Statement on the Illegal U.S. Military Intervention in Venezuela

The illegal military attack launched by the United States against Venezuela, resulting in the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, is an unjust, illegal, and criminal act of state terrorism. This action targets not only Venezuela but every nation that resists submission to the U.S. imperialist “Monroe Doctrine” and the so-called “Trump Corollary." 

This lawless aggression by the Trump administration operates above both national and international law and is emboldened by a complicit U.S. Supreme Court. The preparation for this aggression has been months in the making. Since August 2015, the U.S. military has deployed fighter jets, warships, and thousands of soldiers to territories and waters off the coast of Venezuela. The Republican-controlled administration reported that the U.S. military launched at least 35 strikes against civilian boats, further violating Venezuelan sovereignty after years of blockade, theft, and attempted coups. Trump’s open assertion of an “American claim” to the Venezuelan oil industry only confirms the obvious motivation of this attack. 

The pretext of "drug trafficking" is a transparent lie. The true objectives are multifaceted and interlocking. First, in this attempted regime change, the US government seeks to seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves to serve U.S. and allied monopolies. Second, it aims to disrupt the circulation of energy supplies to independent governments in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly Cuba, as well as to China. Third, the U.S. bombings and abduction destabilize the entire Latin American region and therefore threaten all governments that exercise their independent sovereignty.  

Alarmingly this is becoming a familiar pattern of imperialist aggression driven by a fascist minded might-makes-right foreign policy. Yesterday in Nigeria, today in Venezuela, and tomorrow it will target Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, or any other sovereign nation that defies the dictates of U.S. imperialism. 

The people of Venezuela alone have the right to determine their own destiny. We stand in unwavering solidarity with them and their revolutionary process. 

We join with the international communist and workers' movements, and all progressive forces worldwide, to continue mobilizing against these criminal actions. In the U.S., we have already seen mass mobilizations and resistance to the attacks on Venezuela all across the country. We must keep the pressure on. 

We call on all progressive forces, trade unions, youth, women, civil-rights, and peace organizations to continue to organize mass protests, demonstrations, and solidarity actions to demand the immediate release of President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores; an end to all U.S. intervention in Venezuela; the unconditional and permanent withdrawal of all foreign military forces; and the impeachment of Donald Trump. 

Free the Maduros! Jail Trump! End U.S. Intervention in Venezuela! Defend Sovereignty and International Law! No Blood for Oil! 

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