The ghost of the Monroe Doctrine haunts the U.S.’s buildup in Venezuela

opinion

A U.S. Navy warship docks at the Amador International Cruise Terminal in Panama City on Tuesday. Seven of the country's warships are now poised off the Venezuelan coast.

Ben Rowswell is Convenor of the Circle for Democratic Solidarity. He was Canada’s ambassador to Venezuela from 2014 to 2017.

On Sept. 2, the U.S. fired the first shot in a massive naval buildup in the Caribbean Sea, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing that the U.S. had attacked a vessel belonging to Venezuela . Seven warships and one nuclear-powered submarine, now poised off the Venezuelan coast, are prepared to inflict much greater damage.

Washington has not invoked any legitimate source of international law to justify its actions. The objective, according to the White House, is to “combat and d