Over the weekend, the USA carried out a large-scale army strike towards Venezuela and abducted President Nicolas Maduro in a serious escalation that despatched shockwaves throughout Latin America.
On Monday morning, US President Donald Trump doubled down, threatening action towards the governments of Colombia, Cuba and Mexico until they “get their act collectively”, claiming he’s countering drug trafficking and securing US pursuits within the Western Hemisphere.
The remarks revive deep tensions over US interference in Latin America. Most of the governments focused by Trump have little urge for food for Washington’s involvement, however their armed forces lack the capability to maintain the US at arm’s size.
Latin America’s army capabilities
The US has the strongest army on this planet and spends extra on its army than the overall budgets of the subsequent 10 largest army spenders mixed. In 2025, the US defence price range was $895bn, roughly 3.1 % of its gross home product.
In line with the 2025 World Firepower rankings, Brazil has essentially the most highly effective army in Latin America and is ranked eleventh globally.
Mexico ranks thirty second globally, Colombia forty sixth, Venezuela fiftieth and Cuba 67th. All of those international locations are considerably beneath the US army in all metrics, together with the variety of lively personnel, army plane, fight tanks, naval belongings and their army budgets.
In a typical conflict involving tanks, planes and naval energy, the US maintains overwhelming superiority.
The one notable metric that these international locations have over the US is their paramilitary forces, which function alongside the common armed forces, usually utilizing asymmetrical warfare and unconventional techniques towards standard army methods.
Paramilitaries throughout Latin America
A number of Latin American international locations have lengthy histories of paramilitary and irregular armed teams which have usually performed a task within the inner safety of those international locations. These teams are sometimes armed, organised and politically influential however function exterior the common army chain of command.
Cuba has the world’s third largest paramilitary power, made up of greater than 1.14 million members, as reported by World Firepower. These teams embrace state-controlled militias and neighbourhood defence committees. The most important of those, the Territorial Troops Militia, serves as a civilian reserve geared toward aiding the common military towards exterior threats or throughout inner crises.
In Venezuela, members of pro-government armed civilian teams generally known as “colectivos” have been accused of implementing political management and intimidating opponents. Though not formally a part of the armed forces, they’re broadly seen as working with state tolerance or assist, significantly during times of unrest below Maduro.
In Colombia, right-wing paramilitary teams emerged within the Nineteen Eighties to combat left-wing rebels. Though formally demobilised within the mid-2000s, many later re-emerged as legal or neo-paramilitary organisations, remaining lively in rural areas. The earliest teams had been organised with the involvement of the Colombian army following steerage from US counterinsurgency advisers through the Chilly Struggle.
In Mexico, closely armed drug cartels operate as de facto paramilitary forces. Teams such because the Zetas, initially fashioned by former troopers, possess military-grade weapons and train territorial management, usually outgunning native police and difficult the state’s authority. The Mexican army has more and more been deployed in legislation enforcement roles in response.
Historical past of US interference in Latin America
Over the previous two centuries, the US has repeatedly interfered in Latin America.
Within the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the so-called Banana Wars noticed US forces deployed throughout Central America to guard company pursuits.
In 1934, President Franklin D Roosevelt launched the “Good Neighbor Coverage”, pledging nonintervention.
But through the Chilly Struggle, the US financed operations to overthrow elected governments, usually coordinated by the CIA, based in 1947.
Panama is the one Latin American nation the US has formally invaded, which occurred in 1989 below President George HW Bush. “Operation Simply Trigger” ostensibly was geared toward eradicating President Manuel Noriega, who was later convicted of drug trafficking and different offences.
