Congressman Salud Carbajal and the Monroe Doctrine

January 16, 2026

Andy Caldwell

OPINION by ANDY CALDWELL

Even MSN will confirm that Trump is not the first president who did not get congressional consent to carry out military actions in another country:

“In 1950, President Harry Truman used his authority to send U.S. troops to defend South Korea along with a U.N. Security Council resolution, but no authority from Congress. In 1980s, President Ronald Reagan ordered military force in Libya, Grenada, and Lebanon, and in 1989 President George H.W. Bush directed the invasion of Panama to topple the dictator, Manuel Noriega.”

Albeit the clear winner here though is Barack Obama. He dropped more than 26,000 bombs on seven countries — Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen — in 2016 alone without obtaining congressional approval.

He also helped to force regime changes in some of these countries.  Never heard a peep from the democrats, did you?

Moreover, CBS also confirmed that the Obama administration publicly acknowledged that four Americans were killed in drone strikes as part of U.S. counter terrorism activities surrounding al Qaeda. That is, Obama killed Americans, who were likely traitors, but without a trial.

And yet, all the lefties in America are complaining that Trump has brought a narco-terrorist to justice after he had been indicted back in 2020 on narco-terrorism charges? And, just what did they expect to happen after Biden upped the reward for Maduro’s capture to $25 million before he left office?

America has had a doctrine in place for some 200 years called the Monroe Doctrine- which has been newly and hilariously dubbed the Donroe Doctrine!

This doctrine set our hemisphere off limits to foreign powers with possible malign intentions to develop strongholds that could create vulnerabilities to America. We are long overdue in resurrecting the doctrine lest we ignore it to our own peril.

Yes, Russia, China, and Iran were up to their eyeballs in Venezuela propping up and defending a regime that served to destroy one of the richest countries in the world.

How bad was it? Seven million Venezuelans fled the communist dictatorship. That was 20% of the entire population.

Why did so many have to flee? CBS reported the following: “The migrants have been fleeing years of failed socio-economic policies by the repressive regime of Nicolas Maduro, which has taken basic freedoms away from its citizens in trying to emulate the Cuban model. The UN Refugee Agency says people continue to leave Venezuela to escape violence, insecurity, and threats as well as lack of food, medicine, and essential services. This has become the second-largest external displacement crisis in the world, according to the UN.”

The U.S. Department of State added the following: “Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings; disappearances; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; arbitrary arrest or detention; transnational repression against individuals in another country; unlawful recruitment or use of children by Maduro-supported groups in armed conflict; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence or threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, and censorship; trafficking in persons, including forced labor; prohibiting independent trade unions or significant or systematic restrictions on workers’ freedom of association; violence or threats against labor activists or union members; and significant presence of any of the worst forms of child labor.”

Meanwhile, our erstwhile Congressman Salud (Che’) Carbajal, the foreign-policy, liberty-loving genius that he is, condemned the extradition of Maduro because it would deeply destabilize the country? The Venezuelans can only hope so.

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB in Santa Barbara County and host of The Andy Caldwell Radio Show, weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on  FM 98.5, FM 99.5, AM 1240, AM 1290 and FM 96.9.