03/01/2026
Trump has begun a new US imperialist war for regime change in Latin America. After months of bullying, threats and indiscriminate murderous attacks in the Caribbean, US warplanes descended on Venezuela last night, bombing multiple locations and capturing Nicolás Maduro.
This brutal aggression must be urgently resisted by the international working-class movement, in Latin America and beyond, including in the US. We must take to the streets to say: Hands off Venezuela!
Trump's ruthless regime's intentions are clear: to install a puppet government in Caracas which returns the world's greatest known oil reserves and other natural resources to the unfettered control of US billionaires.
Just like in the Middle East, Ukraine, Africa and the Pacific, Trump is acting undeterred by "international laws and norms" to grab resources and combat the influence of rival imperialist powers especially China. His regime seeks to reassert itself in the Western Hemisphere. Chinese capitalism is the main target of this aggressive US strategy: Venezuela under Maduro is its ‘crown jewel’, biggest debtor by far and key oil supplier.
But Latin America is noone's "back yard". Its people have a right to control their own destinies. The banner of resistance to imperialism has moved millions throughout the continent's revolutionary history and must do so again today.
In 2002, the Venezuelan working class and oppressed people defeated a US-backed coup to remove Hugo Chávez from power. Today, imperialism can again be defeated if working people organize their power. Democratic committees of action should be formed in communities across the country to resist further attacks and any attempt to impose a new far-right regime.
While Washington's rivals on the global stage will issue words of condemnation at Trump’s attack, no trust can be placed in any imperialist power to defend the Venezuelan people. Opposition to US-imposed regime change to place the far right in power must also not mean political support for the Maduro government, which does not represent the continuity of the Bolivarian revolution, but instead has deeply undermined its conquests.
To defeat imperialism and win real control over Venezuela's future, an independent movement of the workers and poor must fight for the public, democratic ownership and control of the country's natural resources and key industries.
International Socialist Alternative stands in solidarity with the Venezuelan people and in favour of a socialist Venezuela, as part of a free and voluntary socialist federation of Latin America.
