The recent military operation in Caracas and the publication of the new National Security Strategy of the United States have reminded us of historical moments of the 20th century in the region.
In a recent journalistic work from the German media Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung They consider that an evolution of the “gunboat policy” has occurred, which is now manifested under a new and aggressive label: the “Donroe Doctrine.”
The analysis of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) connects the present with January 17, 1903, when the German gunboat Panther bombed Fort San Carlos in Maracaibo, Zulia state. At that time, European powers blocked the country’s coasts to demand payment of debts from the government of Cipriano Castro.
The report recalls that the conflict at the beginning of the 20th century was only resolved through mediation by the United States in Washington, which forced Venezuela to commit 30 percent of its customs revenues to settle European claims.
Today, history finds coincidences. If in 1902 the German Emperor Wilhelm II celebrated with a “Bravo, Panther!” the sinking of ships in the Caribbean, in 2025 Donald Trump’s entourage celebrates on social networks the fall of a regime under a similar premise: the use of force as the highest authority.
The analysis cites theorist Carl Schmitt, who explained how Washington transformed a ban on European intervention into a right of intervention itself, turning the Monroe Doctrine into an instrument of “unlimited flexibility” for American hegemony.
Furthermore, the FAZ points out that the National Security Strategy published in November 2025 formalizes a “Trump expansion” of this doctrine. Under this premise, Washington reserves “all the freedom in the world” to bring order to what it considers its “backyard.”
After the January 3 operation in Caracas, many American media consider that the main thing is that a dictator has been stripped of power. Others wonder if Trump’s support for Delcy Rodríguez, instead of the 2024 electoral winner, Edmundo González, or opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, does not mean that the regime will continue in another form.
They also mention media such as The New York Timeswhich questions the legality of the attack: Without congressional approval, the action not only violates American law, but also provides a justification for autocrats in China, Russia and elsewhere to dominate their neighbors.
Finally, in the report they warn that this new chapter of the “gunboat policy” would not stop in Venezuela. Citing publications by figures close to the White House, the German media suggests that the next target of this imperial expansion could be Greenland.
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