Latin America fears US 'sabre-rattling' is about regime change not drugs

This week, the USS Gerald R Ford — the world’s largest aircraft carrier — arrived in the Caribbean.

- Thomas Graham reports

The US now has 15,000 troops, dozens of aircraft and a fleet of warships in the region. The last time it amassed such force there was in 1989, when it invaded Panama to depose its dictator, Manuel Noriega. Now it raises the question as to whether the Trump administration plans to do the same in Venezuela, where its longtime antagonist, President Nicolás Maduro, stole an election last year.

But this US armada is already the most vivid application yet of the “Donroe doctrine”: Donald Trump's revival of the 1823 Monroe doctrine, in which the US marked the Americas as its patch — and was willing to impose its will through force.

“The Trump White House is paying more attention to Latin America than any administration in at least 30 years,” said Brian Winter, editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly. “But the question remains: how far are they willing to go?”

The naval buildup began in mid-August, prompting Maduro to call up Venezuela's civilian militia to reinforce its roughly 120,000-strong armed forces, citing the threat of invasion. Then, on 2 September, the Trump administration destroyed an alleged drug trafficking vessel just outside Venezuelan waters, killing 11 people - and posted the video online.

It was reminiscent of US drone strikes on Islamist groups such as al-Qaida, reflecting the administration’s designation of drug trafficking groups as terrorist organisations. The US claims that Maduro leads one such group — the Cártel de los Soles — and has offered a $50m bounty for information leading to his arrest.