[News] Puerto Rico, US Imperialism and Venezuela’s Defiant Sovereignty: A Conversation with Déborah Berman Santana

[Anti-Imperialist News]

venezuelanalysis.com
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/puerto-rico-us-imperialism-and-venezuelas-defiant-sovereignty-a-conversation-with-deborah-berman-santana/>
Puerto Rico, US Imperialism and Venezuela’s Defiant Sovereignty: A
Conversation with Déborah Berman Santana Cira Pascual Marquina
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/guest-author/cira-pascual-marquina/> December
13, 2025
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[image: image.png]

*As the United States reasserts its hemispheric priorities in its recent
National Security Strategy document, Latin America and the Caribbean are
once again cast as a zone of interest, with Venezuela squarely in
Washington’s sights. Puerto Rico—still a US colony more than a century
after the 1898 invasion—plays a central role in this imperial architecture,
serving as both a military platform and a living example of colonial rule
in the region. *

*Cira Pascual Marquina spoke with Puerto Rican geographer, author, and
longtime activist Déborah Berman Santana about the continuity of US
imperialism, the island’s strategic function in projecting imperialist
military power in the region, and why Venezuela’s insistence on sovereignty
represents such a profound threat to US interests. *

*Drawing on decades of grassroots struggle against militarization,
including the successful campaign to halt US Navy bombings in Vieques,
Berman Santana situates today’s escalation against Venezuela within a
broader history of colonial control, neocolonial coercion, and popular
resistance in the continent.*

*The US has just issued a new **National Security Strategy document*
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf>*
that shifts its focus to the Western Hemisphere. From your perspective in
Puerto Rico, what does this reveal about Washington’s imperial ambitions,
and how does it impact the Caribbean and specifically Venezuela?*

>From Puerto Rico, and with the history of US-Latin American relations in
mind, what is being presented as a “new” security strategy is really the
old one. Even before the Monroe Doctrine
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/multimedia/15485/>, Thomas Jefferson was
already worried that Spain’s colonies might become independent before the
United States was strong enough to take control of them. Hemispheric
domination has always been central to US policy.

What this document makes clear is that Washington wants absolute control
over the Western Hemisphere, regardless of what happens elsewhere in the
world or how competition with China or Russia evolves. When US officials
say “America for the Americans,” they mean the entire hemisphere for the
United States: its peoples and its resources, all under US imperialist
control.

The Caribbean is still referred to as the US “backyard,” even by sectors of
the US left. Venezuela’s oil—the largest proven reserves
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/infographics/subsoil-bonanza-venezuelas-natural-resources/?swcfpc=1>
on the planet—is treated as US oil. Bolivia’s lithium is viewed as US
lithium. The strategy simply reasserts the United States as the dominant
power, the plantation owner of the hemisphere.

There is nothing new in this policy paper except how openly it is stated. I
don’t believe the substance would be radically different under a Democratic
administration; it would simply be expressed in more polite language.

*Puerto Rico is identified as a US “territory,” but in reality, it’s an
occupied colony. How does that colonial status enable the buildup of US
bases and military deployments, and why is Puerto Rico so central to
projecting imperialist power in the Caribbean, especially toward Venezuela?*

In the US Constitution, “territory” essentially means property. The US
Supreme Court has defined Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory
belonging to, but not part of, the United States. “Unincorporated” means
there is no obligation to ever make Puerto Rico a state.

The simplest analogy is a pair of shoes: they belong to you, but they are
not part of you, and you can dispose of them at will. That is how Puerto
Rico is legally understood. We don’t even have the limited sovereignty
administratively allowed for Native peoples in the US. This is not my
opinion; it is established by Supreme Court rulings.

This colonial condition makes militarization extremely easy. For roughly
twenty years there was a visible reduction in US military presence, but
that period is clearly over. The US does not need to negotiate with us. If
it chooses to offer compensation, it may, but it is under no obligation.

There are six US military bases in Puerto Rico. Four were never
meaningfully demilitarized. Two—Ramey in Aguadilla and Roosevelt Roads in
Ceiba—were supposedly closed and slated for civilian redevelopment. In
practice, that process has been partial at best.

I live near Ceiba, and since the summer, there has been a dramatic increase
in military air traffic. The airstrip, which had been used for regional
civilian flights since 2004, is now filled with F-35s, Hercules aircraft,
and Ospreys. No permission was requested. The military simply took it over.

If the US decides to deploy additional warships or aircraft carrier
groups—as it recently did with the USS Gerald R. Ford—it can do so without
even consulting us. Whether this is intended as a prelude to an actual
attack on Venezuela or primarily as pressure, it clearly sends a message.

It is the logic of a bully: “I am here, and I am ready to hurt you unless
you comply.” Even without an invasion, the buildup is meant to force
concessions, deepen internal divisions, or provoke instability in
Venezuela. I doubt this will succeed, given Venezuela’s strong commitment
to sovereignty, but it clearly reflects the US’ strategic thinking.

*Venezuela faces escalating economic, political, and military pressure. Why
is the Bolivarian Revolution perceived as such a threat to US imperialist
interests?*

The United States seeks to remain the dominant global power, but when that
dominance is challenged—especially by China—it insists on absolute control
of this hemisphere. In this worldview, Latin America and the Caribbean are
US turf: their resources belong to Washington, and their peoples are
treated, implicitly, as subjects.

What the US will not accept is a country that insists on real sovereignty,
a country that engages with Washington as an equal. Venezuela’s decision to
control its own resources and choose its own trading partners is
intolerable to US policymakers.

That is why Cuba has faced a blockade for more than sixty years, why
Nicaragua is targeted, and why Venezuela is now under such intense
pressure. A Russian ship making a courtesy visit to Venezuela or expanded
ties with China are treated not as sovereign decisions, but as provocations.

The real threat to Washington is not Venezuela in isolation, but the
precedent it sets. The Bolivarian process represents a living challenge and
a model that could inspire others across the region. That is why US policy
aims either to overthrow the government or to force it to abandon its
sovereign course.

And it would not stop with Venezuela: Cuba would be next, and Nicaragua
would follow. Donald Trump has openly warned Colombia’s President Gustavo
Petro that they could also “be next.” This military buildup sends a message
to all of Latin America and the Caribbean—Mexico included—about the limits
Washington seeks to impose on sovereignty.

As one billionaire ally of Trump [Elon Musk] once crudely said about
Bolivia’s lithium: “We coup whoever we want.” It may sound blunt, but it
reflects a long-standing reality. When US interests are challenged, it
resorts to coups—soft or hard. It prefers banks over tanks, but ultimately
it will do whatever is necessary to maintain imperialist control.

*While Puerto Rico is under direct colonial rule, much of Latin America
faces neocolonial domination. How do these models operate together today?*

Puerto Rico is a colony with no sovereignty, now effectively governed by a
fiscal control board imposed by the US Congress. Appointed under Obama and
maintained by subsequent administrations, this unelected body can veto
budgets and policies. Its priority is not social well-being, but debt
repayment—most of it owed to Wall Street hedge funds.

This structure enforces privatization: electricity, education, and public
services. Environmental protections are also under attack. But colonialism
works by degrees. A country can be formally independent and still be
coerced through debt, IMF pressure, financial blackmail, economic war, etc.

Chile’s water privatization after the Pinochet coup is one example. Haiti
is another—it is formally independent, yet occupied and burdened with
illegitimate debt. Elsewhere, intervention comes through NGOs, the National
Endowment for Democracy, election interference, or direct coups, as in
Honduras in 2009.

In Venezuela, when the right wing loses elections, the US cries fraud. When
it wins, there is silence. This selective logic serves as justification for
sanctions, isolation, and ultimately military threats.

*The US justifies its **military buildup*
<https://venezuelanalysis.com/infographics/us-military-threats-against-venezuela/?swcfpc=1>*
in the Caribbean using anti-drug rhetoric. What does this narrative
conceal?*

Historically, Washington claimed to be fighting communism. Later, it was
terrorism. Now the target is supposedly drugs. Yet it is widely known that
drug demand is driven by the United States itself, and that many of its
closest allies have been deeply involved in drug trafficking. It’s allowed
as long as they remain politically obedient.

Meanwhile, fisherfolk across the Caribbean are targeted and killed under
the pretext of drug interdiction, without evidence and without inspections.
This is not about drugs. It is about control.

Most people understand this, even within the United States. The real
objective is hemispheric domination and control over strategic
resources—above all, Venezuelan oil.

*Puerto Rico has a long history of resistance to militarization. How do
those struggles connect today with Venezuela and the broader region?*

Puerto Rico has consistently resisted US militarism. The struggle against
US Navy bombings in Vieques was long and difficult, but it ended in a
victory: the base was shut down. Although the land has yet to be fully
cleaned up or returned to the community, the *pueblo* won that battle.

The same anti-militarist, *independentista*, and socialist forces that
fought in Vieques continue to resist today, grounded in the understanding
that Puerto Rico is part of the Caribbean and Latin America. Simón Bolívar
himself insisted that his liberation project would remain incomplete
without Cuba and Puerto Rico.This struggle is far from over. It will not be
complete until Puerto Rico is free and can stand alongside Venezuela, Cuba,
and other *pueblos* of the region in a hemisphere that truly belongs to its
people—free, just, and sovereign.
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