State Department revives Monroe Doctrine, drawing ‘imperialism’ charge

WASHINGTON (MNTV) — A U.S. State Department video celebrating the Monroe Doctrine has drawn criticism from lawmakers who say Washington is reviving a policy long tied to intervention and coercion across Latin America.

The five-minute video frames the doctrine — first declared in 1823 to oppose European recolonization of the newly independent Americas — as a continuous thread of U.S. policy, ending with the declaration that “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.” 

Representative Delia Ramirez of Illinois called it “imperialist propaganda,” citing a legacy of instability, poverty, and colonialism in the region. 

Over time, the doctrine became a justification for U.S. dominance: the 1904 Roosevelt Corollary asserted a right to intervene in Latin American and Caribbean states, providing cover for repeated U.S. interventions in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua, and Cold War-era efforts to remove governments in Guatemala, Chile, and elsewhere.

The revival lands amid a more assertive U.S. posture under Trump — increased military pressure in the Caribbean, aggressive policies toward Venezuela, troops deployed to Ecuador, and territorial claims touching the Panama Canal, Mexico, Greenland, and Canada. 

Analysts have dubbed the emerging approach the “Donroe Doctrine.”

Ramirez and Representative Nydia Velazquez have proposed a New Good Neighbor Act to replace confrontation with cooperation. 

The dispute is ultimately about how Washington defines its regional role: through partnership or dominance. 

For much of Latin America, experts argue, reviving the language of American primacy risks reawakening the distrust that two centuries of U.S. power have already produced.