Stop US Interventionism Once and for All in Venezuela

Stop US Interventionism Once and for All in Venezuela

Statement issued by the MN Anti-War Committee on 3/26/2019

The Anti-War Committee calls on the people of Minnesota to mobilize against the aggression and the threat of war on Venezuela.

Much of the world is rejecting President Trump and Senator Rubio’s latest attempt to overthrow a foreign government: Mexico. China. India. Russia. South Africa. This list goes on — all but the usual NATO countries and a rash of recently-installed Trump allies in South America have refused to recognize Juan Guaidó, the unelected puppet, who is ‘president of Venezuela’ only in Trump’s imagination.

Nicolás Maduro is the democratically elected, legitimate, actual President of Venezuela. He won the election in May 2018, in an electoral system that has not changed since Jimmy Carter certified it as “the best in the world”. Guaidó’s opposition faction, despite now claiming to have a democratic mandate to seize power, in fact refused to participate in that election. And it did so after extensively fighting against allowing in United Nations election observers. President Maduro’s government–and even some of his other opponents–invited UN observers, but the US blocked them, and instead began openly waging a campaign to remove President Maduro.  

In other words, it wasn’t Maduro who tried to rig Venezuela’s election — it was Trump, Pence, Rubio and Bolton. Now that their coup d’état has failed, they insist “all options are on the table,” which is long-standing code for war, bombings, even invasion.  

We haven’t forgotten the disasters in Iraq, in Libya, and in Syria, where the US interventions of the 21st century have caused the deaths of millions. If Trump proceeds with yet another intervention in Venezuela, the rest of the world unite in condemnation more than ever before.

Another face of Trump’s racism

Despite it not being a Muslim-majority country, Trump included Venezuela in his ‘Muslim ban’ which inhibits immigration from certain countries.  While Venezuela (and Korea) were included partially to try to cast the illusion that the policy was not a Muslim ban, the Anti-War Committee maintains that it IS, in fact, a Muslim ban.  However the choice of non-Muslim countries added to the ban further demonstrates a racist policy supported by Trump’s Islamophobic, white supremacist base, used to demonize all seven countries, which share the commonality of being targeted by US imperialist interests.  Trump deploys Islamophobia to incite violence not only against Muslims, but against all peoples resisting US domination.

There’s also a more direct element of racism in the coup attempt against Venezuela. President Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez have vocally opposed white supremacy internally in a country where Mestizo, Afro-Latino and Indigenous people are the majority. As a result, the opposition routinely caricatures Maduro and other leaders with dehumanizing and racist tropes. Right-wing mobs have even lynched people they suspected of being Maduro supporters based on the color of their skin. It’s no coincidence that racists like Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro support the politicians who encourage those kinds of attacks.

Ending the Monroe Doctrine

We in the US must take a lead role in standing up to our government’s imperialism, or our bloody stain on history will only grow. The Anti-War Committee will be in the streets resisting every escalation of the aggression against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Venezuela is not some distant land. It’s in the USA’s so-called ‘backyard.’ What happens there has significance for the entire hemisphere.

The Bolivarian Revolution is a real phenomenon. This is a mass social movement for change, bigger than any individual politician, and dating back to well before the presidency of Hugo Chávez, its most well-known champion. It takes its name from the historical liberation hero Simón Bolívar, a Venezuelan who led independence movements across South America. Where Bolívar led the resistance to the colonial Spanish monarchy in the 19th century, Venezuelans in the present are demanding an end to US interference in their politics, their economy, and their society.

As people in the US, we should be able to leave it at that, and simply agree not to interfere! The ethical foundations for Venezuelan self-determination are rock solid. Vast numbers of Americans already do agree, but the corporations continue to push for domination in the interests of profit. After all, Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world.

We call all people of conscience to call their members of Congress AND join protests to demand that the government:

• End the US-orchestrated coup, including all forms of aggression and provocations, like the phony “humanitarian aid” convoy and the cyberattack on Venezuela’s electrical grid.
• Lift the sanctions, which are the real cause of shortages and economic hardship for ordinary people in Venezuela.
• Return what was stolen, including Venezuela’s embassies and consulates in the US, over $1 billion of its gold reserves, and its US-based oil company, Citgo Petroleum.
• Respect Venezuela’s sovereignty, and rejoin the nations of the world in recognizing President Maduro and the constitutional order.
• End the policy of interventionism, bury the Monroe Doctrine, and replace it with foreign policy based on mutual respect and self-determination–including for the Native Nations fighting against pipelines on stolen land here in Minnesota.

No war! No sanctions! Hands off Venezuela!