In a statement (read here in Spanish), the 17th Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) held in Caracas on 15-16 November, stresses out the following:
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) — elected at the 16th National Congress held in November 2022 — alerts the peoples of the world to the dangerous military escalation that U.S. imperialism is developing in the waters of the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, through an unprecedented deployment not seen in decades.
In recent days, the United States has concentrated in the region an enormous offensive force: the largest aircraft carrier on the planet, the USS Gerald R. Ford; around 15,000 troops; more than a dozen warships; and at least 10 F-35 fighter aircraft.
Washington attempts to justify this military presence by claiming to be fighting drug trafficking. However, this narrative is nothing but a smokescreen designed to conceal its true objective: to intervene in the Venezuelan political crisis in order to secure strategic and economic advantages for U.S. capital. It is in this context that one must interpret the recent statements by the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who arrogantly declared: “the Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood and we will protect it.”
History shows that U.S. imperialism adapts its excuses to the moment. During the existence of the Socialist Bloc, it invoked the “communist threat” to justify coups d’état, invasions and covert operations. After September 11, the pretext shifted to the “war on terrorism.” Today, it instrumentalizes the so-called “fight against drug trafficking” to carry out extrajudicial executions in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, which have so far resulted in 83 people summarily killed.
Adding to this is a recent statement by Donald Trump, who claimed to have authorized the CIA to operate inside Venezuela. The covert operations of this imperialist agency have left a long trail of blood and destabilization across the continent: from financing the Contras in Nicaragua — with resources originating from drug trafficking — to intervention in Guatemala, Chile and Brazil, where they promoted coups d’état, unleashed criminal dictatorships and systematically violated human rights.
This military offensive has been encouraged by the most reactionary sector of the Venezuelan right wing, led by María Corina Machado, while the response of the illegitimate government of Nicolás Maduro has been to deepen repression and social control through laws that openly violate the Constitution and the rule of law. Thus, the working people are not only trapped between two equally disastrous projects, but are also standing at the threshold of a dangerous scenario of generalized violence.
While María Corina Machado seeks to transform Venezuela into a mining-energy enclave designed for transnational plunder — condemning the working class to survive on crumbs — Nicolás Maduro offers “anything” to Trump in order to remain illegally in power. Both compete for the support of those who threaten the Venezuelan people.
In the face of the militarization of the Caribbean, the real threat of direct U.S. intervention and the increasing restriction of democratic freedoms within the country, the PCV reaffirms that the Venezuelan people have no reason to choose between their tormentors. Neither Machado’s interventionist and warmongering agenda nor Maduro’s submissive authoritarianism represents a solution for the nation.
The Communist Party of Venezuela calls on the working class and on popular and genuinely democratic forces to move forward in the construction of a broad social and political front that struggles for the full restoration of the Constitution and the rule of law, the recovery of political, social and labor rights that have been violated, the release of politicians, activists, human-rights defenders, trade unionists and journalists arbitrarily detained, the defense of national sovereignty against all imperialist interference, and the achievement of a democratic political solution to the crisis.
Washington attempts to justify this military presence by claiming to be fighting drug trafficking. However, this narrative is nothing but a smokescreen designed to conceal its true objective: to intervene in the Venezuelan political crisis in order to secure strategic and economic advantages for U.S. capital. It is in this context that one must interpret the recent statements by the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who arrogantly declared: “the Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood and we will protect it.”
History shows that U.S. imperialism adapts its excuses to the moment. During the existence of the Socialist Bloc, it invoked the “communist threat” to justify coups d’état, invasions and covert operations. After September 11, the pretext shifted to the “war on terrorism.” Today, it instrumentalizes the so-called “fight against drug trafficking” to carry out extrajudicial executions in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, which have so far resulted in 83 people summarily killed.
Adding to this is a recent statement by Donald Trump, who claimed to have authorized the CIA to operate inside Venezuela. The covert operations of this imperialist agency have left a long trail of blood and destabilization across the continent: from financing the Contras in Nicaragua — with resources originating from drug trafficking — to intervention in Guatemala, Chile and Brazil, where they promoted coups d’état, unleashed criminal dictatorships and systematically violated human rights.
This military offensive has been encouraged by the most reactionary sector of the Venezuelan right wing, led by María Corina Machado, while the response of the illegitimate government of Nicolás Maduro has been to deepen repression and social control through laws that openly violate the Constitution and the rule of law. Thus, the working people are not only trapped between two equally disastrous projects, but are also standing at the threshold of a dangerous scenario of generalized violence.
While María Corina Machado seeks to transform Venezuela into a mining-energy enclave designed for transnational plunder — condemning the working class to survive on crumbs — Nicolás Maduro offers “anything” to Trump in order to remain illegally in power. Both compete for the support of those who threaten the Venezuelan people.
In the face of the militarization of the Caribbean, the real threat of direct U.S. intervention and the increasing restriction of democratic freedoms within the country, the PCV reaffirms that the Venezuelan people have no reason to choose between their tormentors. Neither Machado’s interventionist and warmongering agenda nor Maduro’s submissive authoritarianism represents a solution for the nation.
The Communist Party of Venezuela calls on the working class and on popular and genuinely democratic forces to move forward in the construction of a broad social and political front that struggles for the full restoration of the Constitution and the rule of law, the recovery of political, social and labor rights that have been violated, the release of politicians, activists, human-rights defenders, trade unionists and journalists arbitrarily detained, the defense of national sovereignty against all imperialist interference, and the achievement of a democratic political solution to the crisis.
