President Donald Trump is delivering increasingly robust U.S. policies against drug cartels and hostile regimes in Latin America. He has little concern for the escalating complaints of European allies over these policies.
There’s nothing new about this approach to Latin America.
President James Monroe announced the Monroe Doctrine on Dec. 2, 1823, warning European powers against further colonization or political interference in the Western Hemisphere. He also asserted distinct spheres of influence for the Americas and Europe.
The Monroe Doctrine declared that the Americas were no longer open to European colonization and affirmed that the United States would not interfere in European internal affairs. At the time, the U.S. lacked the military power to enforce the doctrine. Nevertheless, it became a cornerstone of American foreign policy. Crucially, the United Kingdom, then the world’s dominant naval power, quietly supported the doctrine. Britain shared America’s interest in preventing rival European empires from reasserting control over newly independent Latin American states, giving the doctrine political weight despite U.S. weakness.
For decades, the Monroe Doctrine functioned more as a diplomatic principle than an active policy. The U.S. tolerated European influence in the hemisphere so long as it did not threaten regional stability or core American interests. But when the doctrine was directly challenged, Washington eventually acted. The clearest enforcement came during and immediately after the Civil War (1861–1865). While the U.S. was preoccupied with preserving the Union, France installed Archduke Maximilian of Austria as emperor of Mexico.
After the war ended, Secretary of State William Seward made it clear that French forces would have to leave. The U.S. armed Mexican nationalist forces and massed troops along the Rio Grande. Napoleon III withdrew French troops, and the Maximilian regime promptly collapsed. The episode sent an unmistakable message: European-backed monarchies would not prevail in the Americas. Importantly, the U.S. possessed the military power to enforce the doctrine.
By the late 19th century, the doctrine evolved from a warning against colonization into a justification for U.S. intervention. The 1895 Venezuela boundary dispute marked a key turning point. When the U.K. rejected U.S. mediation over a border conflict between Venezuela and British Guiana, President Grover Cleveland invoked the Monroe Doctrine and asserted America’s right to intervene. The U.K. ultimately backed down, signaling acceptance of U.S. leadership in the Western Hemisphere.
President Theodore Roosevelt formalized this expanded interpretation in 1904 with the Roosevelt Corollary. He argued that chronic instability in Latin America could invite European intervention and that the U.S. thus had the right to act as a regional stabilizer. The corollary underpinned U.S. interventions in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Haiti. These actions reflected a consistent strategic logic: preventing external powers from establishing military or financial control near U.S. shores.
During the Cold War, the Monroe Doctrine returned to its original national security purpose. Its most dramatic enforcement came during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. When the Soviet Union attempted to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba, the U.S. responded with a naval quarantine and demanded their removal. The crisis was not about ideology or regime change; it was about preventing a hostile great power from projecting military force into the hemisphere. President John F. Kennedy’s response represented a classic application of Monroe Doctrine principles adapted to the nuclear age.
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Importantly, the doctrine has never been applied universally. The U.S. has long tolerated European economic ties, diplomatic engagement, and even limited military cooperation in the Americas when key national security equities were not at stake. At its core, the doctrine is about strategic denial.
Today, as China and Russia seek greater influence in Latin America, the Monroe Doctrine is often invoked, sometimes inaccurately. It does not prohibit trade, investment, or diplomacy. However, it does warn against the establishment of hostile military footholds or coercive control by rival powers. The doctrine is about national security, not ideological crusades.
James Rogan is a former U.S. foreign service officer who later worked in finance and law for 30 years. He writes a daily note on markets, politics, and society.