U.S. expands military and political pressure across Latin America under Trump
The Trump administration has intensified both military actions and political backing for right-wing regimes throughout Latin America, highlighted by a January 2026 operation that seized Venezuela’s president and his spouse.
Under Donald Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy, the United States has revived a Monroe-Doctrine-style approach, demanding exclusive contracts for American firms and pushing out rival infrastructure projects. This policy manifested in a January 3, 2026 assault on Venezuela, where U.S. forces bombed targets, entered Caracas and abducted President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, with Trump proclaiming plans to run the country.
Parallel to direct force, the U.S. has killed at least 227 people by destroying small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September 2025, and it now participates in counternarcotics operations in Ecuador, Colombia, Honduras and elsewhere. Politically, Washington has offered multi-billion-dollar financial lifelines to right-wing candidates like Javier Milei, praising their victories as U.S.-backed. The region’s media landscape is tightly controlled by a handful of conglomerates, stifling progressive narratives, while the National Endowment for Democracy funds opposition groups in nations where American sway is limited. Finally, the spread of evangelical Christianity, originally promoted as an anti-communist tool, continues to influence policy and social issues across Latin America.
Why it matters
U.S. actions are reshaping governance, security and media freedom throughout Latin America.
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