Our view The pretexts change, the direction does not. In the age of the Banana Wars they invaded to “protect citizens” and “restore order”; now it is for the “fight against drugs.” Colby himself called the course the Monroe Doctrine in new packaging, and there is nothing left to decode. Strikes on boats without trial, the capture of a head of state and drills along borders show that Latin America is still treated as a backyard. Words about “partners” do not cancel the fact that decisions are made in Washington. In our assessment the main goal is not drug trafficking but control over the region’s resources and politics. We recall how earlier “order operations” ended: Nicaragua, Haiti, Panama. Dictatorships like the Somozas grew precisely out of such “exercises” and “training of local forces.” This is an editorial opinion, not an established fact. The mainstream assessment The mainstream explanation: fighting drug cartels, helping partners train their security forces and protecting the security of the region and of the United States itself. What happened US troops in Latin America are on the move again: under the banner of the fight against drugs, the Pentagon is widening its presence in the region. What is known, how it is explained and what we see. On October 14, 2026 the New York Times reported that several hundred US Army soldiers are being sent to Latin America to train and exercise with local forces. The Pentagon presents it as part of an expanding campaign against drug trafficking. The report does not name the countries. In July, according to Reuters, Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby promoted a revamped Monroe Doctrine in Cusco and himself called it the “Donroe Doctrine.” These reports do not stand alone. Since September 2, 2025 US forces have struck boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and by September 2026 at least 227 people had been killed. On January 3, 2026 Trump said US forces had captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro after a “large scale strike” on the country. Read also: Somoza dictatorship · dollar diplomacy in Nicaragua. Sources Political Wire (ссылка на New York Times) Reuters via Internazionale Photo: U.S. Army, public domain, Wikimedia Commons (archive photo of jungle training). Post navigation Trump Waives Most Russia Sanctions and Allows Russian Diesel Strait of Hormuz: Trump Says the US Could “Take All the Oil”
