After interfering with several elections, the United States continues to declare its ownership of Latin America and the Caribbean with a new propaganda video released in conjunction with various statements and military incursions under the guise of “counter-narcotics” operations. Those operations have so far served to create more violence and instability. Notably, something rarely discussed in U.S. news media is that many of the leaders U.S. President Donald Trump helped elect have ties to some of the most notorious drug smugglers in recent history.
The White House’s recent interference in elections, beginning when Trump took office in 2025 to install U.S.-friendly right-wing leaders, is nothing new. History speaks to this better than anyone can. It’s common knowledge, even if laypeople don’t know the details. The Monroe Doctrine is also well-known, although not as widely as the broader history. Since Trump took office in 2025, however, it has been brought into the spotlight much more. However, it’s the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine that the White House has latched onto.
The Monroe Doctrine is a demand to European countries introduced by President James Monroe in 1823. The idea was to warn Europe that the Western Hemisphere was closed to future colonization after Latin America liberated itself, with some help from the U.S. in Cuba and the Caribbean toward the end of decolonization. While it didn’t explicitly declare control, the doctrine stated that attempts to interfere in the Americas would be treated as a hostile act against the United States. However, in 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt added his corollary, claiming that the U.S. had the right to control Latin America as an “international police power.”
For over 120 years, the Roosevelt Corollary has been used to rationalize U.S. interventions in Latin America. It has become the focus of many geopolitical conversations regarding U.S. policy in the region. The Trump administration, empowered by the doctrine and the corollary, has made coercive demands of all 33 countries in the region. Primarily, choose between the United States and China or risk losing partnerships with the United States.
A recent video released by the Department of State on social media shows just how the doctrine has been used to justify policies throughout history that have led to atrocity and continued destabilization. It highlights how the current administration is emboldened by it to assert dominion over all of Latin America and the Caribbean, without any regard for the people there.
The State Department’s version of events omits major historical moments and glosses over Latin America liberating itself from colonial rule, before the U.S created its unilateral policies claiming ownership of the region. In other words, no one asked for U.S. intervention. Today, Trump’s White House is again forcing its will on Latin America and the Caribbean, destroying any semblance of self-determination for 700 million people.
The United States has not simply demanded that countries in the region conduct business solely with it, acting as a conduit to the rest of the world; it has also forced other countries into allowing the U.S. military to operate within them, rather than simply allowing countries to make their own decisions. Conditioning trade deals, allowing remittances, and aid on partnering with the U.S. militarily removes all sense of sovereignty.
Like Trump bragging about threatening voters in certain countries with “hell to pay” if they didn’t elect his preferred candidate, U.S. threats and demands of those leaders he helped install are the logical next step for a far-right takeover in the region. Trump’s corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, earlier this year, spelled it out: “...the American people –not foreign nations nor globalist institutions –will always control their own destiny in our hemisphere,” never mentioning the 700 million people in Latin America.
Meanwhile, the leaders indebted to Trump are following along, as they exercise the power with a Christian nationalist fist, aligning with the many far-right groups in Europe and the United States with which they are involved. The collection of right-wing leaders who willingly bend the knee to Trump all share common beliefs that align with white supremacist political movements across multiple continents – groups that have supported each candidate during recent elections.
According to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Colombia is the latest country to join The Shield of the Americas, a group of Latin American countries whose leaders partnered with Trump to form the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, which is promoted as focused on counter-narcotics operations. In reality, joint operations with the U.S. and Ecuador, for example, have been used to target people and groups opposed to Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.
“I want to commend Ecuador for its regional leadership to become the first ACCC member to partner with the United States in combined kinetic operation against narco-terrorists in Ecuador,” Hegseth said. “I also want to commend Honduras and Guatemala for inviting the United States to partake in combined operations against narco-terrorists in their countries. Your people are already safer and more free for your courage and your resolve, and we look forward to working with you in killing bad guys,” Hegseth added.
“Additionally, I want to thank Jamaica for working with the Department of War to create a new military partnership to cripple narco-terrorists that transit through the Caribbean,” Hegseth said. This partnership will forever change the security environment of the Caribbean.”
“And finally, I’m also proud to announce that Colombia will join the ACCC, becoming the 19th member,” Hegseth continued. “And through the newly inaugurated president, as our president likes to say, President El Tigre, Colombia has already requested the Department of War join Colombia in its fight against narco-terrorism, authorizing joint military operations to destroy terrorists and terror networks.
The United States also shifted from Operation Southern Spear to Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere. Described as a standing army and referred to as “the action arm of US Southern Command, to continue the targeting and killing of narco -terrorists that threaten our shared backyard,” highlighting a more militaristic stance in U.S. foreign policy. Like the naval buildup in the Caribbean was used to coerce several countries and influence elections, a standing military force will act as a proverbial gun to the heads of 33 sovereign nations in the region
“The new motto of the A3C [Americas Counter Cartel Coalition] is: ‘We do bad things to bad people,’” Hegseth said. “That’s the mentality I want to have inside this room. ... We’re dealing with bad people that have done a lot of bad things to a lot of good people, for a very long time,” he continued. “And they’re about to meet a new sheriff in town in the A3C, and we mean business. Narco-terrorists… drug traffickers are hereby on notice. Under President Trump, we will make the Americas great again. The safety and prosperity of one will strengthen the safety and prosperity of all,” he concluded.
While Hegseth issued a press release today saying that the mission is to “protect sovereignty,” the White House’s actions don’t jibe with that statement. When the U.S. becomes aggressive against straw men in a battle of ideologies driven by greed and power, history has shown us that scores of innocent people die so that a handful of people can profit.
I am an independent freelance journalist and stroke survivor trying to support my family. I have written hundreds of articles on policing, immigration, race, and Latin America. To support my work, become a paid subscriber or donate via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.
Damn. And they have more than two years to carry this out unless Democrats take control this Fall. So what (or who) is this Administration’s Final Soluntion?
I couldn't agree more.