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https://theconversation.com/trump-is-repeating-the-long-painful-history-of-us-policing-of-latin-america-268393>
"In recent weeks, the Trump administration has launched military strikes
against more than a dozen boats off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia,
killing more than 60 people.
The administration claims it is defending the United States from what it says
are drug-trafficking vessels. However, Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro has
accused the US of “murdering” its citizens and threatening its sovereignty.
US interference in Latin America is hardly new. In fact, the US has been
meddling in the affairs of its southern neighbours from the time many Latin
American nations gained independence from European powers in the 1820s.
In 1823, US President James Monroe issued a foreign policy proclamation called
the Monroe Doctrine that warned European countries not to intervene anymore in
the affairs of the Western Hemisphere.
The United States saw Latin America as its sphere of influence, and the Monroe
Doctrine set the stage for future US expansionism and intervention in the
region.
By 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt’s corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
claimed the United States had the right to “police” the hemisphere in response
to “flagrant cases of […] wrongdoing or impotence”.
Such “policing” has since led to revolutions, coups and what some analysts are
now calling illegal extrajudicial killings.
A new “corollary” of the Monroe Doctrine is seemingly taking shape today under
current president, Donald Trump. Ignoring the painful history of US
interventions in Latin America, the Trump administration’s strategy is based on
open hostility, military force and a carefully stoked moral panic."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
