{"id":340348,"date":"2025-12-10T04:42:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T04:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/340348\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T04:42:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T04:42:08","slug":"why-is-trump-so-obsessed-with-venezuela-his-new-security-strategy-provides-some-clues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/340348\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is Trump so obsessed with Venezuela? His new security strategy provides some clues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two centuries ago, US President James Monroe declared the Western Hemisphere off-limits to European powers<\/a> in what would became known in history books as the \u201cMonroe Doctrine<\/a>\u201d. <\/p>\n

The proclamation established the foundation for a new era of US dominance and \u201cpolicing<\/a>\u201d of the region. <\/p>\n

In the decades that followed, almost a third of the nearly 400 US interventions worldwide<\/a> took place in Latin America. The United States toppled governments it deemed unfavourable<\/a> or used force later ruled illegal by international courts<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In 2013, then-Secretary of State John Kerry announced<\/a> \u201cthe era of the Monroe Doctrine is over\u201d. It signalled a shift towards treating the region as partners rather than a sphere of influence. <\/p>\n

Now, however, the National Security Strategy<\/a> released last week by the Trump administration has formally revived that old doctrine. <\/p>\n

It helps explain the administration\u2019s interventionist actions in the region over the past couple months, from its deadly boat strikes in the Caribbean to its selective use of sanctions and pardons.<\/p>\n

Why Latin America is so important<\/p>\n

In typical hubristic fashion, the document openly announces a \u201cTrump Corollary\u201d to the Monroe Doctrine, elevating the Western Hemisphere as the top US international priority. The days when the Middle East dominated American foreign policy are \u201cthankfully over\u201d, it says.<\/p>\n

The document also ties US security and prosperity directly to maintaining US preeminence in Latin America. For example, it aims to deny China and other powers access to key strategic assets in the region, such as military installations, ports, critical minerals and cyber communications networks.<\/p>\n

Crucially, it fuses the Trump administration\u2019s harsh rhetoric on \u201cnarco-terrorists\u201d with the US-China great power competition. <\/p>\n

It frames a more robust US military presence and diplomatic pressure as necessary to confront Latin American drug cartels and protect sea lanes, ports and critical infrastructure from Chinese influence.<\/p>\n

How the strategy explains Trump\u2019s actions<\/p>\n

For months, the Trump administration has been striking suspected drug boats<\/a> in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing dozens of people.<\/p>\n

International law experts and human rights officials say these attacks breach international law<\/a>. The US Congress has not authorised any armed conflict in these waters, yet the strikes have been presented as necessary to protect the US from \u201cnarco\u2011terrorists\u201d.<\/p>\n

Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> has also been branded a \u201cnarco\u2011dictator\u201d, though Venezuela is a minor player<\/a> in the flow of drugs to the US.<\/p>\n

On December 2, President Donald Trump told reporters that any country he believes is manufacturing or transporting drugs to the US could face a military strike<\/a>. This includes not just Venezuela, but also Mexico and Colombia.<\/p>\n

On the same day, Trump also granted a pardon to Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>, Honduras\u2019 former president. He had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for helping move hundreds of tons of cocaine into the US. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Honduras\u2019 President Juan Orlando Hernandez speaking at a climate conference in 2021.
\n Andy Buchanan\/AFP Pool\/AP<\/p>\n

The new National Security Strategy attempts to explain the logic behind these contradictory actions. It emphasises the need to protect US \u201ccore national interests\u201d, and stresses:<\/p>\n

President Trump\u2019s foreign policy is [\u2026] not grounded in traditional, political ideology. It is motivated above all by what works for America \u2014 or, in two words, \u2018America First\u2019.<\/p>\n

Within this logic, Hern\u00e1ndez was pardoned because he can still serve US interests. As a former president with deep links to Honduran elites and security forces, he is exactly the kind of loyal, hard-right client Trump wants in a country that hosts US military personnel and can help police migration routes to the US. <\/p>\n

The timing underlines this: Trump moved to free Hern\u00e1ndez just days before Honduras\u2019 elections<\/a>, shoring up the conservative networks he once led to support Trump\u2019s preferred candidate<\/a> for president, Nasry Asfura. <\/p>\n

In Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d calculus, pardoning Hern\u00e1ndez also sends a couple clear signals. Obedient partners are rewarded. And power, not principle, determines US policy in the region.<\/p>\n

The obsession with Venezuela<\/p>\n

The new security strategy explains Trump\u2019s obsession with Venezuela, in particular.<\/p>\n

Venezuela has the world\u2019s largest proven oil reserves<\/a> and a long coastline on the Caribbean Sea, which is a vital sea lane for US goods travelling through the Panama Canal. <\/p>\n

Under years of US sanctions, Venezuela signed several energy and mining deals<\/a> with China<\/a>, in addition to Iran and Russia. For Beijing, in particular, Venezuela is both an energy source and a foothold in the hemisphere<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s National Security Strategy makes clear this is unacceptable to the United States. Although Venezuela is not named anywhere in the document, the strategy alludes to the fact China has made inroads with like-minded leaders in the region:<\/p>\n

Some foreign influence will be hard to reverse, given the political alignments
\nbetween certain Latin American governments and certain foreign actors. <\/p>\n

A recent report suggests the Maduro government is now attempting a dramatic geopolitical realignment. The New York Times says Maduro\u2019s government offered<\/a> the US a dominant stake in its oil and gold resources, diverting exports from China. If true, this would represent a clear attempt to court the Trump administration and end Venezuela\u2019s international isolation.<\/p>\n

But many believe the Trump administration is after regime change<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n

The Venezuelan opposition leader, Mar\u00eda Corina Machado, who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, is pitching a post\u2011Maduro future to US investors, describing a \u201cUS$1.7 trillion (A$2.5 trillion) opportunity<\/a>\u201d to privatise Venezuela\u2019s oil, gas and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

For US and European corporations, the message is clear: regime change could unlock vast wealth.<\/p>\n

Latin America\u2019s fragmented response<\/p>\n

Regional organisations remain divided or weakened, and have yet to coordinate a response to the Trump administration. At a recent regional summit<\/a>, leaders called for peace, but stopped short of condemning the US strikes off Latin America.<\/p>\n

Governments are instead having to deal with Trump one by one. Some hope to be treated as friends; others fear being cast as \u201cnarco\u2011states\u201d. <\/p>\n

Two centuries after the Monroe Doctrine, Washington still views the hemisphere as its own backyard, in which it is \u201cfree to roam<\/a>\u201d and can meddle as it sees fit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two centuries ago, US President James Monroe declared the Western Hemisphere off-limits to European powers in what would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-340348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}