Project 2025 called for 're-hemisphering' in Latin America. Trump's actions in Venezuela went further

In January 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump began a series of military operations into the South American country of Venezuela without receiving prior authorization from Congress, which holds the sole constitutional power to declare war.

In a news conference after the first operation, in which U.S. troops captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, Trump referenced the Monroe Doctrine, a policy adopted in 1823 under then-President James Monroe claiming that the continents of North and South America fell under the protection of the United States.

In the wake of the events, posts appeared online suggesting that a call for such an aggressive and imperialistic foreign policy could be found in the pages of Project 2025, a plan spearheaded by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation that lays out a roadmap for Trump's second term in a roughly 1,000-page document titled "Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise." Previous Snopes reporting has detailed the deep connections between Project 2025, its authors and many of the Trump administration's decisions during his first year back in office.

According to the social media posts, the justification for the military operations into Venezuela could be found on Page 184 of the document, which supposedly called for the "re-hemisphering" of Latin America. 

Snopes reviewed the Project 2025 document and found that Page 184 did in fact, contain a reference to the "re-hemisphering" of Latin America. As a result, we've rated the claim true. However, the contextual language around that phrasing revealed that the Trump administration's military operations in Venezuela went a step beyond the document's proposed policy, which did not call for the use of unilateral force but instead focused on cooperating with allies to address security concerns and strengthen economic ties between the U.S. and Latin America.

The subsection featuring the phrase "re-hemisphering" was titled "Western Hemisphere" and largely focused on economic issues. It began with a claim similar to the justification for the Monroe Doctrine, namely that the U.S. has a "vested interest in a relatively united and economically prosperous Western Hemisphere." 

After a section on Mexico and a section about the stopping fentanyl from entering the United States through the southern border, Project 2025 turned to "A hemisphere-centered approach to industry and energy." This is where it used and defined the term "re-hemisphering." The full text of that section reads:

A hemisphere-centered approach to industry and energy. The next Administration has a golden opportunity to make key economic changes that will not only provide tremendous economic opportunities for Americans but will also serve as an economic boon to the entire Western Hemisphere.

First, the United States must do everything possible, with both resources and messaging, to shift global manufacturing and industry from more distant points around the globe (especially from the increasingly hostile and human rights-abusing PRC [China]) to Central and South American countries. "Re-hemisphering" manufacturing and industry closer to home will not only eliminate some of the more recent supply-chain issues that damaged the U.S. economy but will also represent a significant economic improvement for parts of the Americas in need of growth and stabilization.

Similarly, the United States must work with Mexico, Canada, and other countries to develop a hemisphere-focused energy policy that will reduce reliance on distant and manipulable sources of fossil fuels, restore the free flow of energy among the hemisphere's largest producers, and work together to increase energy production, including for nations that are looking for dramatic economic expansion.

The final section about the Western Hemisphere, which discussed "A 'local' approach to security threats," raised the possibility of military action but emphasized the need for cooperation with Latin American countries and U.S. allies. specifically named Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana and Venezuela as being "regional security threats in their own rights" or "vulnerable to hostile extra-continental powers" and called for the U.S. to "lead these democratic neighbors to fight against the external pressure of threats from abroad and address local regional security concerns." The initiative, explicitly described as a "collaboration," would need to "span all tools at the disposal of U.S. allies and partners, including security-focused cooperation."

That language echoed an earlier section on Venezuela, on Page 181, which concluded, "The next Administration must work to unite the hemisphere against this significant but underestimated threat in the Southern Hemisphere."