Trump's Aggressive Military Buildup in Panama Is Keeping Latin America on Edge

[Zorro]

Trump is pursuing "American dominance" in the region with the biggest-ever buildup of US troops.

Taking advantage of terrain teeming with pit vipers, boa constrictors and swarms of biting flies, the US military is reviving its jungle training school in Panama after a 25-year hiatus.

The lessons on rainforest survival, medical evacuations and patrols handed down to soldiers, sailors and Marines have taken on new significance as President Donald Trump signals a readiness to launch strikes on Mexican cartel bosses or dismantle Cuban defenses. The warnings seem all the more credible after his surprise capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January.

The mission — a joint exercise with Panamanian forces — is meant to bolster readiness for jungle combat. The stakes have been raised since Trump revealed a security strategy late last year that he insists will ensure “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere.” He’s floated the idea of attacking clandestine drug labs, pushed for regime change in Cuba and mulled taking back the Panama Canal by force.

“It’s a way to let Latin Americans know that the United States is back as a military force,” said Alan McPherson, a historian at Temple University in Philadelphia who studies US interventions in the region. He sees the revived jungle trainings as part of Trump’s re-imagined Monroe Doctrine that combines threats of military force with economic intimidation and diplomatic pressure to force countries to bend to the US’s will.

It’s all part of a “coercive, multifaceted new imperialism,” he said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-05-05/trump-s-military-buildup-in-panama-puts-latin-america-on-edge?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3ODA5NzE2NCwiZXhwIjoxNzc4NzAxOTY0LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJURUwxMElLR0NUR1cwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNjgyQTUwQzJCRDM0MTFCQTgwQjEwQjZEQjczQzM1MSJ9.u1d2ZEZc9fYibxEgUTOgSEg0gLaFI4N4xmsLRZmoUTY

[Thomas Hurt]

1. Donnie is looking to build Oceania a la 1984.