A central determine in U.S. diplomacy in Latin America, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has established himself because the architect of a deliberate interventionnisme in Venezuela — justified within the identify of the struggle in opposition to “narco-terrorism,” vitality safety, and the Iran–Hezbollah axis. But this firmness contrasts sharply with Washington’s ongoing inaction towards the gangs ravaging Haiti, that are largely armed from america (1)(2).
A portrait by Nancy Roc, exploring each the making of a hawk and the heavy penalties of a geopolitical double normal.
Marco Rubio: A Hawk Cast in Miami
Marco Rubio is the political product of a Florida the place anti-communism, Cuban exile networks, and U.S. international coverage are intimately intertwined (3). On this pivotal state, toughness towards leftist regimes in Latin America has lengthy been a key electoral asset. Rubio constructed his profession inside this ideological framework, turning international coverage right into a direct extension of home battles.
However his relationship to drug trafficking and transnational crime shouldn’t be merely ideological. An in depth investigation printed by The American Prospect revealed that as an adolescent, Rubio labored for his brother-in-law’s unique animal import firm, which served as a entrance for large cocaine and marijuana smuggling (4). The report talked about shipments of a whole bunch of 1000’s of kilos of medicine — a chapter absent from official biographies and barely talked about in mainstream profiles of the longer term Secretary of State.
This documented but politically buried previous casts new gentle on Rubio’s present rhetoric. Having risen from senator to America’s high diplomat, he has fused counter-narcotics, counterterrorism, and geopolitical rivalry right into a single safety doctrine (5). The idea of “narco-terrorism” permits him to criminalize whole states, relativize nationwide sovereignty, and justify sanctions, covert operations, and even the direct use of drive.
Venezuela: Oil, Iran, Hezbollah… and China within the Background
The operation resulting in the autumn of Nicolás Maduro marked the fruits of Rubio’s doctrine. Formally offered as a counter-narcotics motion (6), it actually pursued a lot broader strategic objectives. Venezuela holds the world’s largest confirmed oil reserves (7) — a central reality amid international vitality tensions and shifting alliances.
Below Rubio’s affect, U.S. coverage towards Venezuela developed into a world strategic imaginative and prescient aimed toward containing the rising affect of rival powers within the Western Hemisphere (8). For Rubio, Venezuela couldn’t be allowed to develop into an “operational base” for actors deemed hostile to U.S. pursuits — foremost amongst them Iran, Russia, China, and non-state networks equivalent to Hezbollah (9).
Through the years, Caracas and Tehran have strengthened their ties by means of vitality agreements, logistical cooperation, technological exchanges, and mutual political help (10). To Washington, this relationship made Venezuela a regional anchor of Iranian affect within the Americas. Added to this have been considerations about Hezbollah-linked monetary and logistical networks in Latin America, documented by the U.S. Treasury and congressional committees (11).
But behind this safety rhetoric lies a quieter however extra structural concern: China’s increasing footprint. Beijing has deepened its relationship with Caracas by means of oil-backed loans, vitality investments, infrastructure tasks, and regular diplomatic help (12)(13). For Washington, this Chinese language presence, mixed with Russian and Iranian affect, has entrenched a geopolitical counterweight inside what america has lengthy considered its privileged sphere of affect (14).
In Rubio’s framework, Venezuela thus turned a strategic crossroads, mixing vitality, narcotics, terrorism, and great-power competitors. In his eyes, this configuration justified a daring authorized and diplomatic gamble: Venezuela’s sovereignty could possibly be suspended within the identify of U.S. nationwide safety, now redefined on a continental scale.
Haiti: Washington’s Strategic Blind Spot
Against this, Haiti stays relegated to the standing of a peripheral disaster. But the violence tearing the nation aside is neither spontaneous nor remoted. In line with the United Nations, a lot of the weapons utilized by Haitian gangs originate from the U.S. market — primarily from Florida (15). These weapons transfer by means of well-known channels, enabled by lax controls and weak prosecutions (16).
Regardless of this documented duty, Washington continues to handle Haiti’s chaos from a distance: verbal help for worldwide missions, sporadic humanitarian assist, however no severe coercive technique in opposition to arms networks or monetary circuits. Haiti is handled as a continual humanitarian disaster, not as a strategic concern.
What Worldwide Regulation Says
From a global regulation perspective, America’s technique in Venezuela and its extended inaction in Haiti elevate basic questions. The U.N. Constitution enshrines the precept of state sovereignty and prohibits the usage of drive with out specific Safety Council authorization or an act of self-defense(17).
In Venezuela’s case, Washington sought to bypass this framework by framing its intervention as an enforcement measure in opposition to “narco-terrorism” (18). But the notion of narco-terrorism has no autonomous authorized standing below worldwide regulation that will permit suspension of a state’s sovereignty (19).
Conversely, Haiti exemplifies one other facet of worldwide regulation: the obligation to not worsen a disaster. The Arms Commerce Treaty imposes on exporting states an obligation of vigilance when there’s a danger that weapons could also be utilized in severe human rights violations (20). U.N. studies establishing the American origin of many weapons utilized by Haitian gangs subsequently elevate a difficulty of oblique duty (21).
Lastly, the Accountability to Shield (R2P) precept, adopted in 2005, exposes the selectivity of the worldwide order: invoked the place strategic pursuits are at stake, it disappears the place there may be solely poverty and dysfunction (22).
A Morality of Double Requirements
The distinction between Venezuela and Haiti reveals a brutal fixed: U.S. interventionism is rarely pushed by human struggling however by strategic worth (23). The place oil, geopolitics, and outlined enemies converge, drive is deployed. The place there are neither vital assets nor adversaries, inaction turns into doctrine.
Haiti possesses no oil, no strategic minerals, no pivotal vitality position (24). Its safety collapse doesn’t immediately threaten U.S. financial pursuits. Thus, its implosion turns into a suitable political value — so long as its chaos stays contained inside its borders.
Conclusion — The Human Price of Indifference
Marco Rubio’s doctrine exposes a disturbing fact: chaos is tolerated when it threatens no main strategic curiosity. But this exterior actuality can not absolve Haitian leaders themselves. Endemic corruption, administrative incompetence, and a scarcity of strategic imaginative and prescient have hollowed out the state.
Donald Trump’s phrases — as brutal and controversial as they could be — echo sure analyses when he describes fragile states as dominated by corrupt and inept elites (25). This rhetoric, nonetheless, is harmful: it paves the best way for the normalization of disengagement and for privatized safety options, in keeping with mercenary Erik Prince’s proposals (26).
In Haiti, the lifeless quantity within the 1000’s, the displaced within the a whole bunch of 1000’s, and starvation gnaws at a whole nation deserted to gangs. This collapse is neither unforeseeable nor unintended. It’s the product of a double abandonment: that of a global group guided by strategic curiosity, and that of native elites corrupted and incapable of governance.
In contrast to Venezuela, Haiti threatens no oil barrel, no vitality market, no international energy stability. And it’s exactly for that motive that its downfall is tolerated. Haiti’s chaos disrupts neither markets nor powers — thus it turns into acceptable.
A world order able to toppling a regime for its pursuits however incapable of saving a individuals with no exploitable assets reveals its starkest fact: not all lives weigh the identical.
Nancy Roc — January sixth, 2026
Learn additionally: Roc and Truths – In-depth geopolitical evaluation on Haiti and worldwide energy dynamics.
FOOTNOTES
- UNODC, Firearms Trafficking and Gang Violence in Haiti, 2024.
- GAO, U.S. Arms Export Controls and the Caribbean, 2023.
- Politico, Marco Rubio and Florida’s Overseas Coverage Politics, 2022.
- The American Prospect, “The Narco-Terrorist Elite…”, December 23, 2025.
- Congressional Analysis Service, U.S. Counternarcotics Coverage in Latin America, 2024.
- AP Information, January 2026.
- U.S. Vitality Info Administration, Venezuela Nation Evaluation.
- Politico, Rubio’s Hardline Imaginative and prescient for Latin America, 2024–2025.
- U.S. Senate Hearings, 2024–2026.
- Reuters, Iran–Venezuela Strategic Cooperation, 2024–2026.
- U.S. Treasury Division, Hezbollah Financing in Latin America, 2023.
- Council on Overseas Relations, China’s Increasing Function in Venezuela, 2023–2024.
- Reuters, China Deepens Oil-Backed Ties with Venezuela, 2022–2024.
- Congressional Analysis Service, Nice Energy Competitors in Latin America, 2024.
- U.N. Panel of Consultants on Haiti, 2024.
- GAO, Weak Oversight of Small Arms Exports, 2023.
- United Nations Constitution, Article 2(4).
- U.S. Division of State Statements, 2025–2026.
- Oppenheim’s Worldwide Regulation.
- United Nations Arms Commerce Treaty (ATT).
- United Nations Stories on Haiti, varied years.
- U.N., World Summit Final result, 2005.
- Overseas Affairs, Selective Intervention and U.S. Energy, 2023.
- World Financial institution, Haiti Nation Financial Memorandum, 2022–2024.
- Politico / The Atlantic, analyses of Trump, 2018–2025.
- The New York Occasions; The Intercept, investigations on Erik Prince, 2020–2024.