The recent measures taken by the current US administration aim to lead humanity into a new dark age, as demonstrated by, among others, the cuts in funding for vaccine research, the recent executive order stripping scientists of control over federal research grants in order to replace scientific merit with ideological loyalty, the ban on sharing satellite climate data, and the sabotage of recent environmental initiatives, such as the one taken against COP30 and the recent conference to reduce plastic production.

With these actions, the Trump administration is seeking to hide scientific data to minimize the consequences of the increase in climate change. In other words, to deny science when it affects their interests, just as they did during their time with Galileo.

THE NEW BIG STICK

But this historical regression is not limited to the natural scientific realm; it also seeks to destroy international law and the structures that present themselves as an obstacle to its interests.

Our region is no exception to this historical regression. With the new version of Theodore Roosevelt's "Big Stick," using the weapon of economic sanctions and tariffs to subject our peoples to imperial designs. They have even gone so far as to prepare military interventions in Caribbean countries under the farcical excuse of combating drug trafficking, blatantly violating the progress made in sovereignty and ignoring the principle of self-determination of peoples, as established in the United Nations Charter.

In this regard, it is worth mentioning the statement by the Venezuelan Minister of Defense, who explained that the United States has always fabricated lies before each intervention.

In reality, these falsehoods, such as the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" in Iraq, or the need to drop atomic bombs on Japan to "protect its soldiers," or the "Cartel of the Suns" in Venezuela, are not intended to persuade the international community; they are fabricated to convince their citizens of the righteousness of these actions. Let us remember that the majority of the American people profess the Protestant religion, and one of their central tenets is that each individual is directly responsible to God for their conduct. Therefore, for that country's leadership, it is necessary to manipulate this principle, creating a convincing narrative that will garner support for their actions among its citizens.

To make them more credible, they need the support of other nations or organizations, as we saw in the case of Iraq and the position of the "Arab Coalition." They intend to repeat the same thing with Venezuela. To this end, the Secretary of State announced that a coalition of countries on the continent, including Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Paraguay, and Argentina, supported their actions. It doesn't matter that they represent a tiny part of our region; in the end, the bulk of the North American population is unaware of the scale of our nations, and they will think that this coalition represents the majority.

This leads to two basic conclusions: 1) It's very easy to know what their next military objectives will be; just look at the arguments they put forward; and 2) The way to prevent this is to generate a matrix of opinion within that country with solid arguments and compelling evidence that dismantles such fallacies, even using their own media and social networks. Demonstrations, protests, declarations, etc., while necessary, since they don't permeate North American society, they are of little use in effectively countering threats.

INVALUABLE TIME WASTED

The truth is that Latin Americans and Caribbeans do not have regional political structures that defend us vigorously and effectively internationally. And there has been no shortage of opportunities. In recent decades, our people have handed over their governments to numerous leaders who presented themselves as progressive and integrationist. But what they have done to achieve unity among our nations to confront reality: NOTHING, SIMPLY AND PLAINLY, NOTHING. They have miserably wasted time and betrayed the hopes of our region. We saw, for example, how, due to Brazil's oil interests in that region, the crucial summit on the Amazon failed miserably.