The former US ambassador to Panama has launched a stinging critique of Donald Trump’s approach towards Latin America, comparing his conduct to that of the ruthless and egotistical fictional mob boss Tony Soprano.

In the first month of his presidency, the US president has shocked some observers with his aggressive focus on a region many expected him to largely ignore. Early steps have included threatening to “take back” the Panama Canal, accusing Mexico’s government of being in cahoots with narco-traffickers, sending an envoy to meet the Venezuelan dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and clashing with Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, over deportation flights.

John Feeley, who was regarded as one of the state department’s top Latin America experts until he resigned from his job in Panama during Trump’s first term, said he was horrified but not surprised by Trump’s moves.

“If you use as your psychological paradigm [for Trump] a combination of Tony Soprano and Thucydides … it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that he’s going to go to the Americas first,” the ex-ambassador said, referring to the ancient historian who chronicled the fifth-century BC struggle between Athens and Sparta.