Current Events Presentation

POLI 112 Issues in American Politics

Dr. Justin Garrison
Carter Schaeffer
Hello, my name is Carter Schaeffer, and today I want to discuss the Monroe Doctrine. The
articles I will be drawing from are the Dallas Daily News’ “The GOP’s posturing will push Latin
America into China’s arms” by Will Freeman, and Politico’s “A ‘fevered hallucination’: Latin
America meets Vivek Ramaswamy” by Nahal Tooshi.
Thirty-eight year old Republican nominee hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has already made his
views on America’s place in the international realm known. Ramawamy says that were he
president, he would attempt to break Russian ties with China by encouraging Ukraine to give up
some of its territory. He’s given an “end date” for U.S. support of Taiwan by 2028, regardless of
China’s intention with the island nation. Ramaswamy’s international focus is instead tuned to the
western hemisphere, which he refers to as America’s “near-abroad”, a term originating from the
Russian Federation in reference to neighboring former Soviet satellite states. He and Florida
Governor Ron Desantis are united in wanting to reinstate a version of the Monroe Doctrine,
except instead of preventing European colonial powers from expanding their influence, Desantis
and Ramaswamy insist the major foreign threat to Latin and Central America is the People’s
Republic of China.
Over the past 20 years, China has loaned over $100 million dollars in loans to various Latin
American nations, trained police, sold surveillance equipment, built a base for espionage in Cuba
in 2019, and become the largest trading partner in South America. China is also currently
building a deep-water port in El Salvador. It should be further noted that Brazil is a member of
the BRICs international grouping, an organization formed to directly oppose the economic
influence of U.S. dollar-based currency. The Republican nominee’s reaction to these apparent
Latin alignments with the PRC is to vocalize a wish to wage economic war in the form of
sanctioning, blockading, and even launching a land invasion of Mexico with the express intent to
combat fentanyl cartels in that nation, which Republicans believe to be supported by China.
These proposals bear resemblance to Cold War-era strategies where the United States would
back military coups and usurp democratically elected leftist leaders in favor of anti-communist
dictators, as was the case in the Reagon administration’s involvement in Nicaragua; no doubt a
far cry from what President Monroe intended in his 1823 State of The Union Address.
The real question here is whether Ramaswamy is serious about pursuing this aggressive line of
foreign policy, or whether it’s just rhetorical bluster. It’s easy to dismiss Ramaswamy’s hawkish
gesturing as bravado in seeking votes, but he and Desantis’s position on U.S. involvement in
Latin America reflect a general mindset within their party of intervention and, when necessary,
military escalation. While several Latin American leaders and ambassadors have taken note of
Ramaswamy's wish to invade Mexico, neither he nor anyone else in the Republican primaries
comes up frequently in Latin American media; if anyone from that party does, it’s former
President Trump. Another question that seems to escape Ramaswamy is, as stated before, that his
plans have nothing to do with the original Monroe Doctrine. James Monroe made his State of
The Union address directly in response to increased and arguably illegal Russian expansion in
Alaska and Canada, as well as French and British interest in former Spanish colonies that had
won their independence. Perhaps what Ramaswamy is instead referring to is a version of
Wilsonianism that might teach Latin America to “elect good men”, Reaganonic containment, or
even the Roosevelt Corollary, in the interests of combatting what Ramaswamy sees as a growing
chaos in the western hemisphere.

Questions
• Should the United States intervene in China’s growing influence in Latin
and South America? If so, how?
• What is the line between the United States “defending its neighbors” and
undermining their independence?

Sources
Freeman, Will. “The GOP’s posturing will push Latin America into China’s
arms”. https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2023/09/26/the-gops-
posturing-will-push-latin-america-into-chinas-arms/ (September 26, 2023).
Accessed November 19, 2023.
Tooshi, Nahal. “A ‘fevered hallucination’: Latin America meets Vivek
Ramaswamy”. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/03/latin-america-vivek-
ramaswamy-00113723 (September 9, 2023). Accessed November 19, 2023.