December 6: Today is the anniversary of the Roosevelt Corollary or an amendment to the Monroe Doctrine in his State of the Union Address in 1904, stating the United States of America could intervene in any Latin American or Caribbean territory if it was necessary for American expansion and to keep European nations out of the Western Hemisphere.

The corollary was formulated before Congress on the State of the Union of December 6, 1904, when the European powers (Germany, England and Italy) had threatened to Venezuela Naval Blockade of 1902-1903.

The reason for military action was to collect by force the payment of a debt owed by the government of Venezuela in the last decades of the nineteenth century, however, the blockade was lifted after undergoing an arbitration under pressure thereof Roosevelt.

Big Stick in Latin America

This amendment states that if any Latin American and Caribbean country situated under the influence of the US threatened or endangered the rights or property of US citizens and their companies, the US government would be forced to intervene in the internal affairs of the country in order to restore rights and property of US citizens and their companies.