The Trump administration’s months-long military escalations towards Venezuela have entered a dangerous new stage. Between Sept. 2 and Oct. 16, the U.S. military murdered 34 people in six strikes on small fishing boats in the Caribbean off the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia On Oct. 22 and 23 the U.S. expanded this aggression into the eastern Pacific, by bombing two small boats there and increasing the number killed to 37.
On Oct. 15, Trump authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela. The U.S. military has been steadily amassing a large number of troops, naval and air forces in the Caribbean. Now Trump is posturing towards a boots-on-the-ground military intervention, most recently suggesting on Oct. 22 that the U.S. military will soon hit land targets in Venezuela. And on Oct 25 the U.S. announced that it would send its largest aircraft carrier, the Gerald Ford, to the Caribbean with its strike group.
These violations of Venezuela’s sovereignty represent a dangerous escalation towards all-out war, which would be catastrophic for the people of Latin America and the working class in the United States.
Meanwhile, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Maria Corina Machado, a ultra right-wing Venezuelan opposition leader and vocal advocate for regime change in Venezuela who has a history of fomenting violence and has even called on the genocidal Israeli regime to invade Venezuela.
Both domestically and internationally, people of conscience are speaking out against Trump’s attacks and in solidarity with the Venezuelan people.
The Nobel ‘Peace’ Prize
On Oct. 10, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan right-wing opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, a staunch advocate for violent regime change in her own country. Machado organized the first coup attempt against then-President Hugo Chavez in 2002, where she helped introduce the violent guarimba tactics that have been the hallmark of the Venezuelan ultra-right ever since. Guarimba tactics range from arson, barricading entire neighborhoods, to even murdering supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution. Machado supported subsequent regime change operations in 2014 and 2019. Given her terrorist track record, it is no surprise that Machado is a strong supporter of the United States and Israel’s genocide in Palestine, and even asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to invade Venezuela.
The Western ruling class has conveniently ignored Machado’s promotion of anti-state violence because her policies serve their imperialist goals for Venezuela. By awarding Machado the Peace Prize the Nobel Committee hypocritically used their international standing to promote this advocate of violence as a champion of human rights and democracy, giving a boost to the forces that would overthrow the Venezuelan government. She even dedicated the award to Donald Trump, and is already using the newfound legitimacy offered by the prestigious award to uplift her calls for U.S.-backed regime change in Venezuela.
“In awarding the prize to Machado, the Nobel Committee has provided an open invitation for Trump to continue, and even escalate, military intervention and gunboat diplomacy in Latin America,” said UMass Boston Labor Resource Center Director Steve Striffler in an opinion piece for Al Jazeera.
The long-term destabilization campaign
Trump’s justification for the maritime attacks, and now the CIA intervention, rests on the claim Venezuela is a major source of drug trafficking to the United States, which is completely false. The Trump administration’s real goal is to destroy the Venezuelan government and open up the country’s natural resources for exploitation by U.S. corporations.
Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. Before 1998, these reserves were open for extraction by Western private companies, while the people of Venezuela were relegated to poverty. When President Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998, he began a socialist process called the Bolivarian Revolution. Chavez nationalized the country’s oil and used the profits to uplift millions of Venezuelans out of poverty, rather than line the pockets of foreign billionaires. Venezuela expanded housing, healthcare, education, and democratic participation in society for working-class and oppressed people. Following Chavez’ death, Nicholas Maduro was elected in 2013 and continued the socialist process.
Since Chavez came to power, the United States has used a diverse array of tactics to topple the Bolivarian Revolution. Multiple administrations have relied on “War on Drugs” fearmongering and invented false cartel ties to discredit the Venezuelan government. The U.S. has backed multiple coup attempts, endorsed terrorist operations by the right-wing, repeatedly discredited election processes, and implemented crippling economic sanctions on Venezuela. Their destabilization strategy is to wage a hybrid war, which is to wage a combination of overt and covert legal, political and economic sabotage to paralyze foreign adversaries.
When Trump returned to power in January his administration kicked the hybrid war on Venezuela into high gear, once again under the guise of the war on drugs. This includes targeting Venezuelan immigrants within the United States. In March, Trump deported over 200 Venezuelans to a prison camp in El Salvador under false accusations that they were part of a drug cartel called Tren de Aragua. Trump’s announcement of new CIA operations in Venezuela recalls the CIA’s bloody legacy of supporting coups and right-wing dictatorships in Latin America, always in service of U.S. corporate interests.
The world stands against U.S. imperialism
Maduro has condemned Washington’s repeated violations of Venezuela’s sovereignty and mobilized both the Venezuelan military and an armed a militia of 4.5 million people to resist a potential invasion by the United States. He also alerted the U.N. security council to the unprecedented U.S. escalation.
Trump’s war drive is being met with resistance within the United States.The Department of War announced last week that Admiral Alvin Hosley, the commander of military forces in Latin America, is stepping down after less than a year in the position. No official reason was stated, but The New York Times reports that Holsey raised concerns about U.S. operations in Venezuela.
A coalition of 108 progressive organizations in the United States recently wrote a letter demanding a congressional investigation into Trump’s attacks in the Carribbean, citing violations of the U.S. Constitution and International Law.
Internationally, Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused Trump of murdering a Colombian fisherman in one of the September attacks. In retaliation, Trump cut off all foreign aid to Colombia.
Petro stated that the Colombian military would not support U.S. military intervention in Venezuela and recalled Colombia’s ambassador to Washington. “What Colombian would help invade where their own family lives, only to see them killed like in Gaza?” said Petro. His comments make it clear that defending Venezuela is about standing up to U.S. imperialism globally.
Countries including Cuba, China, and Brazil have also recently condemned U.S. intervention in Venezuela.
As the Trump administration makes massive funding cuts to programs that working-class Americans rely on to survive, they are blowing billions of dollars on regime change in Venezuela. As they crack down on democratic rights and deploy the National Guard against their own people, their claims or “defending democracy” fall flat. And when over 100,000 Americans are dying of drug overdoses every year, repressive law-and-order domestic policies, cuts to healthcare, lack of jobs and addiction treatment programs and empowerment of Big Pharma are to blame—not Venezuelans.
The people of the Americas need peace and stability through regional cooperation, not another imperialist war. The working class of the United States must join the international community to condemn Trump’s attacks on the sovereignty of the Latin American people. Fund people’s needs, not the U.S. war machine! Stand with Venezuela! Stand with Latin America!
Photo: Answer Coalition
