How Colombia’s Election Signified the Isolation of the US in the Americas

Colombian left-wing presidential candidate Gustavo Petro of the Historic Pact coalition shows his ballot before casting his vote at a polling station during the second round of the presidential election in Bogota, Colombia, on June 19, 2022. Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

Commentary

The United States spent much of the past century in policies of containment, first of the Soviet Union, then of China, and then again with Russia. But quietly, however, the United States itself has become in many ways geopolitically isolated—contained—within the Americas.