<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-top-anchor"></div>
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" lang="en-US" dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/puerto-rico-us-imperialism-and-venezuelas-defiant-sovereignty-a-conversation-with-deborah-berman-santana/">venezuelanalysis.com</a>
<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Puerto Rico, US Imperialism and Venezuela\u2019s Defiant Sovereignty: A Conversation with Déborah Berman Santana </h1><h1 class="gmail-reader-title"><font size="1"><span class="gmail-posted-by" style="font-weight:normal"><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/guest-author/cira-pascual-marquina/">Cira Pascual Marquina</a> </span><span style="font-weight:normal"> <span class="gmail-posted-on"> December 13, 2025</span>
</span></font></h1></div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><img src="cid:ii_mj4x7h4r0" alt="image.png" width="432" height="243"><br><p><em>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\u2019s sights. Puerto Rico\u2014still a US colony more than a century
after the 1898 invasion\u2014plays a central role in this imperial
architecture, serving as both a military platform and a living example
of colonial rule in the region. </em></p><p><em>Cira Pascual Marquina
spoke with Puerto Rican geographer, author, and longtime activist
Déborah Berman Santana about the continuity of US imperialism, the
island\u2019s strategic function in projecting imperialist military power in
the region, and why Venezuela\u2019s insistence on sovereignty represents
such a profound threat to US interests. </em></p><p><em>Drawing on
decades of grassroots struggle against militarization, including the
successful campaign to halt US Navy bombings in Vieques, Berman Santana
situates today\u2019s escalation against Venezuela within a broader history
of colonial control, neocolonial coercion, and popular resistance in the
continent.</em></p><p><strong>The US has just issued a new </strong><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf"><strong>National Security Strategy document</strong></a><strong>
that shifts its focus to the Western Hemisphere. From your perspective
in Puerto Rico, what does this reveal about Washington\u2019s imperial
ambitions, and how does it impact the Caribbean and specifically
Venezuela?</strong></p><p>From Puerto Rico, and with the history of
US-Latin American relations in mind, what is being presented as a \u201cnew\u201d
security strategy is really the old one. Even before the <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/multimedia/15485/">Monroe Doctrine</a>,
Thomas Jefferson was already worried that Spain\u2019s 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.</p><p>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 \u201cAmerica for the Americans,\u201d they mean the entire
hemisphere for the United States: its peoples and its resources, all
under US imperialist control.</p><p>The Caribbean is still referred to as the US \u201cbackyard,\u201d even by sectors of the US left. Venezuela\u2019s oil\u2014the largest proven <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/infographics/subsoil-bonanza-venezuelas-natural-resources/?swcfpc=1">reserves</a>
on the planet\u2014is treated as US oil. Bolivia\u2019s lithium is viewed as US
lithium. The strategy simply reasserts the United States as the dominant
power, the plantation owner of the hemisphere.</p><p>There is nothing
new in this policy paper except how openly it is stated. I don\u2019t believe
the substance would be radically different under a Democratic
administration; it would simply be expressed in more polite language.</p><p><strong>Puerto
Rico is identified as a US \u201cterritory,\u201d but in reality, it\u2019s 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?</strong></p><p>In the US Constitution, \u201cterritory\u201d
essentially means property. The US Supreme Court has defined Puerto Rico
as an unincorporated territory belonging to, but not part of, the
United States. \u201cUnincorporated\u201d means there is no obligation to ever
make Puerto Rico a state.</p><p>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\u2019t
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.</p><p>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.</p><p>There are six US military
bases in Puerto Rico. Four were never meaningfully demilitarized.
Two\u2014Ramey in Aguadilla and Roosevelt Roads in Ceiba\u2014were supposedly
closed and slated for civilian redevelopment. In practice, that process
has been partial at best.</p><p>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.</p><p>If the US decides
to deploy additional warships or aircraft carrier groups\u2014as it recently
did with the USS Gerald R. Ford\u2014it 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.</p><p>It
is the logic of a bully: \u201cI am here, and I am ready to hurt you unless
you comply.\u201d 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\u2019s strong
commitment to sovereignty, but it clearly reflects the US\u2019 strategic
thinking.</p><p><strong>Venezuela faces escalating economic, political,
and military pressure. Why is the Bolivarian Revolution perceived as
such a threat to US imperialist interests?</strong></p><p>The United
States seeks to remain the dominant global power, but when that
dominance is challenged\u2014especially by China\u2014it 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.</p><p>What the US will not
accept is a country that insists on real sovereignty, a country that
engages with Washington as an equal. Venezuela\u2019s decision to control its
own resources and choose its own trading partners is intolerable to US
policymakers.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>And
it would not stop with Venezuela: Cuba would be next, and Nicaragua
would follow. Donald Trump has openly warned Colombia\u2019s President
Gustavo Petro that they could also \u201cbe next.\u201d This military buildup
sends a message to all of Latin America and the Caribbean\u2014Mexico
included\u2014about the limits Washington seeks to impose on sovereignty.</p><p>As
one billionaire ally of Trump [Elon Musk] once crudely said about
Bolivia\u2019s lithium: \u201cWe coup whoever we want.\u201d It may sound blunt, but it
reflects a long-standing reality. When US interests are challenged, it
resorts to coups\u2014soft or hard. It prefers banks over tanks, but
ultimately it will do whatever is necessary to maintain imperialist
control.</p><p><strong>While Puerto Rico is under direct colonial rule,
much of Latin America faces neocolonial domination. How do these models
operate together today?</strong></p><p>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\u2014most of it owed to
Wall Street hedge funds.</p><p>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.</p><p>Chile\u2019s water
privatization after the Pinochet coup is one example. Haiti is
another\u2014it 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.</p><p>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.</p><p><strong>The US justifies its </strong><a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/infographics/us-military-threats-against-venezuela/?swcfpc=1"><strong>military buildup</strong></a><strong> in the Caribbean using anti-drug rhetoric. What does this narrative conceal?</strong></p><p>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\u2019s
allowed as long as they remain politically obedient.</p><p>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.</p><p>Most people
understand this, even within the United States. The real objective is
hemispheric domination and control over strategic resources\u2014above all,
Venezuelan oil.</p><p><strong>Puerto Rico has a long history of
resistance to militarization. How do those struggles connect today with
Venezuela and the broader region?</strong></p><p>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 <em>pueblo</em> won that battle.</p><p>The same anti-militarist, <em>independentista</em>,
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 <em>pueblos</em> of the region in a hemisphere that truly belongs to its people\u2014free, just, and sovereign.</p></div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div></div>
</div>
<br></div>