Date: Feb 04, 2026
Dear LAWGista,
It was never about drugs. It was never about defending U.S. national security.
The Trump administration is dragging us back to the darkest chapters of U.S. history where “might makes right.” White House advisor Stephen Miller made this disgustingly clear three days after the military intervention in Venezuela when he said about Greenland: “We live in a world, in the real world… that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” and “[T]hese are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”
This is imperialism, plain and simple.
The administration’s National Security Strategy, released last November, lays it all out: the Western Hemisphere is theirs to pillage and plunder. After kidnapping Maduro, President Trump declared “[U]nder our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.”
The Venezuelan president and first lady were removed, but the military buildup remains. Trump will oversee Venezuela’s oil industry. The profits from oil sales? Stashed in an offshore account in Qatar. No oversight. No accountability. No outcry from Republicans in Congress.
Trump’s actions affirm what many in Latin America have known for decades: the U.S. is a colonial power that intervenes in and exploits their countries for profit. Even the faintest lip service to human rights, democracy, rule of law, or multilateral collaboration has been abandoned.
This open embrace of imperialism will have long-lasting repercussions across Latin America.
Authoritarians like El Salvador’s President Bukele will be emboldened. Human rights will be violated with impunity. Democratic institutions our tax dollars helped build will crumble. Civil society space will close permanently. Rights-based organizations will be pushed to the margins.
We cannot stay silent.
Our colleagues in Latin America need us to act—now. Call your elected officials. Oppose military intervention. Demand Congress reclaim its constitutional authority over war. Demand aid to El Salvador be suspended until all political prisoners are freed.
They’re counting on us.
Adelante,
Vicki Gass
LAWG Executive Director
