Original article: Fuerzas populares condenan “agresión militar” de EE.UU. contra Venezuela
Popular forces worldwide are condemning the «military aggression» perpetrated by the United States (U.S.) against Venezuela, asserting that the escalation of hostilities ordered by Donald Trump’s administration is part of a renewed Global Monroe Doctrine aimed at dismantling the sovereignty and self-determination of nations.
“We, the popular forces around the globe, unequivocally denounce the increasing military aggression of the United States against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” stated over 30 social organizations in a joint declaration.
They noted that Washington’s offensive represents a new and dangerous phase of imperialist intervention that not only threatens the Venezuelan people but also jeopardizes the stability “of the entire Western Hemisphere and the universal right of all nations to self-determination and economic and political sovereignty.”
The statement recalled that two years ago marked the bicentennial of the so-called “Monroe Doctrine,” which was proclaimed in 1823 by the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe. This foreign policy aimed to oppose colonialism by European powers under the slogan “America for Americans” and has been used by Washington for over 200 years as a justification for intervening in Latin American and Caribbean countries, primarily to protect its economic and commercial interests.
The progressive forces highlighted that “we are witnessing the renewal of the doctrine on a global scale: the emergence of a Global Monroe Doctrine,” whose central logic endures, justifying the view that “Latin America exists as a subordinate sphere, that sovereignty is conditional, and that any deviation will be punished.”
According to these popular forces, this trend has expanded well beyond the Western Hemisphere as “the United States broadens its hegemonic reach.”
“The military architecture of the Global Monroe Doctrine extends across the planet. In Latin America, U.S. advanced bases in Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, Honduras, and the Caribbean pose a threat of dragging nations into a regional conflict. Like the more than 800 U.S. military bases globally, they function as material infrastructure for neocolonial control: settings for coups, training facilities for paramilitaries, and intelligence hubs for destabilizing progressive governments,” they denounced.
Open Threats of Direct Military Intervention Against Venezuela
The declaration reminded that in recent weeks, Washington has drastically increased its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, deploying warships, a submarine, combat aircraft, and troops off the coast of Venezuela. This action has been justified by the occupant of the White House under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking.
Additionally, U.S. forces, acting on orders from Trump, have carried out several bombings against alleged drug boats (without presenting evidence) in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, resulting in dozens of casualties.
The document states that the U.S. “has deployed naval resources in the waters surrounding Venezuela, increased surveillance flights and intelligence operations, coordinated joint military exercises with regional allies, issued open threats of direct military intervention under the guise of antinarcotics operations, and even killed civilians in fishing boats from at least two countries.”
“The pattern is unmistakable: U.S. imperialism is preparing for war,” alerted the popular forces, while indicating that this escalation deepens a hybrid war campaign against Venezuela that has persisted for over two decades.
“During that time, the Venezuelan people have faced widespread economic sanctions designed to impoverish the population and disintegrate the social fabric; sabotage of critical infrastructure; financing and coordination of violent opposition movements and coup attempts; confiscation of national assets abroad; and clandestine operations ranging from assassination plots to paramilitary incursions,” they recalled.
In the organizations’ view, the recent escalation starting last August is not about combating drug trafficking, as Trump claims, nor aimed at any particular leader.
“Imperial propaganda relentlessly personalizes and demonizes the movements for sovereignty. This attack targets the very Bolivarian project and the project of socialism in Latin America: the effort to redistribute wealth, challenge neoliberal orthodoxy, and assert independence from transnational capital,” they stated.
The declaration also pointed out that since the late president Hugo Chávez and the popular movements that brought him to power initiated the Bolivarian Revolution at the beginning of the millennium, Venezuela has shown that alternative futures are still possible: that oil wealth can fund social programs instead of foreign corporations and national oligarchies, that continental integration can be built on solidarity rather than domination, and that the descendants of colonized and enslaved peoples can exercise meaningful sovereignty over their territories and resources.
For this reason, they believe this threat extends beyond Venezuela and noted that, similar to the illegal blockade that the United States has maintained against Cuba for over six decades, as well as the economic and military aggression against Iran and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, these are part of a global strategy aimed at destroying the material basis of sovereignty in the Global South.
“These are not discrete conflicts, but cores of a single capitalist domination system on a global scale,” they emphasized.
“U.S. strategists describe this as ‘strategic sequencing,’ a method of staggered global confrontation designed to isolate and exhaust one center of resistance after another, preventing their consolidation into a unified anti-hegemonic block. It’s a world war in slow motion. Any defeat of human liberation forces accelerates this global decline,” they highlighted.
However, according to the popular forces, this logic can—and must—be questioned, and Latin America has already laid the groundwork to do so.
They indicated that in January 2014, in Havana, Cuba, during the second Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the region was declared a “zone of peace.” This was to resolve conflicts through dialogue rather than force, respecting sovereignty and non-intervention, and building an alternative regional order based on cooperation rather than domination.
“It has never been more urgent to defend that vision against those who wish to reimpose the logic of military intervention and submission,” they urged in the text.
“For this reason, the popular forces around the world declare our unwavering solidarity with the Venezuelan people and their revolutionary project, and our firm rejection of U.S. militarism. We demand the closure of U.S. military bases abroad, commit to organizing against imperialist aggression by all means at our disposal, and urge CELAC member states to maintain their commitment to continental peace, as the specter of war threatens to bury it for future generations,” they concluded.
The following is a list of the organizations that signed the declaration:
- Abahlali baseMjondolo, South Africa
- BAYAN, Philippines
- BDS Namibia, Namibia
- Black Alliance for Peace, International
- Center for Research and Elaboration on Democracy, Italy
- Climate Vanguard, United Kingdom
- CODEPINK, United States
- Congolese Solidarity Campaign, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa
- Comuna Socialista El Panal, Venezuela
- Fuerza Patriótica Alexis Vive, Venezuela
- Haqooq-e-Khalq Party, Pakistan
- International Action Center, United States
- International Association of Democratic Lawyers, International
- Kuwaiti Progressive Movement, Kuwait
- Lucha Movement, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Manzese Working-Class Women Cooperative, Tanzania
- Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), India
- National Lawyers Guild, International
- National Students for Justice in Palestine, United States
- Nodutdol, United States
- Palestine Solidarity Alliance, South Africa
- Palestinian Youth Movement, International
- Congreso de los Pueblos, Colombia
- People’s Health Movement, International
- Pudemo, Eswatini
- Qiao Collective, International
- Socialist Movement of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
- Sovereign Media, International
- Tanzania Socialist Forum, Tanzania
- The Freedom Movement of Uganda, Uganda
- The Marxist Group of Namibia, Namibia
- US Palestinian Community Network, United States
- Venezuelanalysis, Venezuela
- Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, United Kingdom
- Venezuela Solidarity Network, United States
- Vox Ummah, International
- Workers World Party, United States
- Youth Climate Finance Alliance, United States
- Zimbabwe People’s Land Rights Movement, Zimbabwe
*With information from Wire.