The regional reaction to the military campaign—and the looming possibility of a U.S. operation against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—has been disjointed, despite the rippling consequences of the boat strikes and the sweeping geopolitical implications of the situation.

Given the messy history of U.S. intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean, one might assume that countries and people across the region are uniformly opposed to the Trump administration’s escalating war on alleged drug boats and the prospect of regime change in Venezuela. But the reality is far more nuanced and complicated.

Given the messy history of U.S. intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean, one might assume that countries and people across the region are uniformly opposed to the Trump administration’s escalating war on alleged drug boats and the prospect of regime change in Venezuela. But the reality is far more nuanced and complicated.

The regional reaction to the military campaign—and the looming possibility of a U.S. operation against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—has been disjointed, despite the rippling consequences of the boat strikes and the sweeping geopolitical implications of the situation.

FP Live: What is Trump’s policy for Latin America? Leading scholar Oliver Stuenkel joined FP’s Ravi Agrawal to discuss the White House’s strategy for the region—and how countries there plan to navigate it. Watch the conversation.

This can be explained, in part, by ideological divisions across the region. The left-wing leaders of Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil have been the most vocal critics of the strikes, but to varying degrees. Meanwhile, countries with right-wing leaders—such as Paraguay, Argentina, and Ecuador—have generally aligned themselves with the Trump administration’s approach to drug trafficking and Maduro, including by following Washington’s lead and designating the Venezuela-based Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist