Monroe Doctrine
Simple but Not Easy
The president’s blood for oil adventurism in Venezuela is illegal and chaotic. The strikes are also a perversion of the Monroe Doctrine. Latin American nations are now considering how to hedge against an erratic United States through closer ties to China. Brazil has done so already, and other leftist governments will follow. In addition to embracing defections from our hemisphere, Xi Jinping will double down on the same might-makes-right logic in his. Chinese belligerence will further threaten our Indo-Pacific allies and global stability.
Democrats should assert our own version of the Monroe Doctrine. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams drafted it for President James Monroe two centuries ago. It remains relevant, but needs debate and a refresh. Here are three premises for a refreshed Monroe Doctrine:
Re-asserting the original intent. The United States will not abide adversarial power projection into the Western Hemisphere. That includes China, Russia, Iran and non-state adversaries like the Muslim Brotherhood. Russia's shadow oil fleet in the Caribbean is a problem. So is China's debt-and-infrastructure build-out in Latin America. And Qatari influence operations. These and other problems each warrant a strategic response. For example, partnership with Panama on upgrading the Canal Zone and sidelining Chinese rail and water alternatives. Hands-on strategy in Latin America has been absent this century, as the United States exhausted itself in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has now devolved into transactionalism.
Pairing economic exchange with political restraint. U.S. relations with Latin America are bifurcating. Leftist governments are drifting towards China, while conservative ones try to orbit MAGA. Cross-pollinating domestic and international politics to this degree is volatile. The United States should establish a more stable basis for relations. Support free and fair elections and work with those duly elected; value mutually beneficial trade, aid, & investment and promote reforms to advance healthy markets and the rule of law; and seek to be the partner of choice for Latin American economies in a G2 world. Miami, not Beijing, should be the Latin American commercial hub.
Flexing security cooperation. Transnational criminal organizations are trafficking guns, drugs, and humans. They are laundering money with China. And they are corroding governments from within. Every nation owns a piece of the problem and no nation can be successful solo. The United States should start with a new security agreement with Mexico. It could be the basis of broader cooperation across the Western Hemisphere. Unfortunately, Mexico is backsliding on democracy under President Claudia Sheinbaum. She might still, though, combine rule of law reforms with action against the cartels. Successful joint U.S.–Mexico efforts to strengthen Mexican state and local governments and weaken the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels would be a major accomplishment.
This administration will not advance this version of the Monroe Doctrine. Democrats should start debating it, though. Our foreign policy must be proactive and positive, not just opposition to MAGA’s.
Please run for higher office!!!!
I am no longer a MA resident but follow your progress and support your perspective. That media treats Trump, Miller et al normally is absurd, but he has threatened media successfully so we do not see truthful reporting of actual events, most recently the release of the Jack Smith testimony, for example. There is little we can do except hope that midterm elections are held and not disrupted by Trump and Musk. Removing Trump only would lead to a worse person in Vance. Their recent assertions are ridiculous and suggest that they are desperately trying to gain support of their base.