Paraguay’s President Peña backs Trump’s new Monroe Doctrine in Latin America

Latin America stands to benefit from US President Donald Trump’s greater involvement, said Paraguay President Santiago Peña, who has emerged as one of the staunchest US allies in the region.

“When the new national security strategy came out and they started talking about revitalising the Monroe Doctrine, I think it’s a good idea,” Peña said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Washington after meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Peña was referring to the US policy of influence in Latin America outlined by former US president James Monroe in the 19th century. 

“It’s not that we’re going to be the same countries that we were 200 years ago,” he added. “We are completely different, and the type of partnership that we have built is different now, it’s stronger and we see each other as an ally. So it’s not that the US will colonise the countries in the Western Hemisphere.” 

Peña, who also participated in Trump’s Board of Peace meeting Thursday, hails from a region historically wary of US intervention. Yet he applauded Trump’s decision to launch a military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro this year. The operation exposed Latin America’s polarised politics, with left-wing leaders condemning the move and right-wing leaders cheering on the United States. 

Maduro’s removal was the second-best option after Venezuela’s failed elections in 2024, said Peña, who warned the transition to democracy in Venezuela could be a lengthy process. It took about four years for Paraguay to return to democracy after the fall of the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship in 1989, he said.

“Dictators, they usually don’t go with pamphlets and manifestations in the street, they usually go with bullets,” he said in reference to Maduro’s capture in early January. “If I give you my own experience in Paraguay, it took about three to four years, so I hope that it could be sooner, but it’s going to be around that time.” 

The 47-year-old economist turned politician has largely aligned his government with Trump’s foreign policy agenda, which includes backing Israel and fighting organised crime in the Americas. Last year, he agreed to host US soldiers on Paraguayan soil under a bilateral security pact that remains subject to congressional approval.

Paraguay is also one of Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies, a relationship that Peña said he will maintain. Trump has sought to contain, and even roll back, China’s presence in Latin America through his renewed version of the Monroe Doctrine. Since taking office, Trump pressured Panama into voiding port concessions held by a Chinese firm. 

“We are the only country in South America that still has a relationship with Taiwan. This is not a minor issue when they think about the influence of China in the Western hemisphere,” he said, adding that Paraguay’s ties to Taiwan won’t change. “Not under my watch.” 

Paraguay – a country of 6.1 million people wedged between Argentina and Brazil – has largely missed out on the China-led trade and investment boom in the region of the last two decades due to its 68-year-old alliance with Taiwan. Last year, Paraguay ran a trade deficit of more than US$6 billion with China.

That lopsided trade relationship hasn’t prevented Paraguay from growing faster than most of its neighbours in recent years. After growing an estimated six percent in 2025, the Central Bank sees the economy expanding by about 4.2 percent this year led by services, manufacturing and construction. Since the start of Peña’s five-year term in August 2023, the country won its first investment grade credit ratings from S&P and Moody’s.

“We are very sure that Paraguay will continue to grow about six percent to seven percent the next decade,” Peña said. 

Earlier Thursday, Peña’s Finance Minister Carlos Fernández met with investors in New York as the country looks to sell US dollar and local currency denominated global bonds to cover its 2026 funding needs. 

“We have a very tight budget and we abide to a very strict financial plan,” Peña said. “The amount is going to be limited to what has been budgeted which is a little bit less than a US$1 billion.”