Welcome to "The New Monroe Doctrine," where we talk about what's going on in the Western Hemisphere and how it might impact the United States.
First up, I apologize for missing the NMD column the last two weeks. My dad has been having some health issues, and that's occupied most of my time and mental capacity, so I've had to cut back on writing and research a bit. The good news is that he's on the mend.
With that out of the way, there are two big stories happening right now that we need to discuss.
The Coup
Let's start with Bolivia, a country that, after decades of political instability, now has a center-right, pragmatic president in Rodrigo Paz, who is trying to correct a lot of the wrongs of his corrupt predecessors — namely Evo Morales, who served as president from 2006 until 2019.
Morales is a member of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) Party, which should give you a hint about how things were going right there. A former coca grower union leader, he was elected as the country's first indigenous president in December 2005. Initially, things went well. Poverty levels dropped. GDP soared. But as socialism does, it looks all great and shiny and new for a little while, but then it falls apart.
In 2019, Morales tried to run for an illegal fourth term in the midst of a full-blown crisis. Long story short, he tried to cheat himself into a victory and got called out by his opposition, international groups, and his own military. After weeks of protest and police mutiny, Morales fled to Mexico, where he received asylum after claiming there was a coup against him. Eventually, Morales' Economy Minister, Luis Arce, ran for office in 2020 and was voted in for the next term. Arce tried to stabilize the country, but he and Morales quickly became enemies, the MAS Party split into two factions, one backing each guy.
Oh, and did I mention that Morales also has a warrant for his arrest for statutory rape and human trafficking of a15-year-old girl, with whom he had a child? He's supposedly in hiding in Bolivia's Chapare coca region, despite rumors that he still lives outside the country.
By 2025, the Bolivian people were over this whole MAS mess and voted for Paz. It's one of the countries we celebrated making a rightward swing over the last year, and Paz was one of Donald Trump and Marco Rubio's guests at the Shield of the Americas summit in March. He's been to Washington a few times over the past year.
But Paz inherited a big mess in a broke country — crazy high inflation, fuel shortages, etc., and so far, he's favored pragmatism over ideology in an effort to fix it. For example, he's cut fuel subsidies, and more recently, he reduced his and his Cabinet's salaries by 50%.
Morales may be in hiding now, but he and the MAS party aren't sitting idly by while Paz attempts to correct the wrongs of the past. Beginning in late April 2026, protests over subsidy cuts and land reforms began. Eventually, they turned into riots and began calling for Paz to resign. They've been ramping up in recent weeks. They're storming cities and blocking highways, leading to severe food and medicine shortages, numerous deaths, and hundreds of arrests. Paz is calling it what it is — a leftist coup led by the wannabe dictator Morales — and the Trump administration is paying very close attention.
In the last week or two, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau made the following statement:
Let there be no mistake: those who lost overwhelmingly at the ballot box in Bolivia last year are trying to overthrow President Rodrigo Paz by organizing RIOTS and BLOCKADES with the support of organized crime and drug traffickers. I spoke with my friend President Paz this afternoon, and assured him that the United States stands squarely in support of Bolivia's legitimate constitutional government and rejects this attempt to substitute the institutional order with mob rule.
And more recently, the governments of the United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago (aka the Shield of the Americas) also made a joint statement:
The member countries of the Shield of the Americas express our deep concern with the protests and road blockades aimed at subverting the constitutional order and destabilizing the democratically elected government of Bolivia.
We stand with the government of Bolivia and call on protestors to express their concerns peacefully and to respect democratic institutions. When protesters resort to violence, the government has a legitimate interest in lawful protection of the public order. We cannot allow the overthrow of democratically elected leaders in our hemisphere, including when supported by criminals and drug traffickers.
While President Rodrigo Paz works to repair the damaged economy and institutions he inherited after years of mismanagement, protests and blockades are preventing fuel and medical supplies from reaching many Bolivians. Member countries of the Shield of the Americas have been providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Bolivia.
The Shield of the Americas is committed to strengthening cooperation across the Western Hemisphere and supporting democracy, security, and the well-being of our region.
Anyway, that's the simplified version of what's going on. I'm going to try to keep a closer watch on it going forward because if things escalate, I think it will definitely have a bigger impact on the region and our country.
The Election
The other thing I wanted to mention today is that the Colombian elections are finally upon us. On Sunday, May 31, the Colombian people will hopefully put an end to their four-year socialist experiment known as Gustavo Petro. His time as president is officially over this summer, and the entire hemisphere, except maybe Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum and a few other commies, will breathe a huge sigh of relief. Petro can go lecture people on climate change, do his drugs in peace (allegedly), and stop bending over and letting criminals run his country. Or whatever it is he does.
The problem is that we currently have a three-way race, which means it will almost certainly lead to a runoff in a few weeks on June 21. On the left, you have Petro's hand-picked candidate, senator, and human rights activist Iván Cepeda. He'll be more of the same: heavy spending on social programs and pointless peace talks with gangs and guerrillas that go nowhere, instead of actually cracking down on crime. He's leading in the polls right now, anywhere from 35 to 42%, depending on which poll you believe.
But don't panic. One reason why he's leading in the polls is that the right is split between Abelardo de la Espriella, aka "El Tigre," and Paloma Valencia. El Tigre is the outsider, a bombastic lawyer who has a little Trump and a little Nayib Bukele in him. He's promising mega-prisons to deal with the criminal groups that plague the country and a crackdown on drugs and crime. And he's gaining a lot of enthusiasm right now. Most of the emails I receive from Colombians want him to win.
Valencia, a center-right senator, is more of an establishment conservative. She's a big Petro critic and campaigns on stabilizing the country's economy and restoring security.
As with most countries in our hemisphere, growing crime, violence, and extortion issues are driving people to the polls in Colombia, with Petro's struggling economy also sparking concern. Both Valencia and de la Espriella will likely be great U.S. allies who will cooperate on security and economic issues, and who knows, we may even see one of them at the next Shield of the Americas summit.
Having an ally running Colombia again will also keep adversaries, like China and Russia, at bay. And because Colombia shares a border with Venezuela, having someone in office who actually wants to clean up what is one of the most crime-ridden geographic areas in the hemisphere will be a great asset as we move forward toward stabilizing that country.
But it's going to take the person who loses on Sunday's supporters to come around and vote for the other guy/girl to beat Cepeda and flip Colombia back to the right.
(Fun fact: Petro is the only left-wing president the country has ever had. Let's hope he's the last.)
A Few More Things
I feel like Cuba takes up most of the time I have had to write lately, and that's okay. While it was kind of annoying at first, I think we're quite close to the fall of the regime, and I plan to continue documenting it until we get there. Someone needs to. The MSM is simply parroting regime talking points now. Here are my latest updates on that, and I should have another this weekend:
1. Cuba Falling: Desperate Times Call for Desperately Attacking Rubio
2. Hasan Piker, Medea Benjamin Subpoenaed by Trump Administration
3. Cuba Falling: A Major Arrest, Hospital Horrors, and Family Defiance
4. Five Presidents, One Dictator, a Baseball Game — and Murder Charges
I also wrote about the surprising events that took place in Venezuela last weekend: Looks like FAFO Season Is Ramping Up!
And after Colombia, Brazil's elections will be the next big political story in the Western Hemisphere. I'm not saying that Trump and Rubio are pushing for the current little dictator to lose, but there are signs, like declaring the country's two biggest criminal organizations FTOs right after a White House visit from the leading right-wing candidate: Trump and Rubio Finally Go After Brazil's Narco-Terrorists. House Dems Most Hurt.
Seeing Brazil and Colombia turn away from socialism would be a huge moment for the Americas and a big boost to the work the Trump administration is currently doing to combat organized crime, drug trafficking, and, well, China, to be honest.
Finally, Landau is heading to Haiti and the Dominican Republic this weekend. It'll be interesting to see what comes from that.
Well, I guess that's all I've got for this week. As I say, Rubio isn't handing me exclusives... yet. But since it's his birthday week, I'll give him a break for now.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Secretary. pic.twitter.com/Nwun9geB5Z
— Department of State (@StateDept) May 28, 2026
Have a great weekend, y'all!
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