How Trump’s Venezuela Intervention Revived the Monroe Doctrine

The administration of US President Donald Trump has taken inspiration from 19th century diplomacy in crafting its foreign policy. More than two centuries after President James Monroe declared that the Western Hemisphere is the US’s sphere of influence — an approach that came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine — the country is seeking to reassert itself in its backyard.

Trump’s administration spelled out its intention to build on the Monroe Doctrine in a national security strategy published in December. A month later, after US forces captured Venezuela’s longtime leader, Nicolas Maduro, Trump said that “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.”