The return of the American gunboat and dollar diplomacy threatens the future of Latin America and beyond.
A notorious imperialist.
(Thassos Katopodis/Getty)
At the beginning of 2026, President Trump has already fulfilled one of his main New Year's resolutions: to overthrow the Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro by force. In the early hours of January 3, the U.S. military began a coordinated bombing campaign against key targets in Caracas, while Task Force Delta—no doubt acting on intelligence gathered by the CIA—located and captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were hiding in a fortified compound. They were flown by helicopter to the USS. You must people The battleship was deployed to the Caribbean and then sent to New York, where Maduro and his wife face a completely new charge of participation in a “narco-terrorist conspiracy” brought forward on January 3, 2026.
This is an accusation like New York Times as he noted, “especially ridiculous.” Venezuela does not produce cocaine and is not a major drug supply hub for the United States. The Cartel de los Soles, of which Maduro is the alleged leader, is not a real organization, but rather a moniker coined by Venezuelan journalists to refer to the scattered networks of smugglers and their associates moving drugs through Venezuela on their way to Europe.
Moreover, Trump doesn't care one bit about holding drug traffickers accountable. Just a month ago, he pardoned the former Honduran president convicted of smuggling more than 400 tons of cocaine into the United States over two decades.
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Trump's true goals, now openly stated, are to seize Venezuela's vast oil reserves (he falsely claims they were “stolen” from the United States) and to promote the so-called “Trump Corollary” of the Monroe Doctrine, through which the United States asserts its superiority over Latin American subject countries. “Now they call it the Donro Doctrine,” Trump said at a special news conference at Mar-a-Lago, describing how the United States would now exercise power over the future of Venezuela and control its oil industry. “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere,” he declared proudly, “will never be questioned again.”
The Mar-a-Lago press conference was almost as shocking as “Operation Inherent Resolve,” the code name for the U.S. military effort to capture Maduro and overthrow his government. Trump and his national security team—Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Cain—have provided the most unabashed celebration of the overt use of U.S. force in recent history. “Welcome to 2026,” Hegseth shouted. “Under President Trump, America is back,” he said, hailing “the sheer courage and grit, the bravery and the glory of the American warrior.” Hegseth seemed to relish the bloodshed; the number of deaths in Caracas remains virtually unreported. Maduro's takeover, he said, showed that “America can project its will anywhere, anytime.” Trump was no less enthusiastic. “It was dark. It was deadly,” he said, describing “one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military power and competence in American history.”
Trump proclaimed not only the US imperial powers, but also his own imperialist goals. “We're going to do it,” Trump said. “It will mostly be – for a while – the people who are right behind me,” referring to his own national security team. “We're going to run it.” And if the Venezuelans don't cooperate, it will be “very bad for them,” he promised, adding: “We're not afraid of boots on the ground” – apparently the threat of a full-scale occupation.
Venezuelan oil was Trump's top priority. “We are going to have our very large US oil companies, the largest in the world, invest billions of dollars, rebuild their badly damaged infrastructure and start making money for the country,” Trump promised. US built oil industry in Venezuela, Trump said; his nationalization was “the theft of our property,” he argued, as if Venezuela's natural resources had always belonged to the United States. Washington's imperialist land grab in Latin America could hardly be more pronounced.
Trump also made it clear that the Donro Doctrine extends beyond Venezuela to other countries in the region. He falsely claimed that Colombian President Gustavo Petro was “manufacturing cocaine” and sending it to the United States, “so he really needs to watch his ass.” Cuba, Trump and Rubio suggested, was also under threat. “Cuba is something we'll end up talking about,” Trump noted before handing the microphone to Rubio. “If I lived in Havana and was in the government,” the Secretary of State opined, “I would be at least a little worried.”
Given the capricious nature of Trump's unprovoked military attack and attempt to take over Venezuela, leading Latin American countries are now extremely worried. President Petro has already denounced Washington's regime change operations as “an attack on the sovereignty of the region.” He ordered Colombian troops to the Venezuelan border and asked the United Nations to urgently meet to resolve the crisis. Chilean President Gabriel Boric has already issued not one, but two denunciations, “vigorously condemning the actions of the United States.” “Today it is Venezuela, tomorrow it could be some other country,” Borik noted. “The threat of external unilateral control over [Venezuela’s] natural resources,” he added, “represent a serious violation of the principle of territorial integrity and threaten the security, sovereignty and stability of the countries of the region.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also condemned Washington's actions, citing Article II of the UN Charter, which prohibits such violations of sovereignty. Mexico, which has also been threatened by Trump, opposes foreign interference and supports only peaceful solutions, she said, and security cooperation with Washington will remain based on “cooperation and coordination, not subordination.”
Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva condemned the US intervention as “crossing an unacceptable line.” The attack on Venezuela set an “extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community,” Lula said. “Attacks on countries that flagrantly violate international law are the first step toward a world of violence, chaos and instability where the rule of the strongest prevails over multilateralism.”
Indeed, Trump's “might makes right” empire-building stance is a direct attack on the entire world order of international law and respect for the sovereign rights of all states. In addition to violating the War Powers Act at home, the attack on Venezuela undermined numerous international agreements abroad, including the OAS and UN Charters. Trump’s unilateral exercise of power against a small regional country legitimizes the expansionist ambitions of other major powers that claim their own spheres of influence and control—Russia in the former Soviet states and their “near abroad,” and China in Taiwan and the South China Sea.
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During the era of imperialism in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the great powers divided the globe into spheres of influence. Their experiment with balance of power politics failed. Great power rivalry and resistance from colonized countries destabilized the system, causing two world wars in which more than 80 million people died. Reviving this failed system, as Trump seems intent on doing, starting with America, is stupid. “I do not know with what weapons the Third World War will be fought,” Albert Einstein commented on the need not to repeat the mistakes of the past, “but the Fourth World War will be fought with sticks and stones.”
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