On January 3, 2026, as part of the fast Operation "Absolute Resolve", United States forces abducted the unrecognized by Washington since 2019 Venezuelan president Nicolás Madura. The comparatively tiny opposition of Venezuelan armed forces and Cuban support troops broke it. The next hours and days brought responses from the regional authorities, whose analysis is informative in terms of their relations with the superpowers from the north and the arrangement of forces remaining in a two-way relation with global strategical rivalry.
The libertarian-conservative reaction of Argentina's president Javier Milei, who described the American action as "a perfect message to the free world". Milei is presently Washington's most committed and powerful ally in Latin America and a politician very close to Donald Trump. Although it should be noted that the pro-American position was besides manifested for the erstwhile administration, with which he remained in good relations despite polar ideological differences. With Venezuela, in turn, Argentina has not maintained diplomatic relations since the end of July 2024, erstwhile Milei questioned the results of the presidential election in which Madura's triumph was announced. As a result, Caracas broke relations with Argentina – as well as with Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
The voice of support for U.S. military action sailed from president El Salvador Nayib Bukele. president Daniel Noboa of Ecuador besides spoke on the American side, announcing on platform X that “it is time for all Narlovavistan criminals.”
More nuanced, focusing on pragmatic issues specified as the Venezuelan exile problem, the president of legislature José Jeri, acting president of Peru, expressed his support. Chile was an interesting situation. While the outgoing Chilean president powerfully condemned American action, President-elect José Antonio Kast, who would take office on March 11, called it “great news for the region”.
The most severe Operation "Absolute Resolve" condemned Cuba, whose 32 soldiers supporting Madura's power failed during it. She co-wrote her close ideo Nicaragua. another countries of the region, including the most powerful Brazil and Mexico, have taken a critical stance against American intervention. In particular, the left-wing authorities of Colombia were headed by president Gustav Petr. For a long time, it has been the subject of the crackdowns by Donald Trump, including the threats of overthrow, and taking place, among others, through circumstantial global communication conducted through social media and very free public statements. The Colombian authorities took a critical stance on U.S. operations in Venezuela, albeit later somewhat softened, likely not to overly irritate the 47th president of the United States.
Such an opinion reflects, on the 1 hand, ideological divisions, and, on the another hand, historical events. The American intervention was supported by Heads of State representing (regardless of sometimes ambiguous own declarations) right-wing orientation with a strong liberal outline, traditionally in the pro-American region, and late aspiring to participate in Trump International. The critical remained centreleft and left. The historical past dates back to the wording of Monroe's doctrine, which became a body at the end of the 19th century erstwhile the United States began to become a military power aspiring to real dominance in the region, the first manifestation of which was the war against Spain, among others, over Cuba in 1898. During the Cold War, the United States supported conservative, frequently dictatorial governments, stifling reformist tendencies, frequently unfortunately falling in the communism of Moscow or Beijing.
As time went by, Richard Nixon, declared in 1971, and since Ronald Reagan's presidency, has been gaining an expanding momentum of "the war on drugs." Within its framework, the United States began to export its problem of the gigantic and unbridled marketplace for the disposal of drugs to the countries of their producers. This is completely ineffective on the 1 hand. The ‘Saning’ caused by multi-billion-dollar turnover in the States prevents the stopping of sources. On the another hand, the actions of American agencies and services pose a crucial challenge to the sovereignty of the countries of the region, in peculiar Mexico and Colombia, which are destabilised internally by the massive crime for which the vast money coming from the north is simply a fuel.
During the Cold War, Moscow achieved political successes in the region confined to Cuba and Nicaragua. In the 21st century, the political penetration of the region was limited to bilateral tromtadration and spectacular gestures, but with very small real content outside the import of Russian Allied weapons with Venezuela. It has only late been reinforced by Venezuela's cooperation with China. Much more dangerous for the U.S. position due to the unparalleled greater economical capacity than Russia Beijing. China clearly aspires to lead the full Global South.
In the context outlined, reinforced by the function of Brazilian president Lula as co-founder of BRICS, and later global polarization catalyzed by the Ukrainian War, a immense gift of destiny for the United States became a triumph in the Argentine elections of 2023 mentioned at the beginning of Mileia. He defeated a candidate of a wide camp grouped around the platformists, geostrategically oriented according to Global South vectors to China, a manifestation of which was the submission of an application to join BRICS. Milei immediately announced Beijing and Moscow as enemies, withdrew the said application and established a cordial relation inactive with Joe Biden's administration. 1 of their symbols became the guarantees given by the Americans for the acquisition in Denmark of 24 F-16AM/BM utilized aircraft (for which a serious counter-candidate were for the erstwhile Chinese-Pakistan JF-17 crew). The current authorities of Argentina have put considerable emphasis on restoring the military possible of the country, which is now a massively "bankruptcy mass" from the 1970s and 1980s, exterminated in the Falklandian War, exploited to the borders and supplemented by very uncommon purchases. If these plans are successful and pro-American orientation continues, the country will become a very valuable partner for Americans in controlling the South Atlantic and their trade routes towards the Pacific. The declared steps towards thawing in relations with the United Kingdom – Argentina, regardless of the political colors of the authorities, will not formally renounce the islands that it identifies as Malwiny, but may halt emphasizing the issue of establishing its sovereignty over them, and thus beyond the scope of imaginable possibilities.
As Chile's right-wing president-elect, a country much smaller than Argentina, but now clearly militaryly stronger, declares close cooperation with Milei and the United States, a crucial breach favouring the Americans will be established in the strategically crucial area of the Global South. specified a block supported by Washington and smaller states, specified as El Salvador and Ecuador, will likely have a crucial impact on regional policy both in terms of safety and geostrategic vectors and home policy of individual countries. After all, the presidential elections will take place in Brazil in October, where Flávio Bolsonaro, the boy of the erstwhile president, is the main counter-candidate of Lula. His father in terms of political positions was very close to Milei and Kast, but in his reign isolated both in the region and in America. The younger Bolsonar right-wing and protrumpian wave in the region can aid to gain power, showing that despite the failure of his father's policy, the “right-wing” can, and then in holding it under favorable conditions.
Such a political change, combined with the expected neutralization of Venezuela in favour of Washington, would, in practice, bring the region out of the Global South understood as an even nebulae political bloc, safeguarding the strategical "soft underbelly" of the United States, simultaneously constituting a natural material reserve and a immense outlet market.
Dr. Jan Przybylski
Graphics in the text header: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
