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President Donald Trump and his administration are reviving the Monroe Doctrine – more than a decade after former President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry said the centuries-old policy was dead.
The restoration of the Monroe Doctrine, which sought to limit European influence in Latin America and to protect U.S. influence in the region, comes as the Trump administration released its National Security Strategy this month that redirects U.S. attention to the Western Hemisphere in an intentional effort to better prioritize protecting the U.S. homeland amid the Trump administration’s crusade against the influx of drugs into the U.S. from Latin America.
“President Trump has prioritized enforcing the Monroe Doctrine unlike any other President in decades,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “He was elected on his promise to eliminate the scourge of drug deaths in our country, including his commitment to secure the southern border and take on the cartels. He has delivered on both fronts by stopping the flow of drugs by land and by sea.”
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“The President will continue to put Americans first by securing our Hemisphere, protecting our homeland, and striking designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores, just as he was elected to do,” Kelly said.
The Monroe Doctrine, first introduced in 1823 by then-President James Monroe, specifically cautioned European nations against further colonization in Central and South America. Later, it was used to justify U.S. actions in the region as an “international police power” under former President Theodore Roosevelt, according to the National Archives.
The Trump administration’s approach is a stark departure from precedent laid out during the Obama administration, where Kerry ripped the longstanding policy to shreds. Then, Kerry claimed that the policy wasn’t necessary as the U.S. sought a more equal relationship with Latin American countries – rather than one hinging upon interventionism.
“The era of the Monroe Doctrine is over,” Kerry said in 2013 at the Organization of American States.
“The relationship that we seek and that we have worked hard to foster is not about a United States declaration about how and when it will intervene in the affairs of other American states,” Kerry said. “It’s about all of our countries viewing one another as equals, sharing responsibilities, cooperating on security issues, and adhering not to doctrine, but to the decisions that we make as partners to advance the values and the interests that we share.”
The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy explicitly calls for reviving the Monroe Doctrine as a means of reasserting U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere. The document dubs the effort the “Trump Corollary,” a nod to Roosevelt’s expansion of the original doctrine.
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“After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region,” the National Security Strategy said.
“We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere,” the document said. “This ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests.”
The Trump administration has taken an aggressive approach toward cracking down on the entry of drugs into the U.S., and has designated drug cartel groups like Tren de Aragua, Sinaloa, and others as foreign terrorist organizations.
Additionally, Trump announced that he had declared Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime a foreign terrorist organization, as the Trump administration has conducted more than 20 strikes in Latin American waters since September targeting alleged drug boats.
“The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping,” Trump said in a social media post on Dec. 16. “For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.”
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The strikes have put even more pressure on Maduro to step down, and Trump said on Dec. 22 that he believed it would be “smart” for Maduro to depart his post. The Trump administration has routinely said it does not consider Maduro a legitimate head of state and claims he is the leader of a drug cartel.
Additionally, the strikes have attracted increased scrutiny from Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. While some lawmakers questioned the strikes’ legality from the outset, scrutiny has intensified in recent weeks after reports revealed a second strike was carried out on a vessel that initially left survivors in September.
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For example, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va.; Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a war powers resolution on Dec. 3 to bar Trump from using U.S. armed forces to engage in hostilities within or against Venezuela.
The Trump administration has routinely stated it has the authority to conduct those attacks.
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