The Socialist Workers Party condemns in the strongest possible terms Washington’s invasion of Venezuela and its seizure of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Adela Flores, his wife. We condemn President Donald Trump’s stated goal for the US government and giant oil corporations to occupy and “run the country” for the foreseeable future. These are flagrant violations of Venezuela’s national sovereignty and of the desire of the working people of the US to live in peace!
For years the US ruling class has targeted for confiscation Venezuela’s oilfields, the largest oil reserves in the world. They have never forgiven Venezuela for nationalizing the oil industry in the 1970s.
For months Washington has assembled a massive air, naval, and troop buildup around Venezuela. The US rulers have imposed what they call “a total and complete blockade of oil tankers entering and leaving the country,” including tankers delivering oil to Cuba and China.
The US rulers have repeatedly declared that Venezuela’s oil is theirs, based on past decades of imperialist exploitation. Such false claims trample on the right not only of Venezuela but of sovereign states and peoples the world over to freely develop and use their natural resources. That principle is central to the struggles for self-determination by oppressed nations.
The White House tries to justify its assaults by falsely claiming that Maduro and the Venezuelan government are responsible for cocaine and fentanyl coming into the US.
To “run” Venezuela will require an ongoing, large-scale US military presence in the seas, airspace, and territory of a country of 30 million. Trump told the press the US government has prepared a second — and bigger — “wave” of military assaults, including “boots on the ground,” if needed to keep control.
Cuba and its socialist revolution are also a key target of the US capitalist rulers. For decades they have used assassination attempts against Fidel Castro, as well as a relentless and punishing economic, financial, and trade war on Cuba’s people. US hands off Cuba!
Washington’s military encirclement and plan for massively stepped-up exploitation of Venezuela announces its intention to tighten imperialist control over the entire hemisphere. It is a threat to go after anyone who stands in the way of the US remaining the world’s dominant — although weakened — imperial power.
Washington’s assault and blockade are also intended to deal blows to China’s growing economic interests in Latin America, and its political and military accompaniments.
When World War II ended in the wake of Washington’s nuclear annihilation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Militant banner headline declared, “There Is No Peace!” That remains the truth to this day. The crisis of capitalism today is driving the imperialist powers toward a new and even more devastating third world war.
The US government’s military assaults abroad go hand in hand with the rulers’ deepening attacks on the working class in this country. They use the assault on Venezuela to reinforce their anti-immigrant demagogy, a deadly danger to the unity of the working class in this country as well as across the Americas and the world.
The defense of Venezuela’s sovereignty is in the interests of all working people in the US and beyond. The trade unions should take the lead in condemning and speaking out against Washington’s outrageous aggression.
Withdraw all US troops, bases, warships, military aircraft, and other weaponry from the seas, skies, and soil of Latin America and the Caribbean.
US hands off Venezuela!
US hands off Cuba!