No to the US war on workers, in Venezuela and at home

Hands off Venezuela! End the blockade! ICE and National Guard out of our towns and streets!

As the Trump administration ramps up its warmongering and interventionist actions in Latin America, it is simultaneously waging war inside the United States. Four days after U.S. Special Forces attacked Venezuela and kidnapped the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, ICE agents swept through a Minneapolis neighborhood and murdered a woman, Renee Good, in her car.

The reason for the Venezuela attack has nothing to do with Trump’s alleged “war on drugs” or with building “democracy” in the country. The newly minted “Don-roe Doctrine” is the order of the day. The massive display of military force was meant to remind all semi-colonial governments of the ability of the United States to strike anywhere and depose any leader. The coup operation, backed by heavy firepower, was a particularly arrogant display of the Trump administration’s motto of “peace through strength.” As White House aide Stephen Miller explained, “We live in a world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.”

Trump has asserted that the U.S. wishes to “take back” Venezuela’s nationalized oil industry, working in conjunction with U.S. oil companies. He said that the United States is “going to run the country until a proper transition can take place” and indicated a willingness to put “boots on the ground” if the U.S. encounters any resistance to securing the country’s oil facilities. Any money from oil sales that Venezuela is allowed to keep, Trump stated, could only be used to buy U.S.-made products.

In the meantime, the blockade on trade with Venezuela remains in force, along with piratical assaults on oil tankers. On Jan. 7, the U.S. seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic, while another vessel was captured near the Caribbean.

The U.S. war machine will not be satisfied with stealing Venezuela’s oil. More important is solidifying control of the whole hemisphere, with special concern toward displacing the economic and political incursions into the region by China, which has been taking 80% of Venezuela’s oil exports. The attack and coup are a warning to Cuba as much as Venezuela.  

The fates of workers, students, and oppressed people in Venezuela and in the United States are intimately connected. Just as the U.S. invaded Venezuela for the benefit of Big Oil and the banks, those same ruling-class forces are decimating the gains of the civil rights, labor, and other social movements in this country. Scapegoating working-class Venezuelan migrants and sending them to CECOT to be tortured are all part of the ruling-class propaganda campaign that violates Venezuelan sovereignty and threatens every one of its residents.

Minneapolis has been especially targeted by the Trump regime’s war against immigrants. Last month, Trump ordered immigration officials to expand their presence in the Twin Cities area, focusing on its large Somali-descended population, whom he slandered as “garbage.”

The Jan. 7 ICE shooting took place just blocks from where George Floyd was murdered by police in 2020. Video shows armed immigration agents swarming an SUV. As the driver attempts to move the vehicle, an agent opens fire on her. At least 14 people have been shot by federal agents since the start of Trump’s crackdown on immigrants, and two have died.

Working people and their allies must mobilize to end the U.S. government’s violence, and its threats of violence, at home and worldwide. We need to build broad coalitions that involve the unions, community organizations, and all concerned individuals to build huge protests in the streets.

Only the people of Venezuela—and not U.S. imperialism—have the right to decide the future of their country. U.S. hands off Venezuela! End the blockade! ICE and National Guard out of our towns and cities! No wars here or abroad!