Trump and Rubio framed the assault on Venezuela as a warning to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, and other nations.
U.S. President Donald Trump and top administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, characterized Saturday’s assault on Venezuela and abduction of the country’s president as a warning shot in the direction of Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, and other Latin American nations.
During a Saturday press conference, Trump openly invoked the Monroe Doctrine — an assertion of U.S. dominance of the Western Hemisphere — and said his campaign of aggression against Venezuela represented the “Donroe Doctrine” in action.
In his unwieldy remarks, Trump called out Colombian President Gustavo Petro by name, accusing him without evidence of “making cocaine and sending it to the United States.”
“So he does have to watch his ass,” the U.S. president said of Petro, who condemned the Trump administration’s Saturday attack on Venezuela as “aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and Latin America.
