December 2, 2023
Interview of Foreign Minister Denis Moncada by Jorge Gestoso of TeleSur
The Monroe Doctrine, issued by US President James Monroe on Dec. 2, 1823, stated that any interference in the Americas by a European power would be viewed as a hostile act by the United States. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt added the Roosevelt Corollary, which stated that the United States could become involved in a Latin American country’s internal affairs in cases of “wrongdoing” by that Latin American country.
The Foreign Minister of Nicaragua, Denis Moncada, granted this interview after participating in the International Forum Against Imperialism, Fascism and Neocolonialism held in Venezuela within the framework of the 200th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine.
Moncada asserted that “The Monroe Doctrine is in a process of weakening, to the extent that our peoples and our governments are advancing in this struggle against imperialism, against fascism, against neocolonialism. The Monroe Doctrine, which has been the instrument of U.S. imperialism, is declining as the hegemony of the empire is declining.”
Gestoso: What does the phrase “America for the Americans” often attributed to U.S. President James Monroe mean?
Moncada: America for the Americans was the conception of the North American empire, and it was the objective of the Monroe Doctrine, really the control and domination of the Americans, of the North American empire, because we must also differentiate between the North American people and the North American government; the objective was to conquer America, to dominate America, to take over its natural resources… and expand, let’s say, the geography of the North American empire.
Gestoso: Has Nicaragua experienced the Monroe Doctrine?
Moncada: Permanently. The Monroe Doctrine has been present in the case of Nicaragua since it originated, until today. And with the struggle of the Nicaraguan people led by Sandino, and later by the Sandinista National Liberation Front, currently led by Comandante Daniel, we continue in that anti-imperialist struggle, because imperialism does not cease its policy of aggression, invasion, interference, of seizing the natural resources of our countries south of the Rio Bravo.
Gestoso: Was there a relationship between the counterrevolution and the Monroe Doctrine?
Moncada: The counterrevolution was precisely an organization financed, organized and trained by the United States. They tried to put an end to the revolutionary process in Nicaragua that was organized by the Sandinista National Liberation Front and which put the Nicaraguan people in the vanguard as the actor of the Sandinista Popular Revolution and we continue in that process.
Gestoso: Were the neighboring countries accomplices of the Monroe Doctrine?
Moncada: Yes, that is how it was, part of that had to do with the Organization of the American States, right? Then, the United States always uses its vassals, its subject countries, to serve as a base on the one hand territorially, and also to mobilize the armament of the counterrevolution at that time, and to serve as a support base at that time against Nicaragua, against the Government of the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
Gestoso: Does the Palmerola air base in Honduras still qualify as the landing field, as the “US aircraft carrier” in Central America?
Moncada: Palmerola in Honduras. Yes, Palmerola was precisely the transit route when President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras was overthrown [in 2009], and, of course, it was also a supply base for the counter-revolution in Nicaragua. It is the spearhead of intervention with the presence of military bases, of the multiple military bases, that exist in Latin America, including South America.
Gestoso: What role does the Organization of American States play in all this?
Moncada: The OAS is the political and diplomatic instrument designed by the United States—and located just a few blocks from the White House and from the State Department—precisely to put into practice this policy of domination, of interference. It provides them [the United States] with an apparent diplomatic and political justification in the Americas and in the rest of the world for US aggression against the countries of Latin America.
Gestoso: Why did Nicaragua leave the OAS?
Moncada: We left precisely on November 19 of this year [two years after notification of the intention to withdraw in 2021]. We resigned. We no longer have ties with the Organization of American States, precisely because we became convinced that this is the organization of U.S. interference and intervention and that it is permanently acting against the peoples that have democratic governments, that have truly free governments.
Source: Digital 19 translation by NicaNotes