration trade official (who has since departed) and the dependy chief of staff to former Republican House speaker John Bona.

Honduras signed a monthly contract of $90,000 a month with former U.S. ambassador to the U.S. Hugo Llorens and a State Department veteran who worked in Bush, Obama and Trump administration as part of a deal with lobbying giant Arnold and Porter.

Latin America is by no means the world leader. Under the new U.S. government (Democrats or Republicans), its leaders spend the most, it is not uncommon for foreign governments to seek freshly nominated political appointments and opportunities to be elected members of parliament.

However, for a regional analyst, it will be prioritized in the current administration situation - but historically it has been spent to ensure that situation - Latin America is adding lobbying to secure its seat, which in turn becomes an outstanding player in Washington's huge network of foreign influence.

“Given the widespread participation of Florida in this administration, especially foreign policy, and the state’s centrality to Latin American politics, this combines a greater relevance and concern with the region than we used to,” Johnston said. “Now, some of them are in or directly engaged with the government, Latin American leaders will surely find more fertile breeding grounds to pursue their interests.”