The Green Party US Peace Action Committee (GPAX) condemns ongoing U.S. military action against Venezuela, Colombia or both and opposes any escalation of the violence that would bring the US closer to war with these Latin American countries.
In recent months, the US, under Trump’s leadership, has initiated a series of escalating threats, both against Nicolas Maduro, president of Venezuela and Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia. Both countries stand in solidarity with each other, knowing that what would happen to one Latin American country would threaten the other country, as well.
The US claims that the boats that have been targets of bombings, in the Caribbean and also in the Pacific, are carrying narcotraffickers toward the US. However, the US has provided absolutely no evidence to that effect and even if they had, bombing boats of civilians violates international law.
These bombings and attempts to destabilize the Maduro presidency are not isolated efforts, but instead the latest in a decades-long attempt to engineer a coup d’etat against this South American nation. Here is some context for these recent actions, which have bombed approximately 23 boats and killed over 80 civilians.
1. The US has been threatening to change the leadership of Venezuela since at least 2002, and the re-election of Hugo Chavez. In fact, the US media had reported that a coup had taken place. However, within 48 hours, after thousands of Venezuelans had marched to the presidential palace in Caracas, it became clear that what the US claimed had happened was illegal and the so-called coup was overturned.
2. Since 2009, the first year of the Obama administration, the US has imposed unilateral sanctions on Venezuela, calling Venezuela a “threat to US national security” and doing its best to cripple the Venezuelan economy. In 2014, Venezuelan officials told a visiting delegation that “the US is strangling us”. During that visit, it also became clear that, in the main, the people of Venezuela blamed the US for their economic woes, and not Maduro.
3. Since Maduro’s election to the presidency in 2013 the US has tried countless ways to unseat him. One of the most visible was in 2019, when Juan Guaido simply announced that he was the president of Venezuela. In what seemed to be an embarrassment to the US and to Guaido, much of the world did not recognize that maneuver and Guaido couldn’t amass much support within Venezuela’s army to complete the intended coup d’etat.
4. In May 2019, the Venezuelan government invited members of the US peace community to protect the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C. against efforts by the first Trump administration to take it over. The group, which was then named “Embassy Protectors” occupied the embassy for more than 30 days, once again protecting the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people.
5. And finally, in the lead up to the 2024 elections in Venezuela, under the Biden administration, the “opposition” organized by Maria Corina Machado, the eventual winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025, was said to include plots against Maduro’s life (Venezuela Analysis, January 25, 2024).
The US has treated South America like its own playground for far too long. We must organize to prevent the US from beginning an unprovoked, unnecessary and dangerous war against Venezuela and Colombia. There are far better ways to resolve issues between our countries and continents than war