CEPR Director of International Research Jake Johnston was on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman and Juan González to discuss President Donald Trump’s upcoming “Shield of the Americas” summit in Miami, where right-wing leaders from across Latin America are expected to gather to launch a new US-led regional security initiative. The summit comes as the United States deploys Special Forces to Ecuador for joint operations and as Trump signals a more aggressive stance toward governments such as Cuba and Venezuela.

Johnston said: 

“On its surface, this summit is a show, right? An opportunity for Trump to play out a moment of imperial fantasy in front of fans in South Florida. But I think, taking a step back, …  this does fit very much in line with what has been, really, in many ways, a bipartisan and decades-long strategy of undermining and breaking the left governments in Latin America and consolidating a pro-US, right-wing bloc throughout the hemisphere. And so, you see the countries that have sort of appropriately shown their fidelity to the Trump administration and to US policy get invited, and those that don’t [show their fidelity] face the wrath of the Trump administration. We’ve seen that in Venezuela, in Colombia, in Mexico, and elsewhere and, obviously, as you mentioned, in Cuba.”

Watch the full interview here.