Following its action in removing Maduro, who will the Trump administration attack next? Colombia, Mexico, Cuba? US actions now follow the course outlined in its new National Security Strategy, crudely dubbed ‘The Donroe Doctrine’ by the man himself. Latin America risks being left isolated.
Shortly before attending the press conference, Donald Trump gave an interview to Fox News in which he made a direct threat to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, following the same narrative. ‘We are very friendly with her, she is a good woman. But the cartels rule Mexico, she doesn’t rule Mexico,’ he said, when questioned by the presenter, who couldn’t conceal his amusement at the misogynistic tone adopted by Trump: ‘We can be political about it and say, yes, yes, she is very afraid of the cartels… I asked her several times, “would you like us to fight the cartels?”, “No, no Mr.President, please”. So we have to do something, something will have to be done about Mexico’.
The same threat was reiterated once again against Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Questioned during the press conference, Trump stated that Petro ‘has cocaine factories, he has factories where he is producing cocaine. He is producing cocaine and they are sending it to the United States, so he really needs to watch his back.’ – that is, ‘Be careful’. Petro is already the target of US government sanctions for having ‘allowed drug cartels to thrive’ and ‘refused to curb this activity,’ according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
No evidence was produced to support the allegation that either Sheinbaum or Petro were involved in drug-smuggling but the fight against drug trafficking – or rather, ‘narco-terrorism’ – will clearly be the main pretext the US will present to justify its illegal military interventions in Latin America.
In fact, Cuba may well be targeted next. The US has long seen Cuba as a thorn in its side and Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently described the Cuban government as a ‘huge problem’. He added that the US may well take action against it.
For journalist Luz Mely Reyes, founder and director of the Venezuelan website Efecto Cucuyo, currently living in exile in the US, the weak response from the international community to US military action tacitly gives Trump the go-ahead elsewhere. ‘Venezuela has become an experiment of what the new Trump doctrine will be,’ she explained.
Latin America is partly to blame for Trump’s new confidence in doing as he sees fit in what he regards as his backyard, for earlier Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia were unable to act together to prevent Maduro from remaining in power, after he lost the election.
Now, the ‘lukewarm’ responses from the EU, Russia, and China point in the same direction: the new ‘Donroe’ doctrine seeks only to redistribute areas of dominance among world powers and will not seek to interfere in each of the world powers’ backyards .
‘This strategy sees the world in terms of spheres of influence , not a world of alliances, which has defined US policy for the past 70 years. This is a huge change in the way it crafts its regional policy,’ explains Ricardo Zuñiga, former acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. ‘Critics say that what is happening is that the US is ceding ground to China and Russia, within a vision of dividing the world into three parts, with the US retaining strategic control in the Americas. Perhaps the big revelation this morning is that, in the face of the Donroe Doctrine, unless there is a large and coordinated global reaction, we Latin Americans will be irretrievably alone.’
Main image: from a Washington Examiner article by Jamie McIntyre
