Note: the following piece was penned just days before the United States’ recent military attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife on January 3rd, 2025. With conditions changing on the ground rapidly, this article offers vital context that is important for Americans to understand as news continues to roll in during the coming days and weeks.
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Since September, the US has murdered over 90 Venezuelans in strikes and attacks on Venezuelan ships, which have supposedly been smuggling drugs into the US. The Trump administration has put forward no evidence that any of these ships have been a part of drug smuggling operations. There is also no legal right that gives the Trump administration permission to kill Venezuelans in Venezuelan waters. Additionally, the Trump administration has implemented a blockade on oil tankers, as well as seizing the tankers it can get its hands on. While this policy is a serious escalation, it is not the beginning of US aggression towards Venezuela, which has been going on for years.
The first sanctions were imposed against the country back in 2005. They were expanded under the Obama administration in 2015 and were strengthened again under Trump, crippling the Venezuelan economy and leading to the deaths of about 40 thousand people from 2017 to 2019 alone. Most recently, the Trump administration has put in place a complete blockade on sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving the country.
The US has planned and attempted to overthrow the Venezuelan government for many years, with the current escalation being a part of a long line of repression in hopes of getting rid of Nicolás Maduro and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Understanding the conditions pushing the US towards war is imperative in understanding how US socialists should respond to the conflict.
The US has multiple reasons to respond to Venezuela in the way that it has. First, the socialist government in Venezuela has denied US industries a possible market to expand their goods into. The nature of capitalism makes it so that corporations are constantly looking for ways to expand their markets. Once monopolies have “won” the game of free market competition at home, they typically aim to expand abroad. Capitalists seeking profit are naturally drawn to new regions where they have not yet been able to sell their goods. On top of new buyers, new markets tend to lead to new resources that can be extracted. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves on earth. Gaining control of these reserves would be incredibly profitable to US oil businesses like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. Because of the nationalization of many industries in Venezuela, US imperialism is essentially locked out of economic expansion in the region. Because the US is losing markets abroad to foreign companies, it is beginning to take more of an interest in Venezuelan industry. US imperialism is in decline. Countries like China are starting to take a larger part of the world market by creating economic zones outside of the control of Western business, causing the US to turn defensive, attempting to consolidate the areas it has historically controlled economically.
Furthering Venezuela’s breaking away from US influence, the nation is seeking membership in BRICS. BRICS is an economic bloc of countries, including Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa, and others, working to create a counter to US economic dominance. Venezuela’s closer ties with BRICS countries further push it away from the US influence and economic control. With more countries moving away from markets controlled by Western capital, it is becoming more important for the US to defend its economic interests in its own backyard.
US interests will not just affect Venezuela. In bringing Venezuela back in line with US economic dominance, the US may hope to kill two birds with one stone. Cuba has, for a long time, been a thorn in the US’s side. During the Cold War it existed as a socialist nation just off the coast of Florida. After the Cold War ended, it maintained its socialist character and continued to exist in contrast to American economic interests in the region. Cuba’s refusal to capitulate after the collapse of the Soviet Union has been partially aided by Venezuela and its supplying of oil to the island nation, on top of other cooperative agreements, which have assisted both nations under continual US pressure. With US control of oil in the region, they could further squeeze the Cuban people, hardening the blockade the US has had in place against Cuba since the 60s and causing more suffering for those living on the island, with a hope of destroying the Cuban revolution once and for all. Therefore, a defense of Venezuelan sovereignty is also a defense of Cuban sovereignty.
Many oppose US intervention, but also oppose the current government in Venezuela. For this group, what would a defeat of the government and victory for the Venezuelan opposition actually look like? The Venezuelan Opposition leader Morina Machado, who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, has ironically been one of the strongest advocates for the US war against Venezuela. She has made her plans for the country clear, stating Venezuela under her rule would “be the strongest ally in the region for the United States, “as well as discussing the privatization of the Venezuelan economy, calling it a “business opportunity of more than $1.7 trillion.” Essentially, Machado wants to put the Venezuelan economy under shock therapy to sell it to the US and other foreign investors. This move would destroy the already poor economic situation of Venezuela, which has been devastated by US sanctions, and would place the reins of Venezuelan sovereignty squarely in the hands of the US. A country cannot be free if it is entirely owned by foreign corporations.
The effects of shock therapy have already been witnessed in many different places around the globe. When the Soviet Union was illegally dissolved, it caused the greatest drop in life expectancy during peacetime in any industrialized nation in recorded history. By 1999, the country had 50% of the population living under the poverty line. In Chile, after the overthrow of democratically elected socialist Salvador Allende, the military dictator Pinochet also implemented shock therapy. This, too, ended in disaster. Inequality became incredibly heightened as a wealthy few benefited while the majority struggled to get by. In 1982, an economic crash caused by Pinochet’s economic reforms led the country to reach 45% of the population living in poverty. With unemployment reaching 30%.
The opposition in Venezuela has also consistently supported and been supported by Israel. A nation that, for the past 77 years, has been committing an ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian population. Machado specifically has been a strong supporter of Israel. She signed an agreement of cooperation between her party and Likud, the party of Benjamin Netanyahu. As well as claiming that she would move the Venezuelan embassy to Jerusalem, following the lead of the US which made the move back in 2018 during the first Trump presidency. In 2019, the opposition leader and US-backed self-declared president, Juan Guaidó, stated his desire to reestablish relations with Israel. Ties had been severed under President Hugo Chavez back in 2009 due to the killing of 1,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In 2017, when an anti-government terrorist used a helicopter to bomb the Venezuelan Supreme Court, the perpetrator used Israeli grenades to carry out the attack. The Venezuelan opposition, instead of reinstalling democracy, would sell the country to the US. Further demolishing the economy for the benefit of a wealthy few and the support of a genocidal regime.
Before the bulk of US sanctions the country was moving in a positive direction. Hugo Chavez had implemented policies to decrease wealth inequality and cut the poverty rate in half, dropping it from 61% to around 34% by 2013. Under Chavez, Venezuela became one of the first nations in Latin America to guarantee basic healthcare to all people in the country. His government also implemented land reform policies, which broke up large estates that were not productively using the land and often left it uncultivated, giving it to the peasants. These policies materially helped millions of people who, before, were living in incredible poverty. His policies helped bring literacy, healthcare, and necessary goods to those who had been neglected by the government and society.
However, after the collapse of oil globally in 2014, the economy began to struggle. The Venezuelan economy was heavily based on the production of oil due to colonial-era policy. European nations benefited from having their Latin American colonies focus production on exporting a few key resources, allowing them to get cheap goods. However, because Venezuela’s economy was built almost solely on oil production, fluctuations in oil costs globally greatly affect the economy. After Venezuela was already hit with this economic hardship, the US increased sanctions in 2015, worsening the economic collapse. While certain aspects of Nicolás Maduro’s political and economic policy may certainly be criticized, debilitating sanctions from the most powerful nation on earth and constant attempts at coups against the government would bring any country in Latin America to its knees, no matter the economic policies of that country. Venezuela improving people’s lives and stabilizing the economy under these conditions would be an economic miracle. If socialists want to see an improvement in the conditions of Venezuela, then they should oppose sanctions and US interference. A victory of the opposition would certainly not improve things, and there is no third faction with either enough influence to take power or magical policies that could fix Venezuela’s economy while under the country’s current pressure from the US.
With all this, it is clear that the US and its extension in the Venezuelan opposition are tools of imperialism. Socialists in the US must oppose imperialism in all its forms. Therefore, with an invasion looming on the horizon, it is incredibly important that US socialists oppose any breaches of Venezuelan sovereignty. A US victory in Venezuela would first of all impose policies that would further weaken the Venezuelan economy, by extension harming the Venezuelan people more than they already have been harmed by US meddling. On top of this, it would weaken the positions of socialists at home as US capital is strengthened by its control over Venezuelan oil and markets. Finally, it would weaken the international struggle as Cuba is further isolated and Palestine loses one of its few allies abroad. As the US is the primary imperialist power, it is the duty of US socialists to hinder US imperialism to the best of our ability to stop the US from profiting from the mass exploitation of the global south.
Now how do socialists in the US go about fighting for Venezuelan sovereignty? A start is heeding the call made to US students to organize with their Venezuelan comrades towards peace. YDSA and other socialist youth groups should agitate students to protest for peace, while also building connections with Venezuelan students abroad. Building off of the pro-Palestine work already being done is essential for creating a broad anti-imperialist front that opposes all of the US’s imperialist wars. As US imperialism is interconnected, so too must socialist opposition be.
The US is blatantly showing its hand as an imperialist, warmongering empire. Unlike Iraq, it is barely attempting to manufacture consent for its atrocities. Liberal pundits are already calling out the similarities and blaming the Trump administration for the country’s attacks on Venezuela. It is the job of socialists to point out the systemic cause of this violence. That the US’s drive for war and imperialism is not the narcissistic whims of the Trump administration but a fundamental outgrowth of capitalism. It is important to remember that some of the first sanctions imposed against Venezuela were imposed by the Obama administration.
One of the great flaws in the modern left is its lack of interest in the army. Many previous socialist revolutions and struggles have agitated the army. Even in US history, anti-war sentiment among drafted soldiers was a key tool of agitation among the left against the Vietnam War. However, conditions are different now. The draft is no longer being utilized; all soldiers currently joining the army are doing so by choice. To some, this places them in the position of being unreachable and tainted by the crimes committed by the US army. This perspective loses sight of the valuable tool that the horror of US imperialism is for creating disillusionment and class consciousness among the rank and file soldiers. Many veterans come home radicalized by their experience in the army. While it is true that some accept their role in the imperialist war machine and will not be reached, many still can be. Having support within the army is an incredibly important component to any successful socialist movement. This means taking a real concern with organizing in the military. Especially during times of imperialist war. When the greed and horror of Capitalism are most apparent. If the US does invade Venezuela, socialists must attempt to reach soldiers. To agitate for them to organize and oppose the war. This will not be an easy task, but it is nonetheless a critical one.
The working class as a whole is the primary group socialists are attempting to organize. However, there are major hurdles to achieve this. As of 2024, only 11.1% of workers are in unions. Federal policy disincentivizes workers in the private sector from striking for political reasons, and public sector workers are outright banned in most states from striking at all. On top of this, the US possesses a labor aristocracy. This is created by giving some of the massive profits capitalists accrue from exploiting the global south to sections of the working class. Many well off, especially white, workers are able to be bought off by reforms and other concessions funded by this exploitation. While they remain a part of the working class this group is pushed away from class consciousness and organizing because of the benefits they are able to receive from US Imperialism. All of this means that putting together any kind of organized labor resistance to war is incredibly difficult in its current state. Socialists and the labor movement as a whole are simply not powerful enough to carry out effective mass strikes against war. Despite this, organizing among workers must not stop. Socialists must push for a strong revolutionary labor movement. One that will fight for permanent change and does not take temporary benefits at the expense of workers in the global south. As US imperialism declines, capitalists will continue to pull back the concessions it has given to sections of the American working class. Socialists need to be consistently agitating to grow the labor movement so that, as the concessions given to workers decline, socialists are able to have the training and presence in the labor movement to organize newly disillusioned workers towards revolutionary politics. Workers make society run. Only by working through the issues of organizing workers and building an anti imperialist labor movement can lasting change occur.
As the war in Venezuela becomes increasingly likely, socialists must rise to meet the moment. Fighting for peace and an end to imperialist wars. Organizing among students, soldiers, workers, and all oppressed peoples to destroy the root of exploitation, Capitalism.
The struggle faced by the Venezuelan people is one that all people face. A struggle for dignity, freedom, and an end to exploitation. This road is rough and covered by the looming shadow of the US. As those in Venezuela struggle to keep their sovereignty, so too must socialists in the US struggle to hold back the beast that wishes to tear that sovereignty away from them. Humanity is interconnected, and all struggles are tied together. The weakening of imperialism abroad strengthens the fight for socialism at home. The famous British imperialist Cecil Rhodes, a diamond monopoly owner in South Africa and one of that country’s strongest supporters for apartheid once stated, “The empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question. If you want to avoid civil war, you must become imperialists.” This statement is true. Imperialism is built on painting over the cracks in the capitalist system. Capitalism must constantly reinvent itself with new markets to sell to and resources to profit from. Without the immense wealth that can be gained from exploiting the resources and people of other nations capitalism would falter. Imperialism is a way of artificially expanding the lifespan of the capitalist system. Having no way of buying off sections of the working class or bailing itself out of constant crises leads to massive social unrest and eventually to, as Rhodes put it, “civil war.” Or put another way, social revolution. It is necessary to commit to imperialism if you wish to avoid the abolition of capitalism. Therefore, in order to achieve revolution, one must strike first at imperialism. In other words, socialism is a bread and butter question. If one wishes to achieve social revolution, one must become anti-imperialist, and right now that means demanding the US keep its hands off Venezuela.
