VSC: No to Trump’s War on Venezuela!
This contribution, from Dr Francisco Dominguez from the Venezuela Solidarity campaign, outlines some of the key issues regarding the American escalation in the Caribbean regarding Venezuela.
Since receiving this contribution, we have seen, especially in the American news cycle, a renewed focus on the illegality of the actions of the Trump regime, including further confirmed extra-judicial killings of suspected civilians, which have also broken ‘rules of war’ as laid out in the Geneva conventions and the US’s own legal guidance materials.
For CND Cymru, this is not about ‘taking sides’ in a conflict, or support for one government or another. We condone neither the US or Venezuelan government. Instead, our solidarity and our understanding is rooted in a collective will to see international law upheld, and acts of aggression upon a civilian population be seen as the horrific crimes that they are.
“Over the past few months president Trump and State Secretary Marco Rubio, based on a monumental lie ––that Venezuela is a “narco-terrorist state” run by the non-existent Cartel de los Soles– have intensified their long-standing aggression against Venezuela. They have deployed the largest naval armada in the Caribbean Sea for decades, including a range of warships, a nuclear submarine, warplanes, the USS Gerald Ford –the world’s largest aircraft carrier, capable of carrying over 75 military aircraft– and much more. The target: Venezuela.
To date, US forces have attacked 20 small boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, claiming they were engaged in drug trafficking but without presenting any evidence. Over 75 people have been killed in these attacks. These arbitrary assassinations have been condemned as extrajudicial killings. Trump has authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations and has ordered US forces to identify land targets inside Venezuela.
US allegations that under President Maduro’s leadership Venezuela is a ‘narco-terrorist’ country engaged in major drug trafficking are refuted by the authoritative 2025 UN World Drug Report ‒ who consider Venezuela a minor player in the narcotics trade – and where it is also stated that over 80% percent of the cocaine and fentanyl entering the US use Pacific Ocean routes (where Venezuela has no coastline) and only just around 10% go across the Caribbean Sea.
On this, the New York Times reports, “Mr. Trump’s focus on Venezuela is at odds with reality: The vast majority of cocaine is produced and smuggled elsewhere in Latin America, according to data from the United States, Colombia and the United Nations. And Venezuela does not supply fentanyl at all, experts say”. The US’s Drug Enforcement Agency has reported that most of the drugs entering the US come from the Andes, Central America, and Mexico.
There has been worldwide condemnation of the US’s aggressive actions as unacceptable and as flagrant violations of international law. Those condemning the US include the UN, UN experts, the G77 + China, the CELAC-EU Summit, the ALBA-TCP countries, and even Pope Leo XIV. Furthermore, France has condemned the US military buildup in the Caribbean and the UK and Colombia have suspended intelligence sharing with the US because of the illegality of the attacks. Trump’s actions have also encountered domestic criticism. Democrats in the US have sought to limit Trump’s war powers by a resolution that was narrowly defeated.
Venezuela is a rich country with vast mineral reserves, but for the US the prize is its oil. In 2023 Trump himself publicly admitted that he wanted to overthrow Maduro to secure control over Venezuela’s oil, mirroring the way he boasted in 2020 that he was militarily occupying Syria’s crude oil-rich regions in order to “take the oil”. The real reason behind the US military buildup in the Caribbean: take possession of Venezuela’s largest oil reserves in the planet.
Hugo Chávez was elected President in 1998 and in a challenge to neo-liberalism set about using the oil wealth to transform the country through far-reaching measures including healthcare, education, land redistribution and anti-poverty programmes. The US has, in concert with the extreme right-wing elites in Venezuela, sought to destabilise the country and effect ‘regime change’.
In 2002, a US-backed military coup temporarily ousted Chávez before a spontaneous popular uprising restored him to the presidency. Ever since the US has sought to destabilise the country by massive funding of opposition groups to try –unsuccessfully – to win elections, coupled with disinformation campaigns to isolate the country, campaigns of street violence, further coup attempts, mercenary attacks and domestic sabotage.
The most harmful US weapon against Venezuela has been the 1,050 economic sanctions, illegal under international law, designed to destroy the economy and bring the country to its knees. During Trump’s first presidency the sanctions crippled Venezuela’s economy leading to a 99% fall in oil revenues and well over a hundred thousand unnecessary deaths.
Venezuela’s commitment to Latin American independence and resistance to neo-liberalism are anathema to the US’s continuing commitment to the Monroe Doctrine. Bringing down Venezuela would be a body blow to left movements and governments across Latin America, especially blockaded Cuba and heavily-sanctioned Nicaragua.
The task now is to maximise support for solidarity with to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty, a recall of the US fleet and an end to US military aggression in Latin America and the Caribbean. US aggression not only will wreak incalculable damage upon Venezuela and it might be the start of a wider military escalation by Trump in Latin America. Our VSC Emergency Statement highlights that “The US has a long history of interference in the continent, where so-called “regime change” has caused widespread suffering and lasting harm. We reject this military escalation and call on all who stand for peace to say clearly: No to Trump’s war on Venezuela.“