Former U.S. senator from Florida Marco Rubio jumps into new role as secretary of state with flurry of phone calls, planned trip to Panama.

Of note, leaders in the State Department at the event offered welcoming words and praised Rubio’s experience in foreign policy. A speaker made special note of Rubio’s own visit to Colombia in 2019, when Rubio visited the Simon Bolivar Bridge on the border with Venezuela and urged soldiers to allow humanitarian aid to reach people there.