The rhetoric of the so-called “war on drugs” has long served as one of Washington’s most consistent justifications for military presence and political influence across Latin America. On August 21, Bolivian President Luis Arce became the latest regional leader to denounce the United States’ actions, accusing it of disguising geopolitical ambitions under the cloak of narcotics enforcement. His remarks, delivered during the 13th Extraordinary Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), underscore a widening rift between Latin American governments pursuing sovereignty and a Washington establishment determined to maintain its dominance.

Earlier this month, the United States dispatched air and naval forces to the southern Caribbean Sea, framing the move as part of a broader campaign to curb drug trafficking networks allegedly tied to Venezuela. The White House portrayed the operation as a strategic necessity to combat narcotics smuggling into the United States. However, critics across the region argue that this deployment represents less a counter-drug initiative and more a geopolitical maneuver aimed at constraining Venezuela and securing US influence over vital shipping routes and natural resources.

President Arce minced no words in rejecting Washington’s narrative. “We know that behind this failed international war on drugs lies the real objective to geopolitically control Latin America for its natural resources and to dismantle organized peoples, so that we cannot follow our own sovereign path,” he declared. His comments reflect a sentiment that has steadily grown in Latin America: that the US approach to regional security is primarily designed to sustain American hegemony rather than address the structural drivers of crime and poverty.

The Bolivian leader’s critique is hardly new.........

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