It sought to warn European powers off adventures in the US’s back yard, Latin America and the Caribbean. In return, positioning the US as a protector of the newly independent nations in Latin America, the US promised not to meddle in European affairs. The US was involved, by one historian’s estimate, in at least 41 successful interventions to change governments in Latin America and the Caribbean between 1898 and 1994. While the incursion into Venezuela was “in line” with many past operations, it is only “shocking because nothing like this has happened since 1989”, says Alan McPherson, author of A Short History of US Interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean. But the sham pretence that the US is a protector of the independence of the nations of Latin America is again exposed as a lie.

Source: The Irish Times January 11, 2026 12:24 UTC