Maduro’s arrest by the United States divides Latin America, agitating Trump’s allies and threatening his opponents

MEXICO CITY (AP) — In his celebratory news conference on the U.S. arrest of powerful Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump offered an unusually frank view of the use of American power in Latin America, one that laid bare political divisions from Mexico to Argentina with the rise of Trump-friendly leaders across the region.

“American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again,” Trump declared just hours before Maduro passed through the US Drug Enforcement Administration offices in New York.

This scene represents a stunning culmination of months of escalation in the confrontation between Washington and Caracas, which awakened memories of a previous era of blatant American intervention in the region.

Read more: A timeline of the US military escalation against Venezuela leading to Maduro’s arrest

Since taking office less than a year ago — and promptly renaming the Gulf of Mexico as America’s Gulf — Trump has launched boat strikes against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean, ordered a naval blockade of Venezuelan oil exports, and interfered in elections in Honduras and Argentina.

Through a combination of tariffs, sanctions and military force, he has put pressure on Latin American leaders to advance his administration’s goals of combating drug trafficking, halting migration, securing strategic natural resources, and countering the influence of Russia and China.

The new aggressive foreign policy — which Trump now calls the “Donroe Doctrine,” a reference to President James Monroe’s 19th-century belief that the United States should dominate its sphere of influence — divided the hemisphere into allies and enemies.

“The Trump administration is trying in many different ways to reshape Latin American politics,” said Jimena Sanchez, director of the Washington Office on Latin American Affairs, a think tank. “They’re showing their teeth in the whole area.”

Reactions to the US raid showed regional divisions

Saturday’s dramatic events — including Trump’s pledge that Washington would “run” Venezuela and control its oil sector — galvanized opposing sides on the polarized continent.

He watches: Trump says US will run Venezuela after Maduro captured in surprise military strike

Argentine President Javier Miley, Trump’s ideological companion, described one side as supporting “democracy and the defense of life, liberty and property.”

He added: “On the other side, there are those who are complicit in the terrorist and bloody drug dictatorship that has been a cancer for our region.”

Likewise, other right-wing leaders in South America have used Maduro’s ouster to advertise their ideological affinity with Trump.

In Ecuador, conservative President Daniel Noboa issued a stark warning to all followers of Hugo Chavez, Maduro’s mentor and founder of the Bolivarian Revolution: “Your entire structure will collapse throughout the entire continent.”

In Chile, where last month’s presidential election marked by concerns over Venezuelan migration brought down the leftist government, far-right President Jose Antonio Cast hailed the US raid as “great news for the region.”

He watches: US intervention in Venezuela raises conflicting opinions around the world

But leftist presidents in Latin America — including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum, Chile’s Gabriel Boric, and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro — expressed grave concerns about what they saw as American bullying.

Lula said the raid set a “very dangerous precedent.” Sheinbaum warned that this “endangers regional stability.” Buric said this “violates a fundamental pillar of international law.” Petro called it “an attack on the sovereignty of Venezuela and Latin America.”

Trump has previously punished or threatened the four leaders for failing to adhere to his demands, while supporting and bailing out allies who show loyalty.

The attack reminds us of a painful history of American intervention

For Lula – one of the last remaining symbols of the so-called “Pink Tide,” the leftist leaders who have dominated Latin American politics since the turn of the twenty-first century – Trump’s military action in Venezuela “reminds us of the worst moments of intervention in Latin American politics.”

These moments range from US forces occupying Central American and Caribbean countries to advance the interests of US corporations like Chiquita in the early twentieth century, to Washington’s support for oppressive military dictatorships in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay to stave off Soviet influence in the 1970s.

The historical reverberations of Maduro’s fall have not only sparked harsh condemnations and street protests among Trump’s leftist opponents, but also uneasy reactions from some of his closest allies.

President Nayib Bukele, usually effusive in his support of Trump, has been strangely quiet in El Salvador, a country still reeling from a brutal civil war between the repressive US-allied government and leftist rebels. He posted a meme mocking Maduro after his arrest on Saturday, but received no cheer from his regional counterparts.

In Bolivia, where old anti-American doctrines die hard due to memories of the bloody US-backed war on drugs, new conservative President Rodrigo Paz praised Maduro’s ouster as fulfilling the “true popular will” of Venezuelans who had tried to vote to remove the autocrat from office in a 2024 election widely seen as rigged.

“Bolivia reaffirms that the way forward for Venezuela is to respect the vote,” Paz said.

His message has not matured well. Hours later, Trump announced that he would work with Maduro’s loyal Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, rather than the opposition that prevailed in the 2024 elections.

Read more: Who is Delcy Rodriguez, interim president of Venezuela after the overthrow of Maduro?

“The Trump administration at this point appears to be making decisions about Venezuela’s democratic future without reference to the democratic outcome,” said Kevin Whitaker, former deputy chief of mission in Caracas.

When asked on Sunday when Venezuela would hold democratic elections, Trump replied: “I think we’re more looking forward to fixing it.”

With the rise of the right, Trump is alerting his enemies

The Trump administration’s assault on Venezuela is an expansion of its broader campaign to assemble a column of allied — or at least acquiescent — governments in Latin America, sailing with the political winds blowing in much of the region.

Recent presidential elections from Chile to Honduras have given rise to tough leaders like Trump who oppose immigration, prioritize security and promise a return to better bygone eras devoid of globalization and “wokeism.”

“The president will look for allied and partner countries in the hemisphere that share some kind of broader ideological affinity with him,” said Alexander Gray, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington.

Those who do not share this ideology were put on notice this weekend. Trump said Cuba’s communist government “appears to be ready to fall.” He criticized Sheinbaum’s failure to eliminate Mexican cartels, saying that “something must be done with Mexico.” He repeated claims that Pietro “likes making cocaine” and warned that he “won’t be at it for long.”

“We are working to have countries around us that are viable and successful, where the oil is really allowed to get out,” he told reporters Sunday aboard Air Force One. “It’s our hemisphere.”

Debre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press writers Maria Verza in Mexico City and Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.