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The attack on Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro over the weekend have sent shockwaves across Latin America, where many countries fear a return to a period of overt United States interventionism.<\/p>\n
Those fears are particularly prominent in Mexico, the US\u2019s neighbour and longtime ally.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n The country was one of several \u2014 along with Cuba and Colombia \u2014 that US President Donald Trump singled out in remarks after Saturday\u2019s attack on Venezuela, which killed dozens of people and was widely condemned as a violation of international law.<\/p>\n Trump suggested that the US could carry out military strikes on Mexican territory in the name of combating drug traffickers.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething\u2019s going to have to be done with Mexico,\u201d Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Saturday morning, after the Venezuela strikes.<\/p>\n \u201cShe [President Claudia Sheinbaum] is very frightened of the cartels,\u201d he added. \u201cThey\u2019re running Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheinbaum has responded to Trump\u2019s threats with a firm insistence on Mexican sovereignty.<\/p>\n \u201cWe categorically reject intervention in the internal matters of other countries,\u201d Sheinbaum said in comments to the media on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is necessary to reaffirm that, in Mexico, the people rule and that we are a free and sovereign country,\u201d she added. \u201cCooperation, yes; subordination and intervention, no.\u201d<\/p>\n Even in good times, Mexican leaders have walked a line between seeking\u00a0productive relations with their powerful northern neighbour and defending their interests from possible US encroachment.<\/p>\n That balancing act has become more difficult as the Trump administration employs rhetoric and policies that have drawn parallels to earlier eras of imperial intervention.<\/p>\n \u201cHistorically, there\u2019s a record of US intervention that is part of the story of Mexican nationalism,\u201d Pablo Piccato, a professor of Mexican history at Columbia University, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Many of those instances loom large in the country\u2019s national memory. The US launched a war against Mexico in 1846 that saw US troops occupy Mexico City and annex enormous swaths of territory, including modern-day California, Nevada, and New Mexico.<\/p>\n Later, during the Mexican Revolution, from 1910 to 1920, US Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson worked with conservative forces in Mexico to overthrow the country\u2019s pro-reform president.<\/p>\n US forces also bombed the port city of Veracruz in 1914 and sent forces into northern Mexico to hunt down revolutionary leader Pancho Villa.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are seen as important moments in Mexican history,\u201d said Piccato.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a quote attributed to Mexican President Porfirio Diaz, \u2018Poor Mexico. So far from God, so close to the United States.’\u201d<\/p>\n In recent statements, Trump has linked the US\u2019s history in the region to his present-day agenda. While announcing Saturday\u2019s strike, he cited the Monroe Doctrine, a 19th-century policy that the US has used to assert primacy over the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we\u2019ve superseded it by a lot, by a real lot. They now call it the \u2018Donroe Doctrine\u2019,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n On Monday, the US State Department also shared<\/a> an image of Trump on social media with the caption: \u201cThis is OUR hemisphere.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheinbaum\u2019s insistence on Mexican sovereignty has not prevented her from offering concessions to Trump on key priorities, such as migration, security and commerce.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
\u2018We are free and sovereign\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Balancing on a thin wire\u2019<\/h2>\n