This is another common problem with tropical western thinking -- forgetting the historical context. Colonialism happened, and the people are so poor and desperate now because of things the west did in the past.
This does explain a lot of the difference in development, especially in very poor countries. And this isn’t just a result of “old”, traditional colonialism, but imperialism in the form of meddling in their internal politics. Guatemala is a great example, having had its democracy destroyed by Allen Dulles and his CIA in the 1950s. But you can also take a more recent example like the 2009 coup in Honduras, backed by Hillary Clinton.
The DC establishment will do anything to prevent an isolationist from taking power-- that would begin the rollback of the sprawling empire from which they derive their largess. Trump was terrible domestically, and he was only isolationist in some areas (certainly less damaging overall than the Karen). He also appointed some usual suspects from the Deep State who are extremely interventionist (John Bolton, ffs).
The west doesn’t have a monopoly on evil. Plenty of Africans participated in the slave trade, and sold their brothers and sisters. And still do today.
There's something weirdly racist about the idea that only people in the west (or American diplomats) have any agency in the world. That America somehow is so powerful that y’all created the modern world. That local people and local leaders have no capacity for determining their own future.
That corruption in the police in South Africa is America’s fault. That the problem of gangs in Mexico was created by the US and that the Mexican gang members are blameless when they decapitate people. That Americans were the people who voted in Bolsenaro. Or the west are responsible for Japanese aggression in WW2.