President Donald Trump left the door open Thursday to establishing the first U.S. military base in South America — potentially in Venezuela — as part of what allies are calling the “Donroe Doctrine,” a play on the Monroe Doctrine that signals Trump’s intention to dominate the Western Hemisphere.
The potential move would represent a dramatic expansion of American military infrastructure into a region where the United States has historically relied on partnerships and cooperative security agreements rather than permanent installations. Such a development would mark a fundamental shift in how Washington projects power across the Americas and could reshape the geopolitical landscape of the entire continent.
The Center Square asked Trump directly about the possibility of a military base in Venezuela or South America.
“We’re looking at doing a lot of things. We’re getting along very well, as you know. And Venezuela has been a great situation. We’re taking a lot of oil, and we have a great relationship. And Venezuela’s making a lot of money, and so are we. We’re going to start filling up our national strategic reserves with the Venezuelan oil for very little money, and it’s going to be great.”
While Trump’s response focused primarily on economic benefits and energy cooperation, his refusal to rule out a military presence adds another dimension to what appears to be a comprehensive strategy of deepening U.S. engagement across South America. The mention of strategic petroleum reserves underscores how energy security considerations are intertwined with broader geopolitical objectives in the region.
The question comes as the U.S. reached an agreement to build two bases in Greenland, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that the Department of War will build a new base in the U.S. for the first time in 40 years — calling it “the next great American base.”
This flurry of base construction activity suggests the administration is pursuing a broader strategy of expanding America’s global military footprint in strategic locations. The Greenland installations position the U.S. in the Arctic, while a South American base would complete a hemispheric presence stretching from the far north to the south.
Currently, there are no U.S. military bases in South America.
This absence has been a defining characteristic of U.S.-South American relations for generations. While the United States maintains bases in Central America and the Caribbean, and conducts regular military exercises with South American partners, the lack of permanent installations south of Panama has reflected both regional sensitivities about American imperialism and Washington’s historically lighter touch on the continent. A base in Venezuela would therefore break with decades of precedent.
Trump’s influence on the continent has surged after a group of Trump-backed candidates successfully won elections across South America, further cementing his regional power.
These electoral victories have created what the administration views as a more favorable political environment for advancing American interests, including potentially controversial steps like establishing military facilities that previous governments might have rejected outright.
Following the arrest of Venezuela’s former dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife at the start of the year, the U.S. seized an opportunity to build relations and take control of one of the world’s largest oil markets.
Venezuela possesses the world’s largest proven oil reserves, making it a prize of immense strategic value. For years, those resources remained largely beyond American reach due to sanctions and Maduro’s hostility toward Washington. The political transformation in Caracas has suddenly made those reserves accessible to U.S. interests in ways that seemed impossible just months ago.
Up until Maduro’s arrest, Venezuela had built relationships with China, Russia, and Iran — placing some of America’s greatest adversaries at the nation’s back door. In 2022, Venezuela hosted military drills with those three countries.
Those exercises represented a troubling development for U.S. security planners, as they demonstrated how rival powers were gaining military access and influence in America’s traditional sphere of influence. The presence of foreign military forces training in South America raised concerns about intelligence gathering, the potential for permanent foreign military installations, and the erosion of U.S. hemispheric dominance.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies warned that Latin America was ripe for U.S. adversarial influences.
According to CSIS, both Iran and Russia perceive Latin America and the Caribbean as “fertile ground for exploiting popular resentment” toward the United States and the West, which they use to advance their vision of a multipolar world.
This assessment helps explain the urgency behind the administration’s push to reassert American dominance in the region before rival powers can further entrench themselves. A permanent military base would serve as both a practical tool for projecting power and a symbolic declaration that the United States will not cede influence in its own hemisphere.
In addition to keeping global adversaries in check, the Trump administration has been targeting narco terrorists around the Caribbean and South America for over a year.
A military installation in South America could provide a forward operating location for these counter-narcotics operations, reducing response times and enabling more sustained pressure on drug trafficking networks that have destabilized the region and fueled the drug crisis in the United States.
Trump’s aggressive push into South America — both diplomatically and potentially militarily — represents a historic shift in U.S. posture on the continent. The combination of Maduro’s removal, Trump-backed electoral victories, and now the possibility of a permanent U.S. military presence signals a new era of American dominance in the region.
