Many in the US have long known that their own country’s interventions in Latin America have kept the region largely destabilized and that sanctions against certain countries often fuel mass migration events. But because of the White House’s rhetoric, Latin America is piquing the interest of the general population in the United States. Data confirming this trend is becoming more accessible through social media, where users are sharing reports, analyses, and commentary.
In March, the Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR) released a report highlighting how Donald Trump’s policies during his first term exacerbated mass migration out of Cuba and Venezuela. For most, it doesn’t take much to draw the connections. The numbers from each country coincide directly with the crippling sanctions Trump imposed against them, and we have a ton of data from various groups to support it.
“If migration is driven in part by economic hardship, and sanctions can cause great economic and humanitarian suffering, then it follows that sanctions can substantially contribute to migration,” reads the CEPR report. “This is not just borne out logically, but can be seen in the data.”
After Hugo Chávez won the presidential election in 1998, after running on an anti-imperialist and anti-establishment platform, the US was on high alert. After Chávez expanded social programs funded by oil revenue from its nationalized oil sector, the US made a move to attempt a coup in 2002. Chávez was ousted for just 48 hours before resuming power after the country largely rejected US intervention. This led to the distrust of the US we still see today.
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Corruption and economic mismanagement plagued the Chavez presidency. This became evident when the oil markets collapsed in 2014, just one year after Nicolas Maduro narrowly won his election. The US began exploiting that economic downturn with bipartisan legislation implementing sanctions on oil imports, using allegations of human rights abuses against high-ranking government officials and various organizations. These sanctions exacerbated the financial crisis, causing inflation to skyrocket, leading to the beginning of migration out of Venezuela.
As hyperinflation set in, the Trump administration took it a step further in 2017, blocking Venezuela’s access to financial markets, banning the purchase of the country’s debt, and increasing sanctions on oil imports. The economy collapsed, and food and medicine shortages became more common. Migration out of Venezuela spiked from 1.5 million Venezuelans in the ten years of Chavez’s presidency, to an estimated 4.7 million and 6 million in 2019. Trump’s sanctions impacted everyday Venezuelans almost immediately.
Similarly, Trump’s “Maximum Pressure Campaign” against Cuba in 2017, during his first term, led to the beginning of mass migration out of Cuba. After the State Sponsor of Terrorism (SSOT) designation in 2021, nearly 600,000 Cubans attempted to enter the United States by 2024. This led Trump and Republicans to target Cubans as part of the problem after he took office in 2025, although many Cubans didn’t see it that way during his 2024 campaign. Trump targeted Cubans, Venezuelans, and various other migrants as “invaders” after creating the environment for mass migration. The administration targeting Venezuelans and Venezuela goes deeper.
In 2020, after Trump lost that election, one of the conspiracy theories about his loss was that Venezuela tampered with the election. Through the next four years, the racist and bigoted language against Venezuelans, Haitians, and Latino immigrants in general would grow more violent. Targeting the first two laid the groundwork to target Black people and Latinos, whether they’re immigrants or not. This is all founded on the “migrant crisis” caused by Donald Trump himself under the advisement of John Bolton and other warmongers.
Most Venezuelans who left the country went to neighboring countries in Latin America, such as Colombia (1.7 million), Peru (941,000), Chile (523,000), and Ecuador (388,000). Some 325,000 went to Spain, and about 500,000 ended up in the US. Despite this, the Trump administration campaigned for two years leading up to his most recent presidency, with help from the so-called “leader” of the Venezuelan opposition, Maria Corina Machado, villainizing Venezuelans and blaming Maduro for “criminals” coming to the US.
We’ve seen many lies about Venezuela throughout the years. Trump and Machado began associating Venezuelan migrants with the Tren de Aragua gang, claimed there was a nefarious plot by Maduro and the gang to infiltrate the United States, openly lied about Nicolas Maduro being a drug trafficker and the leader of a wholly invented “cartel’ (Cartel de los Soles), and lied about Venezuela being a key drug smuggling route. All are claims US Intelligence disagrees with. And yet, like the lies about Venezuelan migrants being unvetted, bringing diseases, and being criminals, the White House continues on its warmongering path with blatant propaganda.
The view from the United States is the same as that of what we now know about the Iran-Contra scandal, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, to name a few more recent historical events. We’ve seen what manufacturing consent to justify war looks like all too often. We’ve watched the White House illegally bomb boats in international waters, killing what could easily have been civilians, but we may never know for sure. When news broke of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering a second strike on wounded boaters, legacy media finally started talking about war crimes.
Similarly, much of legacy media ignores the real “root causes” of mass migration events in Latin America: US interventionism. The United States has positioned itself as the overseer of the region through the Monroe Doctrine, later followed by the Roosevelt Corollary, and now, Trump’s overly aggressive tactics based on both. Some in his administration have suggested he institute his own corollary. If the White House’s actions tell us anything, it will likely seek dominion over Latin America.
To exert power and control over nations that choose to govern differently, that is, that may show US voters a different way is possible, begins with crippling a nation’s economy. The idea is to cripple a government so severely that the US can then point to them and propagandize about how much of a failure those countries are. More than 6 decades of sanctions on Cuba tell us all we need to know here. Despite it not working, the US refuses to get the message from the Cuban people. Based on my own reporting and that of dozens of others, Cubans prefer reforms under their current government over a civil war and destabilization. So do most Venezuelans.
If Maduro only has the support of the poor and marginalized because they get government benefits, as many suggest, and a supposed 80-90% of Venezuelans are poor, it doesn’t take much to acknowledge that he likely has more support than US media would have you believe. It’s more than doubtful that he has 80% support, but it’s certainly not zero. Some put it as low as 20%, while Venezuelan National Assembly Deputy Jesús Santander said on Monday that it’s 73%.
Citizen support for their governments in countries that the US government opposes is a key point that the US news media never discusses. Failing to address it in favor of pushing narratives that lack this context too often leads us to where we are today: on the precipice of yet another war.
A war that will likely fuel more mass migration events in Latin America.
I’m an independent journalist digging deeper into the stories you see on the news. Find my work at Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, Orinoco Tribune, and more. I’m also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a donation via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.
Bruv, I'm going to keep restacking your stuff until my thumbs give out. That millions of eyes aren't reading you is criminal. Great work, as usual.
Insightful.