Armando Ibarra: In negotiations, U.S. should demand Russia’s exit from the Americas

The United States stands at a pivotal moment in its foreign policy, one that demands boldness and clarity. Russia’s malign influence in the Americas poses a direct threat to U.S. national security and regional stability, through military collusion with U.S. adversaries, strategic economic coercion, and subversive political interference.

As the meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin takes U.S. negotiations with Russia into a new phase, Trump can seize this opportunity to demand Russia’s complete withdrawal from the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine remains a guiding principle: no foreign power should hold sway in our backyard.

Russia’s footprint in the Americas is neither benign nor trivial.

In Venezuela, Moscow has propped up the Nicolás Maduro regime wi