Skip to main content

Foreign Policy

Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez believes that U.S. foreign policy should center human rights, and move away from our history of interventionism and forever wars. 

She has always voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, in protest of our enormous military budget, and relative lack of government funding for urgent domestic crises like housing costs and education.  She also used a Committee hearing to pressure a private defense contractor into returning millions of dollars in misspent funds. 

In August 2023, the Congresswoman led the first all-Spanish speaking delegation of Members of Congress to South America. She engaged with key figures in Colombia, Chile, and Brazil, including Michelle Bachelet, the former President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, the current President, and Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia. The goal of the trip was to acknowledge the U.S.’ interventionist role in the region, including the devastating 1973 Pinochet coup, and to build a relationship of mutual trust that allows the two regions to work together on common challenges from migration to climate change.  Following the trip, the Congresswoman and other progressive leaders successfully advocated for the State Department to declassify two documents pertaining to the events preceding the 1973 Chilean coup.

For more on the Congresswoman’s work on this issue, please read on below.