Social Movment
The morning of 3 January marks the beginning of a widespread attack on democracy and the relative peace of the peoples of Latin America – and far beyond.
The events in Venezuela, where following a US military operation President Nicolás Maduro was kidnapped and a state of emergency with mobilisation of the Venezuelan armed forces declared, are yet another manifestation of escalating imperialist confrontation, the consequences of which will be felt by millions of people across the continent.
The actions of Donald Trump's administration cannot be viewed as an isolated incident or a "forced response" to the crisis. As before – from the bombing of small vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans to the sanctions blockade – this is a demonstration of the United States' power and complete readiness to use violence without due process, investigation or any regard for international law. Pretexts such as the fight against drug trafficking and cartels are used to legitimise aggression. Until recently, most drug ingredients were produced in China. The share of drug trafficking through Venezuela is negligible compared to other countries in the region and sea routes.
Excuses about fighting against the “drug cartel-linked regime” seem particularly cynical in light of Trump's recent amnesty for former Honduran President Hernández, held in an American prison: he had been sentenced to a long term for involvement in cocaine trafficking but was released to help his allies in the last Honduran election. As in the case of the “fight against terrorism”, the real goal is not security, but control over oil and mineral resources and the establishment of a regime loyal to Washington.
At the same time, it is necessary to call a spade a spade: Nicolás Maduro's regime is authoritarian, repressive and deeply corrupt. It has nothing to do with socialist democracy, hiding behind the legacy of Hugo Chávez and Bolivarian rhetoric. Along with the devastating US sanctions, it is the Maduro government's policies that have been responsible for economic collapse, social catastrophe, extrajudicial killings, malnutrition and the mass emigration of millions of Venezuelans. The Maduro leadership has obliterated the achievements of the mass movements and social programs of the Chávez era, instead discrediting left-wing ideas in the region. Parasitic on the population, the regime is sustained by the security forces, restrictions on freedoms and external support – primarily from Russia.
The Kremlin has become one of Caracas' key allies in maintaining its authoritarian model of power.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has visited Venezuela several times, most recently in April 2023, as part of a tour of Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba aimed at mobilising political support for Russia's war against Ukraine. Although not as notorious as Daniel Ortega, betrayer of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua, President Maduro declared his ‘full support’ for Russia from the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, and state institutions and the media actively promoted the Kremlin's interpretation of events.
However, it would be a grave mistake to equate the Maduro regime with Venezuelan society.
Despite the massive propaganda campaign, most Venezuelans did not accept the pro-Russian narratives. In the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, people took to the streets to protest against the aggression, and this in a country where demonstrations are regularly criminalised and dispersed. Venezuelans carried Ukrainian flags, chanted ‘Stop Putin’ and openly criticised their government's alliance with the Kremlin.
This solidarity with Ukraine has deep roots. Since the days of Euromaidan, many Venezuelans have perceived the Ukrainian struggle as close and understandable – a struggle against corrupt authorities, external control and authoritarianism. Sympathy for Ukraine stems not only from anti-war sentiments, but also from a rejection of foreign influence, which is crucial to the survival of Maduro's regime, as well as that of Vladimir Putin – both of whom are under investigation by the International Criminal Court.
Since 1999, Ukraine and Venezuela have been building friendly relations, which began under Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk, who was received by then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. It is noteworthy that the Venezuelan consul in Russia during the Chávez era, José David Chaparro, joined the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine in 2022 and was involved in the restoration of cities destroyed by Russian troops.
That is why the current US aggression cannot be justified even by just criticism of Maduro. By proclaiming in its recent National Security Strategy its desire to return Latin America and the Caribbean to the role of a subordinate “backyard” in the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine, American imperialism seeks to “clean up” the region of any regimes that do not fit in with its economic and geopolitical interests, while strengthening far-right forces.
The isolation of Colombia's progressive government and threats to a similar government in Mexico, the strengthening of an alliance with the far-right regime in Argentina at the expense of American taxpayers, support for neo-fascist revanchists in Brazil led by Jair Bolsonaro, and the use of Bukele's notorious mega-prison in El Salvador to hold deportees from the United States–these are all part of a single strategy to restore Washington's hegemony in Latin America. It is significant that during Trump's previous term, Venezuelan affairs were overseen by the same Elliot Abrams who was responsible for training the death squads of anti-communist dictatorships during the Reagan era, which carried out more than 90% of the crimes of civil wars in Central American states, such as the murder of about a thousand residents of the village of Mosote in El Salvador.
An externally imposed “regime change” will only deepen social catastrophe. Like Trump's racist policy towards Venezuelan refugees, this war is a continuation of a policy of contempt for human life. Even if there are no immediate mass casualties–the 1989 invasion by US Marines to remove the dictator and drug trafficker Manuel Noriega, who until recently had been a CIA client in the fight against revolutionary movements in the region, resulted in at least hundreds of civilian deaths--external destabilisation will result in further internal upheaval.
In addition, the potential rise to power in Venezuela of the “Trumpist” wing of the opposition poses a danger. Just as Maduro is a caricature of socialism, the ultra-right and ultra-capitalist course of María Corina Machado is a caricature of the democratic movement. After receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, she repeatedly emphasised that she would prefer to give it to Trump and would support his intervention against her own country. In contrast, the left-wing opposition to Madurism, which is increasingly embracing the disillusioned former supporters of the Bolivarian revolution, emphasises the unacceptability of a military scenario and that the fate of Venezuela should be decided by Venezuelans themselves and not by imperialist overlords.
The struggle against Maduro's dictatorship and the struggle against American imperialism are not mutually exclusive. They are two sides of the same conflict, in which peoples become pawns in geopolitical games. That is why today we must speak out in solidarity with the people of Venezuela, the same solidarity that Venezuelans showed towards Ukraine in its resistance to Russian aggression.
The people of Venezuela are fighting against the imperialist yoke and are hostages of Maduro's predatory regime.
Venezuela, we too are resisting imperialism!