Argentina has been ramping up surveillance for year, not after Trump’s bailout. Before the pandemic, in 2019, the local government in Juju, a province in the country’s north, was proud to say thatJ ujuy can be “safe like China” after they installed China’s ZTE:

Jujuy already has close ties to China. A Chinese company is heavily invested in lithium mining in the province and China has provided the financing and technology for a huge solar farm, South America’s largest.

So Trump comes as an addition also to South America, but he is not the only elephant in the room.