Reward countries that toe the line, punish those that don't: that's how Trump is exerting control in Latin America | Jordana Timerman

"Throughout 2025, the first year of Donald Trump's second term, analysts have obsessively parsed potential US military incursions into a hemisphere once defined by its unified defence of national sovereignty. But the fixation on whether Washington's escalating pressure on Nicolas Maduro presages a physical military invasion of Venezuela has distracted from the real story: the larger shift towards direct intervention has already happened, and it has faced remarkably little resistance."

"More than 100 people have been killed in US maritime strikes that experts characterise as extrajudicial executions, and the loudest objections have come not from Latin American presidents or regional organisations, but from the US Congress. Washington doesn't need an invasion to upend the hemispheric order; Trump is already its new centre of gravity. He has redefined US power with an imperial restoration that no longer bothers with the greater good narratives Washington once used to justify its actions."

For a generation Latin America experienced unstable stability, remaining democratic and free of interstate war despite protests, scandals and armed violence. In 2025 the United States under Donald Trump shifted toward overt, transactional intervention across the hemisphere. US maritime strikes have killed more than 100 people and have been characterised by experts as extrajudicial executions, drawing stronger objections from the US Congress than from regional governments. The Trump administration has redefined US power through an explicit, punitive discipline—the so-called Donroe doctrine—prioritising coercion over previous narratives of the greater good and exerting decisive influence over regional elections and political outcomes.

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