MANAUS, BRAZIL - The study examines U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America. According to Camila Vidal, U.S. actions in the region have been outsourced through government agencies and institutions that present themselves as private entities following the end of the Cold War. The objective, she says, is to pursue a multisectoral approach while reducing the explicitly governmental nature of such initiatives.

“If until the Cold War they at least had a certain legitimacy to operate in Latin America based on the fight against communism, with the end of the Cold War and no longer having that threat, U.S. foreign policy began to redefine itself in terms of another enemy — initially drugs, among others. But through a series of agencies and institutions capitalized across various sectors of society, precisely with the objective of operating in Latin America in a multisectoral manner while at the same time removing the governmental character,” said Dr. Camila Vidal.

The research also addresses what it describes as U.S. imperialism and efforts to secure access to rare earth minerals, which are abundant in Brazil. The study further highlights concerns about the Brazilian Amazon amid competition for these resources involving technology companies and the U.S. government.

“The interest of these technology companies, in addition to that of the U.S. government, also lies in gaining access to these ‘rare earths,’ which are in fact the gold of the 21st century. I believe geopolitics today is structured in such a way that Brazil needs to exercise even greater caution. It has not done so thus far, but it should be even more careful regarding the Amazon, especially amid the dispute over ‘rare earths’ between China and the United States. It is no longer appropriate to question the role of the United States when there is a national defense or national security strategy in place in which they revive the ‘Monroe Doctrine’ — the imperialist nature becomes evident,” Vidal said.

Camila Feix Vidal is a professor in the Department of Economics and International Relations at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), where she teaches in the Graduate Program in International Relations (PPGRI) and the undergraduate program in International Relations. She previously served as an adjunct professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG) in the undergraduate International Relations program from 2016 to 2019.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Florida International University (FIU) and earned both her master’s and Ph.D. in Political Science from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), including a doctoral research period at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in France.

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