By Akbayan Party-list
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Trump regime’s unilateral and blatant military attack on Venezuela, including the removal of its top leader. This act constitutes a direct assault on Venezuela’s sovereignty and on the people’s right to self-determination and is a clear violation of the United Nations Charter and international law.
This violation is further compounded by Donald Trump’s declaration that his regime will now “run” Venezuela and seize control of its oil reserves. Such pronouncements amount to nothing less than a total invasion of a sovereign nation-state and the plunder of its resources.
To justify this aggression, Trump asserts that the military action was undertaken in self-defense and in support of democratic regime change for the benefit of the Venezuelan people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather than advancing democracy, this attack deepens regional instability. Rather than promoting accountability, it encourages impunity, emboldening other powerful nation-states to bypass multilateral institutions whenever convenient and to invade weaker countries at will. In doing so, Trump ushers in a new world order where geopolitical disputes are settled not through international law, but through brute force.
We are not unfamiliar with the allegations of corruption, malgovernance, authoritarianism, economic hardship and human rights abuses under Nicolás Maduro. These concerns are not without basis. Nevertheless, effecting change in Venezuela and determining the means by which such change occurs is ultimately a decision for the sovereign Venezuelan people to make. It is not for the United States, or any external power, to dictate the future of another nation. The proper role of democracy-respecting countries is to stand in solidarity with oppressed peoples as they struggle for justice, freedom and democracy on their own terms. When stronger nations impose their will on weaker ones, that is not democracy, it is tyranny.
As such, Akbayan stands firmly with the people of Venezuela in their fight for justice, freedom, human rights, sovereignty and democracy. We call on the Trump regime to abandon all plans to illegally run Venezuela, cease all its hostile actions and to withdraw all its military forces and assets from the country and the wider region.
Finally, we call on the American working people to rise up against Trump’s actions. One of Trump’s electoral promises to the US public was to end wars. He has not only reneged on that promise, he has betrayed the American people. We therefore urge them to join the global community in condemning this attack and to send an unmistakable message that democracy cannot be imposed by force, it must be built by the people themselves.