The arrival of a major US aircraft carrier strike group in the Caribbean this week has sent shockwaves across Latin America, bringing back a new version of the Monroe Doctrine in the context of the New Cold War in the Hemisphere. The deployment marks the beginning of a massive Trump administration military operation framed as a twin “war on drugs” and “war on terror” campaign in a way that, ironically enough, is also reminiscent of the George W. Bush years.

CNN Brasil reports that Caracas has mobilized thousands of Russian-supplied missiles in response.

Washington’s messaging has been sufficiently vague to allow multiple interpretations, but broad enough to justify a sweeping regional buildup. The operation is unprecedented in scale, which raises the stakes for Venezuela and its allies, with the US selling the operation as an “anti-cartel” surge across the continent.

Adding yet another layer of complexity, US President Donald Trump reportedly has simultaneously floated the possibility of talks with his Venezuela counterpart Nicolás Maduro, in a move that shows, once more, Trump’s erratic diplomatic zig-zags. So much for strategic coherence.

Be as it may, the current American presidency is inaugurating a new stage in Washington’s continental security doctrine — one blending counterterrorism rhetoric with narco-politics, producing an elastic justification for power projection anywhere from the Andes to the Antilles.

The “war on drugs” rhetoric........

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