In The Aftermath Of Despot Donald's Attack On Venezuela People Are Asking, What Is The Monroe Doctrine?

In The Aftermath Of Despot Donald’s Attack On Venezuela People Are Asking, What Is The Monroe Doctrine?

In the aftermath of the United States assault on Caracas and the kidnapping of democratically elected Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, US despot Donald Trump gave a bizzare interview to press assembled at his de facto headquarters in his Mar-a-Lago compound in Palm Beach, Florida in an attempt to justify the events of that morning to the world. In doing so, Trump invoked the ‘Monroe Doctrine’ of 1823 as being central to this latest attempt at regime change by the US.

But what is the Monroe Doctrine?

The Monroe Doctrine was for decades a key principle in US foreign policy that was first introduced in 1823 by then US President James Monroe. At the time the Monroe Doctrine was announced, much of Latin America had recently gained independence from the Spanish and Portuguese empires, but it these European powers were still considering efforts to reclaim or influence their former colonies.

The United States, still an emerging state itself, was concerned that renewed European involvement in the Americas would threaten its interests in the region. President James Monroe presented the doctrine in his annual message to US Congress on the 2nd of December, 1823. Although it was called a ‘doctrine’ later on, it was not a law or treaty, but rather a statement of policy.

The doctrine had little influence at first, but over time it became a cornerstone of US foreign policy. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, multiple US presidents used the doctrine to justify greater US involvement in Latin America.

In 1904, then US president Theodore Roosevelt introduced the ‘Roosevelt Corollary’, which stated that the US had the right to intervene in Latin American countries so long as it was beneficial to US interests in the region, largely influenced by goings on in post-civil war Venezuela.

Throughout the decades the amended doctrine was used to justify countless attempts at regime change in a number of Latin American nations, with Venezuela just its latest victim. But in classic despot Donald fashion he had to put his own spin on it, terming his ‘reinterpretation’ of the Monroe Doctrine as the ‘Donroe Doctrine’.

While it remains to be seen what this ‘new’ doctrine actually means one thing is for sure, those countries who do not dance to despot Donald’s tune will be sure to feel its impact.