I stumbled upon a video excerpt on X, and I wondered whether it’s authentic or AI-generated. I googled “Laura J. Richardson lithium triangle” and Google’s AI Overview spitted this:

General Laura J. Richardson, Commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), has repeatedly highlighted the “lithium triangle” (Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile) as a region of significant strategic importance and national security interest for the United States due to its vast natural resources.

Key Points of Richardson’s Statements

  • Resource Wealth: General Richardson has publicly noted the immense natural resources in Latin America, specifically emphasizing that the “lithium triangle” contains an estimated 60% of the world’s lithium reserves. She stated, “Why is this region important? With all its wealth of resources and land, we have 31 percent of the world’s fresh water… This region does matter and has a lot to do with national security”.
  • National Security Context: Her comments frame control and access to these critical resources—which also include rare earth elements, oil, copper, and gold—as a primary national security concern for the U.S. homeland.
  • Geopolitical Competition: Richardson has expressed concern about “adversaries” like the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia taking advantage of the region. She has warned about China’s heavy investments in critical infrastructure through state-owned enterprises, which she views as potentially dual-use (civilian and military) capabilities that pose a threat.
  • Regional Reactions: Richardson’s explicit statements about U.S. interest in the region’s resources have been widely circulated and criticized by some Latin American leaders, including former Bolivian President Evo Morales, who accused the U.S. of having “predatory interest”.

Context

Richardson’s remarks were made during various public forums and panel discussions, including events hosted by the Atlantic Council and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), primarily in early 2023. These discussions focus on U.S. security challenges and strategic engagement in Latin America in the context of growing Chinese influence in the hemisphere.

Wikipedia:

Laura Jane Richardson (née Strickland; born 11 December 1963) is a retired United States Army general who last served as the commander of United States Southern Command from 2021 to 2024. Prior to that, she was the commanding general of United States Army North from 2019 to 2021.

YouTube quickly offered me these videos:

❶ AtlanticCouncil, streamed live on Jan. 19, 2023: A conversation with General Laura J. Richardson on security across the Americas.

A very short excerpt from minute 20:

…and so we work very hard with our partners to try to strengthen their abilities to counter the disinformation as well. And then of course, transitional criminal organizations, in my mind, sow the insecurity and the instability in the region, which allows the malign state actors such as the PRC and Russia to move in and to flourish, but a 310 billion dollar annual revenue business with the TCOs [Transnational Criminal Organizations] in my mind, the insecurity, the instability causing migration, causing families to be on the move, is… and it’s not just with Counter Narcotics, it’s not just with drugs, it’s with human trafficking, illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing, IUF, illegal logging, illegal mining.

This region, why this region matters? With all of its rich resources and rare earth elements, you’ve got the lithium triangle, which is needed for technology today. 60 percent of the world’s lithium is in the lithium triangle — Argentina-Bolivia-Chile. You just have the largest oil reserves, light sweet crude, discovered off of Guyana over a year ago. You have Venezuela’s resources as well, with oil. Copper, gold… China gets 36 percent of its food source from this region. We have the Amazon — lungs of the world. We have 31 percent of the world’s fresh water in this region too. I mean, it’s just off the charts.

But then when you talk about trade. Trade is unbelievable. The trade in the region — you know I talked about all the ties that we have with this hemisphere — but the PRC and a lot of our countries in this region are… is the number one trade partner with the United States, number two in most cases… I would say in some cases. However, to see the increase in investment in trade from 2002 from China — 18 billion up to 450 billion now and on its way what is predicted to be about 750 billion in the near future — and so I think we have a lot at stake, we have a a lot to be grateful for in terms of the relationships with our partner nations and our hemisphere that we’re part of and in the Americas, but we have a lot to do. This region matters, it has a lot to do with National Security, and we need to step up our game and we need to be faster, and we need to work and deliver capabilities at the speed of relevance for this region. And so… thank you again very much for hosting me today, and I look forward to the questions in the dialogue.

❷ Center for Strategic & International Studies, streamed live on Aug. 4, 2023: Looking South: A Conversation with GEN Laura Richardson on Security Challenges in Latin America.

Something from this video, too:

Dr. Kathleen McGinnis: Central and South America is arguably a decisive region in today’s strategic competitions with authoritarian actors. For example, the People’s Republic of China is doing things like investing in critical infrastructure across the region, including strategically useful ports as well as cyber and space facilities that could be used by Beijing’s civilian and military agencies. Russia continues its support of authoritarian and malign actors across the region, including through disinformation campaigns, and those are only part of the strategic challenges to the United States that are emanating from that region: migration, transnational criminal organizations, illegal fishing, all of these are on the agenda of United States Southern Command.

Gen. Richardson: Well, thank you very much. It’s my honor to be here and have the opportunity to be able to talk about the great opportunities that we have in the Western hemisphere, talk to you about what this region has to offer, the great partners that we have, and the work that we do with our allies in the region as well, and just be able to share some of that, but also the security challenges that I think that, if we partner better together and bring the entire whole of government together to bear, as I say, with all the instruments of national power for Team USA, that we have a great shot of promoting and continuing to be at the forefront with Team Democracy in the Western hemisphere.

Minute 5: This region is… there are so many things that come to mind, but it is very powerful. I mean, in our national security strategy from President Biden, this hemisphere, there is no other hemisphere that is inextricably linked to our homeland like the Western hemisphere, and the importance of the region cannot be overstated enough, but the proximity number one, but all of the resources this hemisphere is very rich in, natural resources, rare earth elements, climate… you talk about the Amazon, eight countries have the Amazon in these countries — lungs of the world that we, I don’t think, still fully appreciate — and quite honestly I think the… Also in Colombia, that was my most recent trip, talking about where we — and this is something that a very wise person told me while I was there — you know, we need to start respecting Mother Nature, is not someone that’s below us, but someone that’s either at par with us or of a higher being, because if we lose the Amazon, that will impact the world, all of us, as the lungs of the world. But rare earth elements — lithium triangle — 60 percent of the world’s lithium is in this region, gold, copper, we see significant illegal mining, illegal logging, deforestation, all of these criminal elements that are happening in this region, and so. And what we try to do is work with our partner nations as well as our allies — we have allies and partners throughout our national security strategy and our national defense strategy — working with our allies and partners. We do nothing alone, we do it as partners, and again, I talk about Team Democracy because as we think about the 28 like-minded democracies in the region partnering together, that’s really our strongest defense about… against malign activity in the region.
…

Kari Bingen: The key focus in our national security strategy right now is strategic competition with China. We tend to think of that as an Indo-Pacific regional challenge, but China has global reach, so what are you seeing in your area, in the countries that you deal with on a daily basis?

Gen. Richardson: Well, thanks for that, Kari, because they absolutely, it is absolutely global and right under our nose and so close to our homeland. I’d like to say what the PRC is doing, the People’s Republic of China, it looks to be investment, but really I call it extraction at the end of the day, and I say that it’s in the Red Zone, just to use, you know, an analogy. They’re on the 20-yard line to our homeland, or we could say that they’re on the first and second island chain to our homeland, and the proximity in terms of this region and the importance of the region, I think that we have to truly appreciate what this region brings and the security challenges that these countries face now. China isn’t at the top of the list as a pacing challenge or an adversary to the countries. Transnational criminal organizations are, but as I talk about educating and inform our partners in terms of what I see from US Southern Command, because I think we’re in a very unique position to be able to put together all of the things that are happening in the region and be able to present that. Countries make their own decisions, they are sovereign countries, and we respect that, absolutely. They make their own decisions, but I always try to make sure that they have all the facts, because they aren’t sometimes presented all the facts, and we have that.

As another democracy, I see these authoritarian regimes using democracy to get elected and then use that position to dismantle democracy. And so we have to show how we align with the priorities as nations go through democratic processes and changes, free and fair elections — if those are free and fair elections — then we’re going to figure out how we work with those administrations and what we find, especially in the security realm, is a lot of things that we do align with, our, you know, our new administration’s priorities in the hemisphere, and so we just have to explain that and show the advantages that that has, but in terms of the critical infrastructure that the PRC is investing in the hemisphere. It’s all the critical infrastructure, and when you look at that and present it, it’s in the deep water, ports, it’s in space-enabling infrastructure by the Chinese… It’s in the globe, it’s in my hemisphere, in my Southcom area of operations. You have 5G technology, five countries have the PRC backbone for 5G, 24 countries have PRC 3G or 4G backbone, and so what usually comes to happen is, they’re offered almost a zero, zero-cost upgrade to the 5G, and so it’s really hard for these leaders that are in the seat usually one term of four years, they’re working on a stopwatch, not a calendar, and we have to be able to have alternative methods, alternative companies, alternative options for them to be able to select to the Chinese competitors. And that’s where we’re getting outcompeted by the Chinese right now, and that’s a playbook that we’re seeing in the rest of the world too.

❸ Concordia, July 14, 2022: Gen. Laura J. Richardson on Security in the Western Hemisphere | 2022 Concordia Americas Summit.

Excerpt:

Minute 5, Gen. Richardson: It’s a call to action because of the security threats that I see. And I see that it’s a threat to democracy. And I see this as I go into the region, and I see one of our competitors or adversaries, which is the PRC, the People’s Republic of China, going in there with large amounts of cash and infrastructure projects, going under the guise of infrastructure, investment, research, and that’s not what’s coming out on the other end. This region is so rich in resources, rare earth minerals, lithium — the lithium triangle is in this region. There are a lot of things that this region has to offer. And so it concerns me. When I’ve seen the military, the huge military buildup that the Chinese have done in their own homeland, and then I see the investments of deepwater ports, 5G technology, all of these different things, space, infrastructure… Why is the most space infrastructure for the Chinese in this region? I just asked people to pause. Why do we have this investment what looks to be investment, but yet we have this huge unprecedented military buildup on the other end. What I worry about as a military person, and being concerned about security, is facilities that can be used as dual-use facilities. They look like they’re civilian facilities and businesses and things like that, owned by the state, and that can be turned to be used for a military reason. And I worry about that, and then I see that these these investments are very concerning. I like to say that the Chinese are setting the theater — which is really a doctrinal term in the military — or I could say they’re setting the table, right? And setting the table for what? I think they’re playing chess. Russia is also prevalent in this region, and I think they’re playing checkers. I think they’re there to undermine the United States, they’re they’re there to undermine democracies, and they all mean business — whether they’re playing chess or checkers, they’re there to undermine democracy.

Minute 15, Carlos Vecchio, former Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States: So, having said that, you know I will use five new facts that I see in Latin America that we didn’t have in the last 20 years. And I will use them in order to explain the changes in Latin America and how those facts are affecting the security of this region — of course, including the US.

First, the presence of foreign powers: Russia and China. China, I mean, it’s not only looking for economic interests. They are looking for political interest. And Russia, although they are not deploying military bases in Latin America, they have been using soft power to create political and social instability. And I will use my own country. I mean, they have been doing that with Venezuela. Venezuela is for Russia right now what Cuba was for the Soviet Union during the 60s. Venezuela is in chaos, and Russia is using Venezuela to export chaos to the region. The more visible one is, of course, migration, but Russia is intervening with the propaganda, with the social media, they did it in Colombia, they did it in Ecuador, so in order to create instability in this region, to affect, of course, the security of the United States.

The second one. I’m using also, of course, my country. We have six million Venezuelans across the region — we didn’t have that in the past. Just to give you an example, this is the same population of the metropolitan area of Miami, where we are right now. Six million. That’s creating a chaos, including the border with Mexico. Including the borders in Mexico. It’s impacting Chile, it’s impacting also Canada and the United States, and Russia mainly has been using this, again, to create this instability. The only way — and I would like to highlight this — to resolve, to stop the migration from Venezuela, is with a democratic transition in our country. I have heard people say, “No, if we put resources in the hands of Maduro, that will stop the migration.” That will be a big mistake. Big mistake. Because we had that in the past, and they created this magnitude of crisis that we are facing right now.

Third point. Since we signed the democratic charter — dear Secretary General — unfortunately, the region has become more closer to dictatorships, and some populist governments, unfortunately. And the most important cases is, of course, Cuba, and then Venezuela and Nicaragua. We will fight that, I would say, the big challenge of the 21st century, which is politicalism versus democracy. And the United States has to lead that process again. And the Latin America won’t escape of that big fight. So we need to be the good guys, working together, the Western democracy, to confront the authoritarianism. Around the world. They are doing that. We need to do that, but without hesitation.

So four. Embajador Pinzón [former Colombian Minister of Defense], I totally agree with you. Corruption and transnational crime around the dictatorship. Twenty percent of the Venezuelan GDP right now comes from illegal activities, mainly drug trafficking, illegal mining, of course, money laundering. We need to have an international task force, to have a policy of law enforcement. Otherwise, that will impact the democracy across the region.

And finally. Finally, and this one will be very important, because what is happening right now in Ukraine. Destruction of Venezuela as a reliable supplier of oil for the region and for the world. This region is producing 20 percent of the total oil production — without including Venezuela. You cannot trust Maduro. If you don’t trust Putin, you cannot trust Maduro. They are just working together, and the only way to create energy, security for this hemisphere and for the Western democracy, to defeat authoritarianism, is to have a transition that will allow us to develop fully our energy capacity, to create security, energy for the hemisphere and for the Western democracy.

Wow. I’m not sure about Trump, who has his tantrums and fits, but Biden and Obama were absolutely not in charge of the US, and neither was Dubya. The Army and the CIA are ruling that country. The American democracy is a phantasm, a figment.

¡ Bienvenidos a Venezuela !