VENEZUELANS WELCOMED THEM WITH FLOWERS

In 1989, the United States conducted a military operation that resulted in the arrest of Panama's leader, Manuel Noriega, on his own territory. He was taken to the United States, put on trial, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. This occurred during the presidency of George H.W. Bush. He was accused of creating a drug cartel, illegally importing drugs into the US, selling them there, as well as robbing property and committing other crimes. As soon as his prison term ended, Noriega was transferred to a French prison, since a French court found that he and his wife had laundered large sums of money through French banks and conducted a secret drug trade there. Then, a Panamanian court found Noriega guilty of political murders and sentenced him to 20 years. He moved from one country's prison to another and died in 2017 at the age of 89.

There is a principle that defines US foreign policy: the Monroe Doctrine. It is an initiative first named after the fifth US President, James Monroe. As soon as the new continent was discovered, the dominant maritime powers at the time—Spain, England, the Netherlands, Portugal, and France—seized the entire American continent. Europeans, who had been creating states and warring with each other for two thousand years on their small continent, when they discovered the new continent, saw people fleeing there to gain freedom and live in peace—they became the first American immigrants. Therefore, 250 years ago, North Americans declared their independence and expelled the English colonizers.

The main purpose of the Monroe Doctrine was to expel Europeans who had seized the new continent and to free the peoples of North and South America from imperialist domination and oppression, allowing them to gain their own independence. The constant European wars for territorial expansion and their traditional regimes of struggle were seen as a threat to the national interests of the newly independent United States.

After the US, Haiti declared independence in 1804. The island was first a Spanish colony, then the French seized half of it. It became the first independent state of Black people on the American continent. Then, in 1821, Mexico, a neighbour of the US, gained independence. After gaining independence from Spain, Mexico was occupied by the French. However, under pressure from the US, they withdrew their troops. Then, Texas declared independence and soon joined the US at its own request. On the Yucatán Peninsula, the Republic of Yucatán was proclaimed, separating from Mexico, which caused chaos, and eventually, California and New Mexico also joined the US.

In the northern part of South America, under the leadership of Simón Bolívar, an uprising broke out, the Spanish were expelled, Greater Colombia was created, but soon Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, and other territories separated and became independent states.

By the end of the 19th century, the entire American continent consisted of independent states. The last Spanish colony, Cuba, was liberated during the Spanish-American War. By defeating Spain, they also liberated the Philippines, a Spanish colony. In addition, Alaska was bought from Russia, and Louisiana from France. After the abolition of slavery, land was purchased in West Africa for Black people wishing to return to their homeland, and the independent state of Liberia was created for them. Thus, the original principle of the Monroe Doctrine was fully realized on the new continent. In this, the US helped these countries to varying degrees or strongly influenced them.

From this arose the view that the US had fully secured its security, leading to an isolationist policy: staying away from the constant wars in Europe and Asia, not interfering in their chaos and political conflicts.

When World War I broke out and the whole world was drenched in blood, the American continent watched from the sidelines. After three years of observation, in 1917, by decision of President Wilson, the US entered the war and quickly ended this bloody slaughter. If Japan had not suddenly attacked the US, would America, which ranked 16th in armament after Romania, have remained a neutral observer and helper in World War II?

Territorial expansion through wars, robberies, and colonization of other peoples contradicts the principle of the Monroe Doctrine and is the basis of US foreign policy. However, immediately after the end of the world wars, with the start of the Cold War, sharp changes occurred in US foreign policy. The most powerful country—the US—took on the decisive role in establishing world order, believing that this would ensure its security. When communist North Korea forcibly attacked the South, by UN decision, armies of 16 countries entered the war under the leadership of the US armed forces. When communist Vietnam attacked the South, the US also sent troops there. The wars in Korea and Vietnam are heavily criticized; the American government indeed made many mistakes, but if it had not intervened, all of East Asia might have fallen under a communist regime.

Latin America, in America's sight, was not calm. In many countries, dictatorial regimes, coups d'état, and military juntas have constantly occurred. In Paraguay, Haiti, and other countries, regimes passed from father to son for a long time. However, the US mostly limited itself to verbal criticism rather than forceful intervention. But in 1962, the USSR supported a coup in Cuba and placed nuclear missiles there. That directly threatened America's national interests and nearly led to World War III. That was a direct violation of the Monroe Doctrine. It left a big lesson. In Nicaragua, which received Soviet Union support for its regime, the US secretly conducted the Iran-Contra operation to support rebels, but when it was exposed, a major scandal erupted. In Chile, the socialist-communist coalition of Allende's party, which won elections, received huge support from the USSR and Cuba, leading the country to ruin. The US most strongly supported Pinochet's military regime. President Reagan sent troops to the small island of Grenada with a population of 150,000 because Cuba was building a strategic airfield there with Soviet money.

After the collapse of the USSR, a socialist movement spread in Latin America for some time. It encompassed many South American countries, including large ones like Brazil and Argentina. But the brightest was the Hugo Chávez regime, which won elections in Venezuela in 1999. He proclaimed the Bolivarian revolution and Latin American socialism. This calm country suddenly went mad, receiving massive support from Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba. After Chávez's death, his successor Maduro continued the "socialist revolution" with money, military, and technical assistance from these countries. China provided Maduro with credits and aid worth 60 billion dollars, 40% of all its foreign credits. Russia focused on supplying Venezuela with modern weapons, even delivering strategic bombers.

In Venezuela, a one-person regime was established for many years. Like in China, Russia, Iran, and Belarus. Not a fifteen-headed monster, but a one-headed one. Cut off the head—the regime disappears. The people were almost entirely opposed to this regime.

Trump first declared the fight against drug trafficking, equating it to international terrorism. Venezuela itself does not produce drugs, but it has become the main transit window for goods from neighbouring drug cartels to the US. It opened a legal basis for intervention in Venezuela as part of the fight against international terrorism. Maduro was arrested in a one-hour military operation and handed over to a New York court. In a word, this is how the main principle of US foreign policy—the Monroe Doctrine—was put into practice.

The we explain the overthrow of the brutal regime in Venezuela as a desire to make the people happy or American greed for the country's substantial oil reserves—many different interpretations will now appear. Even if that's true, it's not the primary goal or America's interest. It's simply the principle of foreign policy—the Monroe Doctrine.

2026.01.04