The U.S. strikes on Venezuela and seizure of the country¡¯s president have laid bare Washington¡¯s focus on the Western Hemisphere, a shift that could push Latin American nations closer to China while simultaneously emboldening Beijing in the Indo-Pacific and reducing American footprint there.
¡°This is where we live, and we¡¯re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors and rivals of the United States. It¡¯s as simple as that,¡± U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC¡¯s ¡°Meet the Press¡± on Sunday.
The stance echoed what U.S. President Donald Trump has termed a ¡°Donroe Doctrine,¡± a play on words that merges his name with the ¡°Monroe Doctrine,¡± which established the hemisphere as a U.S. sphere of influence and warned rivals not to interfere in affairs there.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.