The U.S. aggression against Venezuela exposes the arrogant, interfering and plundering character of imperialism, as well as the decomposition of the Venezuelan regime. In the face of external aggression and internal collapse, only the independent action of the working people can open a democratic and anti-imperialist solution.
By Ruben Tzanoff
An overbearing, interfering and plundering imperialism
It was a lightning and unprecedented military incursion. In the early morning of January 3, 2026, the US launched an aggressive military operation in Venezuelan territory. It bombed areas of Caracas and other states, caused damage to military and civilian installations, caused dozens of deaths, including 32 Cuban military personnel, kidnapped President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their Fuerte Tiuna residence, transferred them to New York, imprisoned them and they are currently being tried by a federal court. The International Socialist League (ISL) expressed itself clearly on the matter through the statement “We repudiate the imperialist aggression against Venezuela”.
Trump justified his action on the basis of “legal” internal orders against the alleged “organized crime of narcoterrorism”. But, in reality, it is a flagrant violation of Venezuelan sovereignty and international law, which contravenes the principles of non-intervention and territorial integrity. Unambiguously, he also expressed his political and economic objectives: the intention to “govern” Venezuela through a “safe” transition and for US oil companies to control Venezuela’s nationalized oil reserves, which account for 17% of the world total, ahead of Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s leader. The big American capitalist businessmen act in tandem with their governments to plunder the resources of dependent and semi-colonial countries, as if they were their own property.
Trump is not a “peacemaker”. Beyond the lying propaganda campaign of the ultra-right, Trump is a counterrevolutionary who has reissued the Monroe Doctrine, which considers Latin America as the “backyard” of the U.S., to be controlled and regulated according to its geostrategic interests, which can only be imposed on the peoples by force. That is why it is no coincidence that he has once again threatened Cuba, Colombia and Mexico with actions similar to those perpetrated in Venezuela.
The imperialist record is combined with its current objectives. On the one hand, the same violence and impunity that the Yankees have already exposed, openly or covertly, with the aggressions perpetrated in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and Somalia, among so many others throughout history, is being repeated. On the other hand, the aggressive actions against Venezuela -a country that is not aligned with U.S. global policy, but leans towards Chinese and Russian imperialism- fit in with the Trumpist objective of implanting a new world order based on the supremacy of the strongest and the recovery of U.S. hegemony, today disputed by other imperialisms.
The regime has extended to Trump the hand it let go to Maduro
It is a fact that Maduro has long ago lost the popular support that Chavismo once enjoyed. What is evidenced by recent events is that important sectors of the civilian and military leadership in power have also let go of his hand. The defensive “resistance” announced by Maduro in the period prior to the January 3 attack practically did not exist: the US forces entered the country without major obstacles and the elite troops only needed 10 minutes to kidnap Maduro in the place where he was supposedly safe and hidden. Such an operation is only possible with the surrender and/or collaboration of key sectors of the regime.
Subsequent events went in the same direction. After the kidnapping of the president, the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice appointed Delcy Rodriguez as president in charge, with the backing of the Venezuelan Military High Command, whose apparatus has the determining weight in power, and the direct approval of Trump. It transpired that the CIA prepared a report for the US government considering that Rodríguez -related to US oil companies- as well as other members of the regime, are better positioned than other pro-imperialist leaders to continue in power for a while and prevent the situation from getting completely out of hand.
It is no coincidence that the first relevant decision of Rodriguez was to offer the U.S. the opening of a cooperation agenda. These facts and their subsequent strengthening manifest the harmony between imperialism and the regime, to which are added the speculations on the possibility that the US justice system may seek some conditioned formula as a way out for Maduro. How will the interference in power be consummated? Trump rejected Corina Machado and other opposition leaders as an alternative government, and clearly expressed his support for Rodriguez, which implies a continuity in power that offers him greater guarantees to satisfy his interests and, at the same time, that there will not be a total destabilization with unpredictable local and regional consequences.
Continuity is the main option declared by imperialism, whereby the civilian and military leaderships plan to prioritize the preservation of their privileges, although under the conditions imposed by the new scheme designed by the Yankees. In that sense, Trump has already announced that with the agreement of the “interim authorities”, Venezuela will “deliver” to the US between 30 and 50 million barrels of “sanctioned high quality oil”, for a value of between 1,800 and 3,000 million dollars. The anti-gringo discourse continues, but that is not the determining factor for the Trump administration which, through Secretary of State Marco Rubio, suggested that it will ignore the rhetoric of the new leadership to judge it exclusively by its actions.
Trump’s orientation combines open aggressions with the search for agreements. Therefore, in view of the events in Venezuela, it is worth asking what the implications of an eventual pact with the Venezuelan regime would be in relation to China and Russia, imperialisms with which he maintains affinity. Beyond Putin’s communiqués condemning the aggression and defending his oil interests in Venezuela, it cannot be ruled out that his positions may have modifications related to the dialogues with Trump regarding Ukraine. The coming days will shed more light on a process that is in full swing. In any case, and beyond the deep and irreconcilable differences with the decomposing Venezuelan bureaucratic-authoritarian regime, we are together with the people in the defense of the country’s sovereignty, in the claim of their democratic and social rights, and in the rejection of repression.
Only the working people can lead to a progressive solution.
We are facing extremely serious events that cannot be accepted or normalized. To do so would facilitate a political scenario in which any country that does not align itself with U.S. objectives could be intervened. We do not recognize imperialism any right to invade countries under any excuse whatsoever: such impunity legitimizes an action governed solely by its interests of domination and capitalist exploitation. It is the peoples themselves who must get rid of the oppressive governments, with their own organizations and methods of struggle, and with the solidarity of other mobilized peoples.
We also reject the stale pro-imperialist Venezuelan right wing, from whose orientation nothing positive will emerge for the Venezuelan working people. New democratic and militant leaders are needed, as well as a strong socialist and revolutionary party, independent of both the regime and the miserable capitalist opposition. Only a government of the workers and the people, and a socialist system with workers’ democracy, without exploiters or authoritarian and privileged bureaucrats, will be able to guarantee full democratic and social rights.
We reiterate our condemnation of Trump’s imperialist bombings and aggressions and reject any interference in the determination of Venezuela’s internal political destiny. We demand: the immediate withdrawal of the naval air forces and troops that are harassing and attacking the country.
We demand that the governments and organizations of Latin America, the European Union and the world adopt a position of firm condemnation and protest against the pirate and interventionist actions of the U.S. government, and that the trade union organizations call for actions in support of the anti-imperialist Venezuelan people.
The International Socialist League (ISL) calls for the broadest unity of action in the national and international mobilization against U.S. imperialism and in defense of the Venezuelan people, as it has been doing since the very beginning of the aggression, with total independence from the regime.
