Hands off Venezuela

The shocking attacks on Venezuela by the US, and the abduction of its president has raised intense international opposition. Walter Baier, president of the European Left Party has stated, “Hands off Venezuela. Imperialism has no legitimacy. Trump’s aggression is a clear violation of international law, enabled by Western silence. The European Commission must condemn it and impose sanctions on Donald Trump — now.”

Left Unity joins in this worldwide condemnation and urges all our members and supporters to join protests, and to give support to the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (VSC) at this crucial time. Donate here.

The Stop the War Coalition and CND are working with the VSC to organise protests in London. CND had the following to say, in totally condemning the US illegal military aggression against Venezuela.

“In the early hours of Saturday morning the US launched military attacks on the Venezuelan capital of Caracas as well as other states including Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira – targeting civilian areas.  These actions are in breach of international law. Trump has also announced the removal of Venezuela’s President, Nicolas Maduro, from the country.

These illegal actions follow months of a huge military build-up on Venezuela’s coast by the US, including nuclear-capable B52 long-range bombers that have been making flights from the US to the Venezuelan coast.

Alongside this, the US had been carrying out illegal attacks against fishing boats, killing over 100 people in what UN experts say amounts to extrajudicial killings.  The seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers in international waters have been further violations.

It is clear that Donald Trump wants to overthrow the Venezuelan government and take control of the country’s huge oil wealth.

This attack against the Venezuelan population, also threatens the whole of Latin America. Trump has made this explicit in his National Security Strategy, which states that the US needs to restore its “pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere” so that the US can “assert ourselves confidently where and when we need to in the region”.

Trump’s Strategy aims to install regimes that will ‘work to strengthen our security partnership – from weapons sales, to intelligence sharing to joint exercises.” He wants to turn Latin America into a military alliance, to fight his global war to maintain US dominance.

The result of this would be absolutely horrific. We have all seen the devastating consequences of US military interventions in Latin America before. US sanctions against Venezuela alone have killed over 40,000 people.

The people of Venezuela and Latin America have the right to live in peace, to control their own resources and determine their own future.

We call for an end to this military intervention against Venezuela, its people and its sovereignty. The British government must denounce these illegal actions and call for the release of the Venezuelan President.”