On Tuesday April 20, a small group of Venezuelan military, loudly encouraged by the U.S. government, tried to stage an armed coup against the legally elected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro.

The attempt appears to have failed, but U.S. imperialism is likely to keep on its “regime change” tack, even if it leads to civil war in that South American country.

The United States government and leading U.S. politicians have openly boasted about their own role in this most recent “regime change” effort. And “private enterprise” has made its bid: Erik Prince, the brother of one of President Trump’s cabinet members and founder of the notorious Blackwater private security organization, wants to use Venezuelan state resources stolen by the U.S. government to form a 5,000 person mercenary army to go into Venezuela to overthrow the legitimate government.

The Trump administration intends to put an end to all the progressive regimes in the Western Hemisphere. Efforts to destabilize Nicaragua are well under way, and, on April 30, Trump threatened to impose a complete new blockade on Cuba on the imaginary pretext of Cuban troops supposedly being in Venezuela supporting President Maduro.

The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) stands together in solidarity with the Communist Party of Venezuela, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, the other parties of the Great Patriotic Pole and the Venezuelan working class and people in denouncing, not only this latest armed attack, but the whole policy of direct and indirect efforts at overthrowing the Venezuelan government and replacing it with a puppet regime. The CPUSA calls upon its members and friends and the people of the United States of America to denounce and reject our own government’s role in destabilizing the Venezuelan economy and in supporting violent right-wing forces in Venezuela. We call for an end to the sanctions and other forms of interference in Venezuela’s sovereign internal affairs, a return of Venezuelan assets that the United States has seized, and an end to support for the would be puppet government of Juan Guaido.

We ask that our members contact their congressional representatives and other political leaders to demand that they break with the Trump administration’s attacks on Venezuela and to vote to pass HR 1004, and S J Res 11, bills which prohibits U.S. military intervention in Venezuela.