By: Communist Workers Party – Italy
The US aggression against Venezuela — the bombing of its ports and airports and the kidnapping of Maduro by American élite forces — must be named for what it is: an outrageous act of imperialist thuggery carried out by the world’s leading imperialist power.
We have never supported Maduro’s government or the interests of the Venezuelan bolibourgeoisie. But we categorically reject any claim by US imperialism to decide the future of Venezuela, plunder its resources, or determine its political and institutional order.
Hands off Venezuela!
We call for the broadest and most determined mobilisation of the international labour movement and all oppressed peoples in active solidarity with Venezuela under attack. The International Socialist League — and above all its Venezuelan section, Marea Socialista —stands on the front line of this internationalist struggle.
At the same time, it is essential to understand the full political meaning of these events.
The US assault on Venezuela is a direct expression of Trump’s reactionary doctrine of “America for [US] Americans”. This is the same doctrine that threatens Colombia, Mexico, Panama, and even Greenland. It is the same logic behind Washington’s open backing of extreme right-wing offensives in Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia. US imperialism demands unrestricted domination and absolute control over the entire continent.
But this policy does not stop at the Americas. It is global in scope. USA is pushing for a new imperialist division of the world into continental zones of domination. “America for [US] Americans” is the flip side of Washington’s willingness to negotiate with Russian imperialism over the neo-colonial dismemberment of Ukraine. It is also part of the same power struggle with Chinese imperialism over Asia.
In other words, US imperialism seeks to bargain with rival big imperialist powers over their respective hunting grounds, while asserting uncontested control over the Americas. The bombing of Caracas sends a clear and brutal message: this hemisphere is to be ruled by force.
This strategy has nothing to do with “peace”. Those who have portrayed Trump’s foreign policy as the seeking of a peaceful alternative to the wars waged by previous US administrations — including many even within the so-called radical left — are now exposed by reality. The military assault on Venezuela, unwavering support for the Zionist genocide of the Palestinian people, the neo-colonial project for the Middle East (endorsed by Russia and China at the UN), attempts to the partition of Ukraine in collusion with invading Russian imperialism, and repeated threats and aggressions against Iran, all these events follow one and a single logic: the logic of imperialism — of domination, plunder, and the crushing of oppressed peoples.
Imperialism, the old one and the new one, cannot exist without wars of conquest and pillage. When “peace” negotiations between brigands take place, they are merely to divide the stolen spoils among the victors. Such negotiations are always prepared by bloodshed and destruction.
We stand unconditionally with every oppressed people and every nation resisting imperialist aggression, whatever form it takes and whoever carries it out.
Only the overthrow of imperialism through an international socialist revolution can rid humanity of the bandits who rule the world.
