The recent US capture of Maduro has sent shockwaves across Latin America, deepening Venezuela’s political crisis. US forces detained Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, leading President Donald Trump to conduct a celebratory press conference. There, he laid out a forceful vision for U.S. influence in the region, highlighting developing political differences , focusing on developing political differences as Trump-aligned leaders gain relevance from Mexico to Argentina.
Trump’s Bold Stance
In his celebratory news conference following Maduro’s capture, President Donald Trump presented an exceptionally candid perspective of the use of US power in Latin America, revealing sharp political divisions from Mexico to Argentina as Trump-friendly leaders emerge across the continent.
“American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again,” Trump declared just hours before Maduro was led through the offices of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in New York.
The event constituted a shocking climax of months of escalation in Washington’s conflict with Caracas, bringing back memories of explicit US engagement in the region.
Since taking office less than a year ago, and immediately declaring the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, Trump has conducted boat raids against accused drug traffickers in the Caribbean, authorized a military blockade of Venezuelan oil exports, and meddled in Honduras and Argentina elections.
He has used tariffs, sanctions, and military force to put pressure on Latin American governments to accomplish his administration’s aims of combating drug trafficking, stopping immigration, safeguarding critical natural resources, and limiting Russia and China’s influence.
The new, forceful foreign policy — which Trump now refers to as the “Donroe Doctrine,” following 19th-century President James Monroe’s notion that the United States should dominate its sphere of influence has divided the hemisphere between allies and rivals.
“The Trump administration in multiple different ways has been trying to reshape Latin American politics,” said Gimena Sanchez, Andes director for the Washington Office on Latin America, a think tank. “They’re showing their teeth in the whole region.”
US Capture of Maduro Put Regional Divisions on Display
The dramatic events of Saturday, including Trump’s pledge to “run” Venezuela and take control of its oil industry, energized opposing sides on the polarized continent.Argentine President Javier Milei, Trump’s ideological soulmate, characterized one side as supporting “democracy, the defense of life, freedom and property.”
“On the other side,” he added, “are those accomplices of a narco-terrorist and bloody dictatorship that has been a cancer for our region.”
Other right-wing leaders in South America used Maduro’s departure to declare their ideological support for Trump.
In Ecuador, conservative President Daniel Noboa delivered a severe warning to all supporters of Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s mentor and the founder of the Bolivarian revolution: “Your structure will completely collapse across the entire continent.”
In Chile, where a presidential election last month sparked by concerns about Venezuelan immigration brought down the leftist government, far-right President-elect José Antonio Kast hailed the US raid as “great news for the region.”
However, left-wing leaders in Latin America, like Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum, Chile’s Gabriel Boric, and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, expressed deep concern over what they viewed as US bullying.
Lula stated that the raid created “an extremely dangerous precedent.” Sheinbaum said that it ” jeopardizes regional stability.” Boric argued that it “violated an essential pillar of international law.” Petro described the incident as “aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America.”
Trump has already warned or threatened all four leaders for failing to comply with his demands, while praising and bailing out allies who demonstrate loyalty.
The Attack Recalls a Painful History of US Intervention
For Lula, one of the few remaining icons of the so-called “pink tide,” the leftist politicians who dominated Latin American politics from the turn of the twenty-first century, Trump’s military action in Venezuela “recalls the worst moments of interference in the politics of Latin America.”
In the early 1900s, American troops occupied Central American and Caribbean nations to promote the interests of US companies like Chiquita, while in the 1970s, Washington supported repressive military dictatorships in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay to counter Soviet influence.
The historical parallels in Maduro’s downfall caused not just strong outrage and mass protests among Trump’s left-wing opponents, but also unsettling reactions from some of his closest supporters.
President Nayib Bukele, who is usually outspoken in his support for Trump, was unusually subdued in El Salvador, a country still haunted by a terrible civil war between a repressive US-allied government and leftist guerrillas. After Maduro’s capture on Saturday, he uploaded a meme ridiculing him, but he did not express the joy that his regional peers did.
In Bolivia, where old anti-American dogmas die hard due to memories of the bloody US-backed drug war, new conservative President Rodrigo Paz praised Maduro’s removal as fulfilling “the true popular will” of Venezuelans who attempted to vote the autocrat out of office in a widely considered to be fraudulent 2024 election.
“Bolivia reaffirms that the way out for Venezuela is to respect the vote,” Paz told the press.
His message hasn’t aged well. Hours later, Trump stated he will deal with Maduro’s loyalist vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, instead of the opposition that won the 2024 election.
“The Trump administration, it appears at this point, is making decisions about the democratic future of Venezuela without referring back to the democratic result,” said Kevin Whitaker, former deputy chief of mission for the State Department in Caracas.
When asked Sunday about when Venezuela will hold democratic elections, Trump responded: “I think we’re looking more at getting it fixed.”
As the Right Rises, Trump Puts Enemies on Notice
The Trump administration’s attack on Venezuela is part of its larger effort to build a column of friendly or at least compliant governments throughout Latin America, sailing with the political winds blowing across the region.
Recent presidential elections in Chile and Honduras have elevated tough, Trump-like presidents who oppose immigration, stress security, and promise a return to better, bygone ages devoid of globalization and “wokeness.”
“The president is going to be looking for allied and partner nations in the hemisphere who share his kind of broader ideological affinity,” said Alexander Gray, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington research institute.
Those who disapprove with that outlook were given notice this weekend. According to Trump, Cuba’s Communist government “looks like it’s ready to fall.” He criticized Sheinbaum’s failure to root out Mexican cartels, stating that “something’s going to have to be done with Mexico.” He repeated claims that Petro “likes making cocaine” and warned that “he’s not going to be doing it for very long.”
“We’re in the business of having countries around us that are viable and successful, where the oil can flow freely,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. “It’s our hemisphere.”Finally, the US capture of Maduro caused debates throughout Latin America, highlighting Venezuela’s political crisis and its effects on regional alliances and power dynamics.
