Why South America is the battlefield in a new cold war

[TomSea]

Why South America is the battlefield in a new cold war
By Hal Brands
February 11, 2019 — 3.23am

Washington: The political crisis in Venezuela has pitted the US against a dictator who refuses to leave office, but the crisis has a broader significance: it shows that Latin America has again become an arena in which rival powers struggle for influence and advantage.

As the US faces surging geopolitical rivalry around the world, its position is also coming under pressure in its own backyard.

The region has been the focus of global competition before, of course, from the Spanish-Portuguese rivalry of the 15th and 16th centuries to the Cold War between Washington and Moscow. But after the fall of the Soviet Union, Latin America seemed – for a time, at least – to have become a geopolitics-free zone.


Venezuela's self proclaimed president Juan Guaido.Credit:AP

Read more at: https://www.smh.com.au/world/south-america/why-south-america-is-the-battlefield-in-a-new-cold-war-20190211-p50wwa.html

The caption reads "self proclaimed" but other articles indeed, call him a legitimate leader, I believe he won through their congress. Hmmn.

[Absalom]

Latin America's heritage/legacy is Tribal; be it Aztec, Inca or Mayan.
The Spanish Missionaries tried to steer them away from their chronic
backwardness but to no avail and left after some three centuries.
There they remain mired, to this very moment!!!