Why Mexico and Brazil Are Both Refusing Trump's Military Playbook in South America

A US Marines MV-22B Osprey aircraft flies over the city on its way to the US Embassy, in Caracas, on May 23, 2026, during an air evacuation drill. (Credit: Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP via Getty Images)

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  Trump told the UN General Assembly the United States will use its full military power anywhere in the Western Hemisphere it judges necessary, seven months after American forces seized Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro in Caracas.

• Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum and Brazil's Lula da Silva both rejected the threat of outside intervention, while Cuba's delegation walked out of the chamber as Trump spoke.
• More than a dozen governments joined Trump's anti-cartel "Shield of the Americas" coalition at a sideline meeting, but Brazil and Mexico remain outside that framework.

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A Hemisphere Put on Notice