Trump’s End Game in the Caribbean

M.A. Dworkin

Caribbean - President Donald Trump has never been a man to think in small terms. It’s not as if he is looking at world conquest, but more to make the United States the dominant force in our own hemisphere. Chase out the Russians. Scare the heck out of the Chinese, take over Venezuela, Columbia, Cuba, and bully or take over any other country that does not see his personal view on how the Western World is supposed to behave.

President Trump gave several explanations for why he ordered the Venezuelan mission to capture and bring to justice dictator Nicolas Maduro, including his obvious connections to drug cartels and the “theft” of U.S. oil rights decades ago under the former dictator Hugo Chavez. But the overall justification was his reassertion of the 200-year old Monroe Doctrine (now being referred to as the Donroe Doctrine), a policy in which the U.S. sought to shape the Western Hemisphere and defend the Americas against influence from European powers. By Trump’s actions, he has essentially declared the Western Hemisphere must be under the U.S. sphere of influence, as outlined in his new national security strategy. 

“The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal. But we’ve superseded it by a lot. By a real lot,” Trump explained recently at a Mar-a-Lago press conference. “They now call it the Donroe Doctrine.” 

After the success of the Venezuelan mission, he bragged on Fox and Friends, that with the power of the U.S. Military at his command, it could act with impunity to impose his will on countries in America’s backyard. 

“We can do it again, too. Nobody can stop us. There’s nobody that has the capability that we have,” Trump said.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chair, Dimitry Medvedev, the influential Kremlin voice who once served as Russian President, stated that Trump’s actions are “Illegal” but also have a “certain consistency.” In his remarks to state news agency Tass, he described the capture of Maduro and his wife as a “clear violation of international law.”

“At the same time, it must be acknowledged that, despite the obvious illegality of Trump’s behavior, he has a certain consistency,” Medvedev stated. “He and his team are very staunchly defending their country’s national interests.” 

But not every country is willing to allow Trump to pull off the type of quasi-military coup as he did in Venezuela. After the Maduro snatch, Trump felt bold enough to threaten Columbia’s President Gustavo Petro, with whom he has sparred in recent months.

“He’s making cocaine, and they’re sending it into the United States, so he does have to watch his ass,” Trump told reporters. 

Petro described Washington’s attack on Venezuela as an “assault on the sovereignty of Latin America.” He called the U.S. threats against his country “an undue interference in Columbia’s internal matters under international law.” 

Petro is a former leftist fighter. “I swore not to touch a weapon again,” he said. “But for the homeland I will take up arms again.”

The two leaders have frequently traded insults, but Trump’s threats have become increasingly hostile in recent days. 

     “Columbia is very sick, too, run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” Trump said. “And he’s not going to be doing it very long.”

But in Columbia there is more opposition to worry about than in Venezuela.

“Come and get me,” taunted Columbian President Gustavo Petro. “I’m waiting for you here. Don’t threaten me. I’ll wait for you right here if you want to.”

      Also, Columbian left wing liberals operating on the border with Venezuela vowed to resist Trump’s imperial plans. The powerful National Liberation Army (ELN) which controls cocaine trafficking routes along Columbia’s border with Venezuela, and was tolerated by Maduro, called on “all patriots to confront the imperial plans against Venezuela and the people of the Global South.” 

Writing on X, the ELN said they are prepared to spend their “last drop of blood fighting the U.S. empire.”

So the alarm bells have been rung loud and clear in South America. Trump’s next foray into the region may not go as easily as his last. Shadows and nightmarish images of the years’ long battles in Afghanistan and Vietnam are now suddenly cast over the jungles of Columbia. The real question is: Does the American public have the stomach for a prolongated war in Columbia? Or is it that no one is able or willing to stand up to the 47th President’s will?

On the other hand, any conquest or replacement of regimes in Cuba could very possibly be pulled off in an easy manner. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, (very possibly the next President of the United States), has had his sights set on dismantling the cruel Communist regime that runs Cuba for quite some time.

“I’m not going to talk to you about what our future steps are going to be and our policies are going to be right now in this regard,” Rubio said. “But I don’t think it’s any mystery that we are not big fans of the Cuban regime, who, by the way, are the ones that were propping up Maduro.”

His remarks come on the heels of Trump signaling at a recent news conference that his administration will begin targeting Cuba’s government next. 

“I think Cuba is going to be something we’ll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation right now, a very badly failing nation, and we want to help the people,” Trump stated. “It’s very similar to Venezuela in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba, but we want to also help the people that were forced out of Cuba and are living in this country.”  

“The Cuban government is a huge problem…If I lived in Havana and I was in government, I’d be concerned.” Rubio said as he recently issued a stern warning to Cuban officials. “Understand, it was Cubans that guarded Maduro,” the Secretary of State explained. “He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.”

Trump and his administration have long been vocal critics of the Cuban government and its President Miguel Diaz-Canel. After Maduro’s arrest, Trump did not rule out action against the Cuban regime.

“Cuba looks like it is ready to fall,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “I don’t know if they’re going to hold out. Cuba only survives because of Venezuela” he referred to their reliance on Venezuelan oil. 

Influential Republican hawkish Senator Lindsey Graham also issued a warning to Cuba after the Maduro arrest. 

“You just wait for Cuba. Cuba is a communist dictatorship that’s killed priests and nuns. They’ve preyed on their own people. Their days are numbered.” 

Cuba’s Diaz-Canel could feel the Trump sights being set on his overthrow as he spoke out against the Maduro arrest, calling it “an unacceptable, vulgar and barbarian kidnapping.”

The question remains, is Trump truly looking to Make America Great Again by cleaning up the cocaine-spewing, narco-terrorist dictatorships in the Caribbean, or is he merely looking to continue his megalomaniacal ways by plastering his name on every building and entity he sees fit in the Western Hemisphere, along with branding the Donald J. Trump name down in the history books as the great American Conqueror of the 21st Century.

Perhaps Elon Musk, whose relationship with Trump appears to be on the mend, said it best for those who hope the former is true:

“Congratulations President Trump! This is a win for the world and a clear message to evil dictators everywhere.”