Latin America’s history is often flattened in Western narratives into a repetitive cycle of corruption, instability, and underdevelopment. This framing is not accidental. It strips the region of political agency and obscures the central truth that has shaped its past and present: Latin America’s modern history is, above all, a history of resistance against empire. It is the story of societies repeatedly forced to choose between sovereignty and submission, dignity and dependency. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s fate, whatever one’s view of his leadership, belongs squarely within this long and unresolved struggle.

From the outset of colonial rule, Latin America was structured not as a collection of societies meant to develop on their own terms, but as an extractive system designed to enrich external powers. Spain and Portugal organized economies around forced labor, racial hierarchy, and the export of raw materials. Indigenous populations were dispossessed, African slaves were imported in vast numbers, and local elites were trained to govern in service of distant crowns. Independence in the early nineteenth century shattered formal colonial rule, but it did not dismantle this underlying logic.

The first generation of Latin American independence leaders understood this clearly. Figures such as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and José María Morelos in Mexico did not merely seek separation from Spain; they envisioned social transformation. Their calls for land reform, abolition of slavery, and racial equality challenged not only colonial authority but also the local elites who benefited from it. Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín carried this struggle across the continent, defeating Spanish armies while dreaming of a united Latin America capable of resisting future domination. Bolívar’s warnings about foreign influence, particularly from the rising United States, now read as eerily prophetic.

The nineteenth century confirmed his fears. As European empires receded, the United States emerged as the dominant external power in the hemisphere. Through the Monroe Doctrine and........

© Blitz