TEHRAN – U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats against other countries, issued after the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a military operation that included deadly strikes inside the Latin American nation, are not merely reckless—they are a brazen display of imperial arrogance. 

These threats lay bare Washington’s enduring colonial-era mentality and its obsession with domination under the guise of national security. Trump’s words about Mexico, Colombia, and Cuba are not policy statements but acts of intimidation, dripping with contempt for sovereign nations and echoing the Monroe Doctrine’s toxic legacy of hemispheric control.

On Sunday, Trump smeared Colombian President Gustavo Petro as “a sick man” who supposedly runs “cocaine mills and cocaine factories.” He went further, warning Petro “is not going to be doing it for very long,” and when asked about a possible U.S. operation against Colombia, he chillingly replied, “It sounds good to me.” This is not diplomacy—it is intimidation, an attempt to delegitimize a democratically-elected leader simply because he challenges Washington’s militarization of the region.

Mexico was treated with the same disdain. Trump claimed drugs were “pouring” across the border and declared “we’re gonna have to do something,” portraying the country as little more than a criminal pipeline. Such rhetoric ignores the deep structural realities of the drug trade and instead reduces Mexico to a caricature, justifying U.S. intervention while absolving Washington of responsibility for its own demand-driven narcotics crisis.

Cuba was dismissed outright as “ready to fall.” Trump argued the island had “no income” after Venezuelan oil was cut off and predicted collapse: “I don’t think we need any action. It looks like it’s going down.” This is regime-change language, treating Cuba’s sovereignty as irrelevant and its survival as a matter of U.S. calculation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reinforced this hostility, calling Cuba “a huge problem” and accusing its leadership of propping up Maduro’s government and sponsoring his security apparatus. Rubio’s comments dovetail with Trump’s vision of a hemisphere reshaped by U.S. pressure, where unfriendly governments are toppled to make way for regimes more pliant to Washington.

He even repeated his odd idea of acquiring Greenland, claiming it was vital for security because it’s “full of Russian and Chinese ships.” This is pure expansionism. In his narrative, Trump treats land as a commodity, countries like pawns, and sovereignty as expendable.

Trump demonizes governments that resist U.S. influence, smears their leaders, and frames intervention as inevitable. This is the Monroe Doctrine reborn, infused with colonial-era arrogance. Latin America is cast as America’s backyard, where sovereignty is conditional, and resistance is punished. The backlash to the Venezuela raid already shows how illegitimate these actions appear across the region. By extending threats to Colombia, Mexico, and Cuba, Trump risks isolating the United States diplomatically and fueling anti-American sentiment that will outlast his presidency.

These are not casual remarks. They are the blueprint of a dangerous imperial revival, one that threatens to destabilize Latin America and beyond. Trump’s remarks show the United States not as a partner, but as a bully—gripped by outdated colonial thinking and willing to override sovereignty to maintain its power.