By: Carlos Ernesto Guevara Villar
From the Panamanian section of the International Socialist League, we strongly repudiate the imperialist aggression of the United States against Venezuela, carried out under the false pretexts of the “fight against drug trafficking”, “hemispheric security” and the alleged “defense of democracy”. This is a new military escalation at the service of the interests of imperialist capital, which seeks to reimpose by force its domination over Latin America, control strategic resources and crush any attempt at relative sovereignty that escapes its tutelage, even at the cost of the lives of thousands of innocent civilians.
The Panamanian people know firsthand this criminal policy. On December 20, 1989, Panama was invaded by U.S. troops, leaving thousands of dead and missing people, entire neighborhoods were razed to the ground, such as El Chorrillo. This is a historical wound that has not healed. That invasion, also justified as “defense of democracy” and the alleged reestablishment of institutional order, in fact meant the death of defenseless civilians and the violent imposition of a political and economic project subordinated to Washington.
Currently, imperialism recycles that same speech to attack Venezuela, while demonstrating its absolute hypocrisy by having supported, protected and politically backed regimes deeply linked to drug trafficking, such as that of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a strategic ally of the United States for years. The so-called “war on drugs” is nothing more than an instrument of military intervention that leaves destruction, displacement and loss of innocent lives in its wake, while covering up for governments that are functional to imperialism.
This offensive is also part of the new imperialist doctrine promoted by Donald Trump, based on the open use of military force, contempt for international law and aggressive unilateralism. Under this doctrine, “democracy” becomes a mere experiment imposed by blood and fire, where the peoples pay with death, destruction and misery for the geopolitical trials of imperialism.
In this context, we firmly denounce the surrenderist position of the government of José Raúl Mulino, who has gone so far as to declare in his X account his support for the so-called “democratic trial”, thus legitimizing imperialist aggression and the use of military force as a political method. This position implies endorsing the loss of innocent lives, the destruction of entire countries and the denial of the right of peoples to decide their own destiny. This surrender betrays the memory of the victims of 1989 and once again places Panama on the side of imperialism and not on the side of the peoples under attack.
From a revolutionary, internationalist and class socialist position, we affirm that there is no democracy possible under imperialist bombs nor any liberation imposed by armies of occupation. The defense of Venezuela against imperialist aggression is inseparably linked to the struggle against capitalism, imperialism and its local agents. Only the conscious and organized mobilization of the working class and the mass movement can confront the imperialist war and open an emancipatory solution from below.
We call on the working class, the youth, the unions, the popular movements and the entire militant left to promote actions of protest, mobilization and active solidarity to join the international days against US intervention. The memory of Panama 1989 and the resistance of the Venezuelan people today must be transformed into strength to defeat the imperialist offensive and the sell-out governments that justify it.
Down with U.S. imperialism!
No to past invasion in Panama and no present invasion in Venezuela!
No to the farce of the “fight against drug trafficking” and the imperialist “democratic trial”!
Out with Trump’s new war doctrine in Latin America!
Against the sell-out governments, mobilization and mass struggle!
For internationalism and self-determination of the peoples!
