What the 'Donroe Doctrine' means for Latin America
6/7/202611 min
The Trump administration is supercharging its aggression toward Latin America. What does the 'Donroe Doctrine' mean for the Western Hemisphere, and could it backfire for the U.S.?
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This episode was produced by Henry Larson and Michael Levitt.
It was edited by Sarah Robbins.
Our executive producer is Courtney Dorning.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAdrian Florido· Host0:00
It's Consider This, where every day we go deep on one big news story. The Trump administration is aggressively intervening in the affairs of Latin America.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:09
[missile firing] The U.S. has captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Adrian Florido· Host0:16
Venezuela's longtime leader is sitting in a New York jail cell after U.S. forces hauled him out of his bedroom in Caracas in January on drug charges. Expats in Miami celebrated. [singing] Across the region, President Trump is sending in the U.S. military, using threats and sanctions to try to get what he wants. Like in Cuba, he wants the communist government to fall. This year, he started blocking almost all shipments of oil to the island nation. Its economy is collapsing. And in the seas surrounding Latin America, the U.S. has killed hundreds of people by bombing small boats it says are carrying drugs, though it's offered no proof. NPR recently reported on fishermen who said a U.S.-flagged vessel attacked them at sea.
Speaker 2· Soundbite1:02
The guys say, "Captain, look, two drones are coming at us." One then ripped through the captain's cabin.
Speaker 3· Soundbite1:09
"Boom, it exploded. The cabin filled with flames," he said.
Greg Grandin· Guest1:14
Very soon we're gonna start doing it on land, too.
Adrian Florido· Host1:18
It's already bombed suspected drug cartels in Ecuador, and is reportedly pressuring Guatemala and Mexico to allow the U.S. military in, too. All of this under the umbrella of what Donald Trump