For nearly 250 years, the US has had eyes on Latin America – but interventions then looked rather different

A statue of Francisco de Miranda stands in Cuba. Riccardo Lombardo/REDA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, the United States has ramped up military, economic and political interventions in Latin America. Nowhere were those three factors more clear than the U.S. abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January 2026. Since then, the Trump administration has used a mix of carrots and sticks to cajole what remains of Maduro’s…