In 250 years since its formation the U.S.A. has never not been at war. Since independence, the U.S.A. has used armed force to seize territory and assert its power. In the post- British colonial period it declared war on the First Nations of North America and after hundred of years of treaties, treachery and butchery the native Americans were massacred and swept into reserves.
In a series of wars against Mexico, the U.S.A. seized vast territories that expanded down to the Rio Grande River. In 1823, the U.S.A. sought to assert its hegemony over Latin America with the Monroe doctrine, which declared that any attempt by European powers to intervene in the affairs of independent American nations would be considered a hostile act against the United States. The Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, in his book The Open Veins of Latin America has graphically illustrated the bloody history of U.S. interference in Latin America.
Now we are seeing the Donroe Doctrine in action. So named by the narcissistic POTUS Trump, there are military attacks on the high seas, naked threats to Cuba, Colombia, Panama and Brazil and the kidnapping of the president of Venezuela. Canada and Mexico have both faced threats to their sovereignty from the Trump regime as well as a massive roll-back of the North America Free Trade Agreement.
The naked threats of territorial seizure have extended to Greenland much to the horror of erstwhile U.S. allies in Europe. More real estate after all.
Does this mark a change in U.S. policy? It does in the sense that it reflects the most naked aggressive style of policy delivery. Not the velvet glove of covert actions, soft power, and sanctions, not the bare fist of coups and mercenary armies, this time, its the mailed fist of a massive armada of the U.S. Southern command off the coast and unprovoked attacks on Venezuela.
The people of Latin America over the past 533 years since Columbus, have accumulated experience and knowledge of how to deal with colonial powers -Spain, Portugal, England and France. They all scuttled off by the early 20th century in the face of anti-colonial struggle. The U.S. then used local agents and less visible economic methods to extract wealth and to rule by proxy in Latin America. Nevertheless, in every country there has seen uprisings and struggle against the U.S. hegemon and its puppets.
Despite its threats of war on Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba and Colombia, the U.S. dares not put boots on the ground. In Venezuela and Cuba, well organised defence militas supplement their armed forces. The Colombians have their forces on alert too. The whole continent is alarmed. Latin America is no longer a poverty-struck backwater ruled by tinpot dictators getting orders from Washington. The U.S. now offers talks. This is not to say that the U.S. is weak and harmless. But there will be a reckoning – THE PEOPLE ARE REALISING THEIR POWER.
