President Donald Trump came into office for his second term, declaring that he wished to downgrade our involvement in international affairs and overseas wars, attracting the support of isolationists in the Republican Party, which has long had a history of promoting that view, as in the two World Wars of the first half of the 20th century.
However, Trump had no problem in cozying up to authoritarian dictators, including the leaders of the Russian Federation, China, North Korea, Hungary, El Salvador, and elsewhere.
And there is now growing evidence of Trump’s desire to be aggressive toward our Latin American neighbors, and even Canada, displaying his imperalist urges.
So he has, earlier, made an issue of the Panama Canal, and spoken of making Canada “the 51st State”! He is unlikely to abandon these thoughts with still more than three years to go in this term.
But now, Trump, without Congressional authorization, is utilizing his “Commander in Chief” authority to promote attacks on what he believes are boats that are transporting drugs in the Caribbean, and coming from Venezuela, having caused the destruction of four boats, and the deaths of 21 people on board, without any clear cut evidence to have initiated such attacks.
Certainly, the US Navy could have stopped these boats and inspected them, and if need be, arrest those onboard, but just to attack and obliterate the ships and the occupants is a violation of international law, when America is not at war with any nation in the Western Hemisphere.
There are also veiled threats against nations, such as Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and particularly against Brazil, because that nation has convicted its former President for inciting a insurrection, equivalent to the one Trump provoked, and should have been convicted for, if the Biden Administration had only moved faster, to prevent Trump from running again for President in 2024.
Trump’s push to deport hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, who were supposed to have protection against harsh dictatorships in those nations, is another sign of his antagonism toward Latin America.
We are in for a period of controversial imperialistic ventures by the 47th President, reminding us of past sins toward the Western Hemisphere!