Trump extends U.S. control over Latin America in less than two years

Since Donald Trump returned to the White House just over a year and a half ago, the United States has managed to control the Western Hemisphere, through military and political means, one of the ambitions stated in the , published in December 2025, which emphasized that the American continent should be the sphere of influence of the United States and that any “foreign interference” should be expelled, a clear reference to the persistent influence of China in Latin America.

Read more Health denies healthcare collapse in Ceuta and places the emergency on the street

Washington has rapidly deployed the new version of the Monroe Doctrine, called ‘Donroe’ as a play on syllables with Trump’s name, to consolidate its dominance in what is once again its backyard with the goals of stopping Beijing, controlling access to essential raw materials, and improving cooperation against drug trafficking and migratory flows.

The United States has used force to attack alleged ‘drug speedboats’ for months and has deposed and kidnapped the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. Politically, it has benefited from seven consecutive electoral victories of conservative candidates, from center to far right, all of whom are docile with Washington. In many of these elections, Trump has supported his candidate. In Honduras, U.S. aid was conditioned on the victory of Nancy Asfura, who won by less than one point after a three-week count. In Argentina, he came to the rescue of Javier Milei with a $20 billion loan before the legislative elections. He also repeatedly backed Abelardo de la Espriella, another very narrow victory by less than one point.

It remains to be seen what tactic Trump will use in Cuba, an island he has suffocated with an energy blockade, to overthrow the communist regime, the last relic of the Cold War alongside Daniel Ortega’s Nicaragua, which has just proclaimed its decision not to hold free elections again. Cuba would be the icing on the cake of strategic control of the Western Hemisphere, after having neutralized China in the management of the Panama Canal and coercing Canada and Mexico with trade tariffs and, in the latter case, constantly threatening military intervention to fight drug cartels.

The United States, right at the start of the far-right Abelardo de la Espriella’s term, announced $1 billion in aid to Colombia, and the new president has responded by deciding to integrate Bogotá into the Shield of the Americas. The amount is much lower than the $9.6 billion Washington invested in Plan Colombia over 16 years. But now the White House scorns this type of agreement. It has an ‘America plan,’ designed based on this peculiar shield that held its first summit in Miami last March. This U.S. initiative, joined by 18 countries – including some with progressive governments like Guatemala, Jamaica, or Guyana – allows Trump to already have a geographic corridor and full freedom to extend his tentacles in Latin America.

The platform has given birth to a first child, the Coalition Against the Cartels of the Americas (A3C), a tool that grants Trump free rein to organize joint operations. Its first decision was to end Operation Southern Lance to destroy ‘drug speedboats.’ With a toll of 60 boats attacked and 221 dead – according to the independent NGO Office in Washington for Latin American Affairs (WOLA) – it has transformed into the Joint Task Force of the Western Hemisphere, defined by the Southcom commander, General Francis Donovan, as the executive arm of Southern Command “to face threats.”

So far, the only joint operations carried out by the United States on South American territory were launched in Ecuador and, although details have barely emerged, this week the Washington Post revealed a covert CIA program with surveillance operations of planes that took off from El Salvador and unusual drone bombings of fishing boats in the Galápagos Islands. Regarding the skirmishes on Ecuadorian soil, the organization Human Rights Watch published a report last July documenting attacks and torture against civilians. “Security cooperation between the United States and Ecuador has been too opaque and dangerous for Ecuadorians,” said Juanita Goebertus, director for the Americas of the NGO.

Read more The second miracle of Ferran Torres

De la Espriella has declared the end of dialogue politics and part of that $1 billion aid package promised by Trump includes coordinated operations between the two countries and the eradication of coca crops. “The new government has correctly identified many of the security challenges Colombia faces, but a hardline approach alone is unlikely to solve them and could trigger a resurgence of violence,” says Renata Segura, director of the Latin America and Caribbean Program at the International Crisis Group (ICG), which has just presented the report The End of ‘Total Peace’ and the Risks of a Hardline Policy in Colombia. “The incoming president should also avoid repeating past mistakes, when military deployments caused cycles of violence and undermined citizens’ trust in state forces,” Segura warns.

From Central America to Tierra del Fuego, the Andes mountain range is at Trump’s mercy. Keiko Fujimori wants to improve relations with Washington and has promised to unblock the purchase of 24 F-16 Block 70 planes from the U.S. – worth $3.5 billion. Fujimori, whose father opened the country to China, the Asian giant that has become Peru’s top trading partner, has also appointed Carlos Espá, a former U.S. embassy worker in Lima, as foreign minister. If in October Lula da Silva lost the presidency of Brazil to the far right of the Bolsonaro family, the whole of South America would be in the hands of conservative governments except for chavista Venezuela, a country de facto intervened by Washington, and Uruguay.

After De La Espriella’s victory, one-third of Latin America’s population lives under far-right governments and half under right-wing party directives, although the boundaries of political spheres are blurred, with options where populism and caudillismo matter more than ideological affinities. Ecuadorian Daniel Noboa won the elections with a centrist proposal but has drifted into authoritarianism with far-right-like postulates, partially stopped by defeat in a referendum that sought to expand his power and the installation of U.S. military bases by reforming the constitution.

The governments of the conservative wave in Latin America share their hardline language against organized crime and migration, and the promise to reverse slow economic growth, which averaged 1.5% between 2016 and 2025, according to Cepal data. Chile and Peru are going to militarize their borders. And the leaders of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama have promised the construction of mega-prisons in the style of Bukele. But another trait that unites them is loyalty to Trump.

The deep ideological divide now splitting the continent is seen in details such as the Colombian government’s refusal to allow rescue teams from Mexico, which have an international reputation, during this week’s earthquake. Colombia only accepted specialized personnel from the U.S., Ecuador, Israel, and El Salvador, all allied governments.

Although more than half of Latin America’s inhabitants are governed by the left, thanks to the demographic weight of Mexico and Brazil, territorially the United States has managed to establish a corridor to control cocaine-producing countries and drug trafficking routes. It only lacks finding a formula to act in Mexico, which produces the fentanyl that infiltrates the U.S., but Claudia Sheinbaum will finish her term in 2030, after Donald Trump does, and trusts in the success of her delaying tactic.

Read more A fight between ethnic groups in Lleida ends with three injured by stabbing and one arrested