CH 38. MARCO, DON’T RETURN US TO U.S. IMPERIALISM IN LATIN AMERICA
Did I tell you I’m a wise elder woman? By that, I mean I recall U.S. imperialism in Latin America in the 1950s and beyond. I remember the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis, the Contras and Sandinistas, Papa Doc and Baby Doc, the death squads and Óscar Romero. I remember the CIA overthrow of Salvador Allende, his replacement by brutal General Pinochet, and the people I met with in Chile shortly after his ouster who told me of the murders, disappearances, and torture.
I remember advocating for Cesar Chavez and his National Farm Workers Association for mostly Latin American migrants and for Russel Means and his American Indian Movement against brutality and discrimination against Native Americans, including Native Latin American immigrants. I recall the passionate voices of Catholic scholars and students I met in Mexico who advocated for Liberation Theology, and those in Chiapas who wanted their land returned. I remember the cries of Cubans: “Viva la Revolutión, Viva Castro!” And I remember my student, crippled by war, who showed me his “School of the America’s” handbook for jungle warfare and gave me the medals he no longer wanted because he knew I believed he wasn’t the cruel person they taught him to be. He is my hero.
Sadly, Marco Rubio and Donald Trump are taking us back to the days of Latin American imperialism with both economic and military aggression. Let me provide examples.
Argentina: Trump wants to give his buddy, President Javier Milei, $20 billion in aid (yes, billion!) to resurrect his economy prior to an upcoming election. You remember Milei, the guy next to Elon with the chainsaw at CPAP. This is to “Make Argentina Great Again.”
Brazil: Did I tell you I love President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (a.k.a. Lula)? Trump despises him because Brazil’s judiciary convicted his authoritarian predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, of an attempted coup against Lula. At the recent UN General Assembly, Lula said, “Throughout the world, anti-democratic forces are trying to subjugate institutions and stifle freedoms. They worship violence…” (1)
Cuba: Despite improved relations under Obama and Biden, Trump reimposed sanctions, a trade embargo, the designation of State Sponsor of Terrorism, strict limits on remittances, and a U.S. travel ban. Cuba, incidentally, sought U.S. aid just after the revolution, was refused, and next turned to the [then] Soviet Union.
Marco—I know you’ve disliked every Cuban leader from Fidel to the present. And I know your parents disliked the U.S. propped prerevolution Batista regime, which favored the rich over the poor. Your parents were poor and immigrated to the U.S., where the Statue of Liberty says, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses…” What do your parents think now when you send your fellow Cuban Americans to be detained, disappeared, and murdered in Alligator Alcatraz?
El Salvador: President Nayib Bukele is the self-proclaimed “world’s coolest dictator” and shares in a Trump bromance. The two have secret deals, just revealed in court, of Trump approval of a $4.7 million contract for a notorious Salvadoran mega prison to incarcerate U.S. deportees with no protection from torture, indefinite confinement, or other abuses (and certainly not with any due process). (2)
Haiti: Yes, I know they all have AIDS and eat cats and dogs. (Not true—I’m quoting Trump and J.D.) Trump terminated TPS (temporary protected status) for Haitian immigrants and imposed a travel ban. He proposed the UN plan to bring up to 5,500 uniformed personnel to fight off Haitian criminal gangs that are truly decimating the country. The idea is good, but will likely consist of mostly U.S. fighters, who (if they heed Trump), will ignore the Geneva conventions against war crimes.
Mexico: Trump has been threatening devastating tariffs and military intervention for a long time. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum hasn’t backed down. In her 1st State of the Nation Address, she said, “Under no circumstance will we accept interventions, interference, or any other act from abroad.” (3) Did I tell you that I also love President Sheinbaum?
Panama: As the world well knows, Marco wants the Panama Canal back. Only after coercing Panamanian economic concessions did the U.S. back off on military force.
Venezuela: I’ve saved the worst till last. Trump terminated TPS for Venezuelan immigrants and imposed a partial travel ban and sanctions. He placed a $50 million bounty on Venezuelan President Maduro’s head and ordered the U.S. military to blow up 4 speedboats with at least 21 people killed because “they carried cocaine.”
Three points: 1) Only 10-13% of the global supply of cocaine goes through Venezuela, and cocaine causes far fewer overdoses than fentanyl (which doesn’t come from Venezuela).
2) Many believe the folks on the boats were fishermen and possibly trafficked persons or people selling gasoline. The U.S. provided no evidence of drugs. Marco said of the 1st assault, “"Instead of interdicting it... [we] blew it up. And it'll happen again". (4) It did.
3) The real story isn’t about cocaine and TPS. It’s about Trump’s vengeance for Nicolás Maduro. Maduro accuses the U.S. of pursuing "regime change through military threat," as follows:
The U.S. deployed a large naval presence near Venezuela, including warships, a submarine, and thousands of Marines, with the stated purpose of combatting drug cartels. After Venezuelan fighter jets flew near a U.S. naval ship, Trump warned if they interfered again, they would be "shot down".
In Trump’s General Assembly speech, he threatened "every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the USA [with blowing] you out of existence." He specifically named Maduro as overseeing these "terrorists and trafficking networks". (5)
And on 10-2-2025, Trump notified Congress it had determined we are in a "non-international armed conflict" with drug cartels, providing a legal basis for military strikes against them. Make no mistake; this is intended for Venezuela. (6)
This is not what the Venezuelan people want. According to an opposition politician, “The cost for us Venezuelans, what will it be? A bloodless U.S. ‘extraction” of Mr. Maduro is the stuff of Netflix.” (7) Venezuelans want diplomacy, not the U.S. military.
Marco, you didn’t like a military takeover of Cuba. But you like the idea of a U.S. military takeover of another Latin American government? Whatever happened to everyone’s values? Stop this madness now.
(1)“‘Our democracy is Non-Negotiable’, President Lula of Brazil Tells General Assembly,” UN, 9-23-25, https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/09/1165920
(2)Nick Penzenstadler and Eduardo Cuevas, “Trump Administration’s $4.7 million Contract for El Salvador Prison Revealed,” USA Today, 9-10-2025, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/09/09/trump-el-salvador-prison-cecot-agreement-revealed/86063219007/
(3) Megan Janetsky, AP, “From Trump to Social Programs: Mexico’s First Female President Takes Stock After a Year in Office,” 9-1-2025, https://apnews.com/article/sheinbaum-mexico-address-trump-cartels-d42a9294cf21b7c0404c84ab259b8adf
(4) State Department, “Rubio on Venezuelan Boat Strike: ‘We Blew It Up,'” 9-3-2025, https://www.nbcmiami.com/video/news/national-international/rubio-venezuela-boat-strike-we-blew-it-up/3686553/
(5) U.S. Department of State, “President Trump Delivers Remarks to the United Nations General Assembly,” 9-23-2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw9foqNRpyE
(6) Mariam Khan, ABC News, “US Is Engaged In Formal 'Armed Conflict' With 'Terrorist' Drug Cartels, Trump Says,” 10-2-2025, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-engaged-formal-armed-conflict-terrorist-drug-cartels/story?id=126159868#:~:text=The%20notice%20to%20Congress%20comes,to%20take%20on%20drug%20cartels.
(7) Julie Turkewitz, “Nation Braces for Possible Military Action That Many Believe is Aimed at Maduro,” NYT, 9-29-2025
Dr. Jacqueline Murray Brux
Economist and Organizer of OUTRAGE!
Author
• Political Economy, Nationalistic Populism, and Immigration (college text), 2025 https://www.routledge.com/Polit.../Brux/p/book/9781032994307
• The Global Intersection Between Nationalistic Populism and Immigration, 2025, https://bookstore.emerald.com/the-global-intersection-of-nationalistic-populism-and-immigration-hb-9781837089536.html
• A Populist, a Pope, and the Soul of a Nation: Fratelli Tutti in an Age of Global Trumpism, 2023 https://wipfandstock.com/.../a-populist-a-pope-and-the.../
• Economic Issues and Policy, 8th, 2022, https://wessexlearning.com/.../author/jacqueline-murray-brux