Pentagon seeks to rally Latin America behind new Monroe Doctrine

The Pentagon is seeking to rally Latin American governments behind a revamped “Monroe Doctrine,” a policy critics associate with past U.S. intervention, as President Donald Trump’s administration frames the effort as defense and migration policy. Speaking in Cusco, Peru, Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby invoked the “Donroe Doctrine” and outlined a shift in which the U.S. military began striking drug boats in the fall and helped depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January. The Pentagon is also planning joint counter-narcotics strikes with aligned countries, building on activity in Ecuador. Colby said Washington’s goal is empowering regional states, including at a Defense Ministers conference that includes Canada. The push follows elections bringing right-leaning, pro-Trump governments across the region, including Peru’s Keiko Fujimori and Colombia’s Abelardo de la Espriella, after a reversal of the early-2020s “pink tide.”