After the brazen capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, investors are racing to capitalize on President Trump’s ambitions to dominate the Western Hemisphere. Hedge funds and other investment firms, already boosted by a sharp rally in Venezuelan debt, are mapping out trips to Caracas to scope out on-the-ground opportunities. Some are investigating niche instruments, like arbitration claims and unpaid state debts. Others are eyeing debt in Colombia and Cuba, while shares of a tiny bank in Greenland—another territory in Trump’s sights—have surged recently as the U.S. president pursues his own spin on the Monroe Doctrine that saw 19th-century America claim half of the globe as its sphere of influence…

For years, most money managers deemed Venezuela off-limits, due to a thicket of U.S. sanctions, political repression and economic mismanagement. The country’s bonds, languishing at rock-bottom prices since a 2017 default, were mostly a playground for specialists in emerging markets or distressed-debt contrarians.

Now, investors reckon a combination of political change, U.S. intervention and American investment into Venezuela’s vast oil resources could put a debt restructuring within reach. Some hope investment opportunities could emerge in other industries that languished under Maduro…

Some hedge funds and investment firms are venturing into more-obscure assets, such as arbitration claims from corporations owed money by Venezuela. A range of Western companies whose assets were nationalized by Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chávez have won settlements from the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
With Trump in recent days signaling potential intervention in countries like Colombia, Cuba and Mexico, some investors are considering opportunities in those markets. In one sign of speculative fervor, shares of the tiny Bank of Greenland have surged as much as 42% this year, suggesting market participants anticipate an investment boom in Greenland.

Many emerging-market hedge funds “see the current backdrop less as a single trade and more as the start of a new opportunity set: more regime changes, more policy shocks, more forced sellers and more capital controls or realignments,” said Bruno Schneller, managing partner at the Swiss asset manager Erlen Capital Management.

Excerpt from Caitlin McCabe, Hedge Funds Get Ready for the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ Trade, WSH, Jan. 10, 2026