The war of words between Latin American leaders and the U.S. continues to escalate.

‘Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that he was expelling the U.S. ambassador in the latest escalation of tensions between Washington and Latin American leftists,’ the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

Chavez’s move came one day after Bolivia’s President Evo Morales accused his country’s U.S. ambassador of working with the conservative opposition to undermine his power, and ordered him to leave.

Although the U.S. said yesterday that it had not received any such request from Morales’ office, it became clear shortly after that the Bolivian president was serious. Washington retaliated by telling Bolivia’s ambassador, Gustavo Guzman, to leave.

Morales believes that the U.S. is actively supporting the conservative opposition, which is frequently engaged in violent clashes with Morales sympathizers. One such class left eight dead in ‘a remote province’ on Thursday.

Hugo Chavez attacked the U.S. in an angry, anti-American speech Thursday. He accused it of working against him and his people, and said that his country would come to Bolivia’s aid if ‘Yankee stooges’ would try to oust Morales.

Chavez has presented himself as the main anti-American South-American leader. “If we have to create one Vietnam, two Vietnams, three Vietnams, here we are ready,” Chavez said Thursday, echoing a phrase of Che Guevara, the late revolutionary leader. “Because we are not going to take hope away from our people.”

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington that Bolivia’s decision to expel Goldberg “will prejudice the interests of both countries, undermine the ongoing fight against drug trafficking and will have serious regional implications.”

For all his anti-American hate speech, Chavez seems to understand that not selling oil to the Americans may not be the smartest thing to do. Although he constantly condemns American ‘Imperialism,’ his country continues to sell oil to the U.S. - the U.S. is one of Venezuela’s main customers.

What makes this situation so complicated for all involved, is that all are dependent on each other in one way or another. Both the U.S. and Venezuela will have a hard time breaking completely with the other. Doing so will cause tremendous chaos and the region and it could have severe economic implications.

Chavez and Morales, meanwhile, represent a new, yet old, kind of Latin American leader. Both have declared the United States, the big brother of all states on the American (both South and North) continent, the main enemy of their people. They believe in a Latin American kind of socialism, are inspired by Latin American freedom fighters (from their perspective) such as Che Guevara, and want to work with other third world / developing countries, which are considered allies.

Anti-Americanism is nothing new in Latin America. What is new is that the United Stated does not seem willing to interfere in domestic South-American issues. In the past, the U.S. played an active role in Latin America, getting rid of leaders it feared would act against American interests, and supporting leaders that would not.

American involvement in Latin America started in 1823, with the Monroe Doctrine. This Doctrine meant that Europe was no longer allowed to play an active role on the American continent(s). In return, the U.S. would not interfere in Europe’s domestic issues. This doctrine later developed into meaning that the U.S. also had the right to interfere when South American countries proved ‘unable’ to take care of their own problems. This development, or expansion of the Monroe Doctrine, is called the Roosevelt Corollary.

The Monroe Doctrine was often used during the Cold War to defend U.S. involvement in South America. It had the right, its leaders stated, to prevent communism from spreading. The Americas were, was the message, controlled by the United States and no one else.

Although that has changed significantly in recent decades, many South Americans still feel that the U.S. is ‘bullying’ them. And if they do not feel like it, they will pretend they do; anti-American rhetoric is valuable if one wants to win elections. Chavez and Morales realize this, and take advantage of it whenever the opportunity arises.

The fact that they are so successful at it means they are tapping into a sentiment existing among South American peoples.