The consequences of one year of Trump on Latin America - and on the UvA
The US invasion of Venezuela is the most serious military intervention by the US in Latin America since the Cold War. This also has consequences for conducting research on the continent. One year after the inauguration of the second Trump administration, work became even more complicated for UvA scientists.
Anthropological research in Latin America has not been easy for years – many countries, such as Venezuela and large parts of Colombia, are already inaccessible to researchers and students because they have been designated as red zones by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – but since the second Trump administration, the situation has deteriorated.
Research collaborations have come to a standstill due to US entry restrictions. Recently, the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), a group of some 5,000 members, announced to no longer hold conferences in the US. And since words such as “immigrant”, “diversity” and “environmental justice” are no longer allowed to be used – due to the banned word list introduced by the second Trump administration – it has become more difficult to describe the inequality that has existed between the two continents since the American Declaration of Independence.
“Researching authoritarian regimes such as Nicaragua and El Salvador is always difficult,” says Julienne Weegels, who, as a university lecturer at the Centre for Latin American Studies and Documentation (Cedla), is researching the consequences of increasing security measures in the US. “And especially within prisons and other closed institutions. But since Trump came to power, the repression of human rights organisations and the persecution of journalists has increased.”
The US is investing enormous amounts of money in national security, says Weegels. “There is a budget of 75 billion dollars for the US government’s police service ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ed.) for the next three years. That money will go towards setting up migration prisons and the salaries of 10,000 additional ICE officers, among other things.”
Barbara Hogenboom, professor of Latin American Studies, researches the geopolitics of Latin America, which revolves around tensions between the US and China, often concerning the continent’s raw materials. “For a while, this seemed to be going reasonably well. But with the second Trump administration and the whole Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, there has been a hardening of the US’s pursuit of its own interests. The US invasion of Venezuela is of a military severity that we have not seen since the Cold War.”
According to Hogenboom, the issue of national security is being greatly exaggerated in the US for the sake of its own political agenda. The US accuses Venezuela of smuggling drugs into the country on a large scale, without providing any evidence. Hogenboom: “But that is not the main reason for the invasion. The US has major interests in Latin America because of its raw materials.” The refugee flows also play a role, says Weegels. “If you make Venezuela ‘safe’, you can also send all the refugees back.”
And that would have major consequences for Venezuela. There are around 8 million Venezuelan refugees worldwide, with around 700,000 residing in the US. Refugees and migrants are also important to the economy of their home country. In Central America, for example, no less than 20-25 per cent of the gross national product consists of money sent by migrants working in other countries to their families.
Role of Europe
According to Hogenboom, Europe really needs to step up and stand up for human rights and democratic freedoms in Latin America. “I was quite disappointed with the lack of a clear political signal from Europe to Trump after Maduro’s kidnapping. If Europe wants to be less dependent on the US and China, it needs to speak out at these politically difficult times.”
Hogenboom is holding her breath for the coming months. “The US midterm elections are coming up in November. The Trump team is feeling the urgency to realise as many plans as possible in the coming period, because they don’t know what the balance of power will be afterwards.” She does not expect another invasion any time soon. “But there are so many other ways in which the US is helping its ideological partners in Latin America to come to power or remain in power, which is very alarming.”
On 27 January 2026, UvA researchers Barbara Hogenboom and Julienne Weegels will join speakers from the US and Latin America at De Balie to discuss the consequences of the Trump administration for Latin America. Earlier that afternoon, there will be a workshop on the subject at the Oudemanhuispoort, featuring 15 short presentations. You can register here.
