The ‘Donroe Doctrine’ Is a Roosevelt Redux

The raid shattered international law and steamrolled the United Nations Charter, which bars the use of force against other states unless authorized by the U.N. Security Council. Yet it fits squarely within a long U.S. tradition of coercive diplomacy and intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean. Trump’s flirtation with a self-styled “Donroe Doctrine” signals that his administration is eager to turn back the clock to the turn of the 20th century.

On Jan. 3, U.S. forces struck Venezuela and seized President Nicolás Maduro, flying him and his wife to New York for prosecution on drug-trafficking allegations and other charges. U.S. President Donald Trump quipped that the operation felt lifted from a blockbuster. Its aftermath, however, is more likely to deliver a painful history lesson than a Hollywood ending.

On Jan. 3, U.S. forces struck Venezuela and seized President Nicolás Maduro, flying him and his wife to New York for prosecution on drug-trafficking allegations and other charges. U.S. President Donald Trump quipped that the operation felt lifted from a blockbuster. Its aftermath, however, is more likely to deliver a painful history lesson than a Hollywood ending.

The raid shattered international law and steamrolled the United Nations Charter, which bars the use of force against other states unless authorized by the U.N. Security Council. Yet it fits squarely within a long U.S. tradition of coercive diplomacy and intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean. Trump’s flirtation with a self-styled “Donroe Doctrine” signals that his administration is eager to turn back the clock to the turn of the 20th century.

Maduro’s abduction revived memories of past U.S. interventions. Observers were quick to point to Cold War parallels—such as the CIA backing for the overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973—as well as the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, when the United States invaded the much smaller nation; captured its ruler, Gen.