The Monroe Doctrine: More Alive Than Ever.“The United States is waging a sham war on drugs and terrorism. Its real objective is to invade countries, annihilate presidents who refuse to be subservient, and install local politicians as its loyal employees.”
Evo Morales
In 1823, US President James Monroe demarcated the territory of influence of this nascent power—which would later become the great superpower, the most important country in the capitalist world—baring its teeth at the European presence in these lands. “America for the Americans” was the slogan of the time, thus conveying the message to European countries that any attempt at intervention in what Washington already considered its natural sphere of virtual belonging (equivalent to saying: its backyard) would be considered an act of aggression against the nascent, and already very powerful, United States.
Just a few years after the establishment of that “doctrine”—a euphemism for “blatant imperialist policy”—Simón Bolívar already saw the dominance of the northern country as a danger to the nascent nations south of the Rio Grande. It was in this context that he uttered that historic phrase in 1829: “The United States seems destined by Providence to plague America with miseries in the name of liberty.” Clearly, he was not wrong.
Decades later, in 1904, US President Theodore Roosevelt formulated what would become known as the "Roosevelt Corollary," which stated that if a Latin American country became politically unstable or proved incapable of resolving its internal affairs, the United States had the right to intervene to "restore order," almost as if "doing us a favor," according to its colonial and patriarchal perspective. This gave rise to the White House's foreign policy known as the "Big Stick." In other words, it was a deepening of the Monroe Doctrine.
Throughout the 20th century, and into the 21st, U.S. imperialism has acted as the undisputed master of Latin America, putting into practice, in every sense, what President Monroe declared more than two centuries ago. Its interventions in the region number in the dozens: direct invasions with its own military forces, support for coups d'état, interference in the internal politics of various countries, training of Latin American personnel (formerly military personnel, now judges) as representatives of its interests, and a presence through various mechanisms of penetration and interference: USAID, NED, DEA, foundations, NGOs, etc.
Nothing that happens politically in any Latin American country escapes a decision made in Washington and then channeled through its embassy. This is so pervasive that in many places, when people say "the embassy," they understand it to refer to only one: that of the northern superpower, which is a key player in power, alongside the corresponding local bourgeoisies, and in many cases, more decisive than them. "We all know that the United States is the one that decides things in Central America," former Honduran presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla once said when the White House's chosen candidate, Juan Orlando Hernández—later arrested for drug trafficking—stealed the election from him. This applies not only to Central America but to the entire continent south of the United States.
Why does the United States use us as its backyard? For several reasons:
Because 25% of the natural resources it consumes (energy and various raw materials) come from this region. The contracts that allow it to operate here to exploit these resources are frankly predatory, because they generally only leave 1 or 2% in royalties to the host country for everything it extracts (mining, oil, crops for biofuels, theft of biodiversity in the rainforests, and soon, freshwater?), taking (stealing) the rest. This is without even considering the irreversible ecological damage they cause, in addition to the crushing of indigenous peoples and cultures. The national oligarchies tolerate this and profit from it as junior partners.
Because Latin America maintains an external debt of half a trillion and a half dollars with international lending institutions (International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank), whose main shareholders are private US capital, the United States has an endless source of money flowing into its coffers. “Absolutely immoral debt,” it has been said; but debt nonetheless, which is paid without complaint, enriching a few banks and impoverishing the people of Latin America endlessly.
Because of the incredibly cheap labor offered by countries in the region compared to wages in the North, and the possibility of avoiding "troublesome" unions and environmental regulations, US capital establishes numerous assembly plants in these areas. These industries simply manufacture goods based on foreign patents, without any technology transfer. The now-fashionable call centers operate under this same logic.
Because from the countries south of the Rio Grande, primarily Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, and to a lesser extent the rest of the continent, endless streams of workers arrive, fleeing the chronic poverty of their homelands, to serve in the north as a super-exploited workforce (agriculture, services, construction). Even knowing the conditions of tremendous exploitation under which they work (undocumented, constantly blackmailed because of their irregular immigration status, without unions or labor laws), these masses prefer it, because in this way they send remittances to their countries of origin, which somewhat alleviates the misery they come from—while local governments permit and condone it, turning a blind eye to the abuses and injustices committed by the Americans.
For all these reasons, the United States maintains all of Latin America in this state of oppression, blatantly interfering in its internal affairs. This was shamelessly stated some years ago by the then Secretary of State in the Bush (son) administration, General Colin Powell, who, referring to the recolonization project sought through the so-called "free trade" agreements that he forced Latin American countries to sign (regardless of the fact that the original idea of a collective treaty—the Free Trade Area of the Americas, FTAA—failed, and these bilateral agreements were subsequently signed): "Our objective with the FTAA is to guarantee American companies control of a territory stretching from the Arctic to the Antarctic and free access, without any obstacle or difficulty, to our products, services, technology, and capital throughout the hemisphere." It couldn't be clearer.
To this end, the northern power maintains an undetermined number of military bases throughout Latin America, but no fewer than 70, and its Fourth Fleet (the naval component of the Southern Command of the Department of Defense, headquartered at Naval Station Mayport, Florida) guards the waters of the Caribbean and the South Atlantic. There is no doubt that it has a great deal to protect in its own backyard. This explains the overwhelming intensification of the Monroe Doctrine that we are currently witnessing, with its open—and shameless—support for right-wing and far-right groups, and its perception of every progressive action, which may be merely social democratic, as a specter of “Castro-communist terrorism.”
But geopolitics has changed very rapidly in recent years. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States emerged as the sole global power, seemingly untouchable, indestructible. But since nothing is eternal (“Everything flows,” said an ancient thinker, the only constant is perpetual change), its hegemony also began to shift. Due to a combination of factors, the great capitalist power began its decline. And new actors are appearing on the international stage, overshadowing its presence. The resurgence of Russia, now as a capitalist country (the world's fourth-largest economy, although the Western press obscures this fact, and a military superpower), and the monumental rise of communist China (the world's leading power, measured by GDP according to purchasing power parity), are beginning to shape a new global landscape. We are not heading toward socialism, but there is a breakdown of Washington's unipolar hegemonic role.
As a clear demonstration of this growth of some and the decline of others, we have international trade, where China has become the main player, diminishing the presence of the American superpower. Its ruling class (Wall Street, the oil companies, the military-industrial complex, Silicon Valley, the pharmaceutical companies – Big Pharma), represented by the president in the Oval Office, reacts to this. And it reacts very aggressively, like a wounded and cornered animal. It cannot tolerate anyone daring to challenge the Monroe Doctrine. Donald Trump plays this role perfectly, with a very fitting histrionic air, wanting to feel like “king” of the world, showing that the empire “can do anything.” But, obviously, it can’t.
This is why we are witnessing a process of increased US interference in Latin American political decisions, no longer even trying to hide it. The blackmail carried out by the US president during the recent legislative elections in Argentina blatantly illustrates this: “If Milei doesn't win, there will be no more money. We're not going to waste our time with that country then.” That's just one example. In any case, countless others could be given, all along the same lines. Who would put a price on his head? No one, of course. But the White House allows itself—like in a mediocre Western—to offer a $50 million reward for the head of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. “Wanted, live or alive”; although the world isn't Hollywood… thankfully!
Today we are witnessing a rightward shift driven by the US government, where any popular, socially conscious alternative that even remotely resembles the people is seen as dangerous and therefore open to attack. The ever-present specter of "drug trafficking" is a convenient pretext for "coming to lend a hand" (read: invading. See the epigraph). Everyone is suspect and can be targeted: the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), any progressive government (Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, Brazil), and, even more so, countries that present themselves as socialist, starting with Cuba and its merciless blockade of over 60 years, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (currently on the verge of a possible military intervention in pursuit of its oil), and Nicaragua. For “rebellious” governments, it no longer uses brutal and bloody coups with ruthless military figures, but rather soft coups, legal warfare, and media attacks. The methods change, but not the substance.
Faced with a loss of global presence, and with the dollar beginning to be challenged by the multipolar politics of the BRICS+, driven by China and Russia, the US strategy is to secure its backyard. If 200 years ago the admonitory message of the Monroe Doctrine was directed at the European powers that dared to encroach on that territory of its “natural” influence, today that threat is amplified by China and Russia. Given all this, what awaits us Latin Americans? To resist this imperial onslaught, believing that we are still at war, that history has not ended… or to end up speaking English and having “carnal relations”? (as was said during Menem’s presidency in Argentina).
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https://hub.netzgemeinde.eu/item/3cfafeb8-d875-5915-82f6-95bcd2676369