We Condemn United States Military Attacks on Venezuela

January 3, 2025
Contact: Fe Echavarria, 302-545-9600

The Poor People's Army (Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign) categorically condemns the extremely vile terroristic acts of United States military aggression on civilian and military targets in several cities in Venezuela on the morning of January 3rd, as well as the ongoing campaign to vilify the Venezuelan movement for self determination. We also categorically condemn the illegal kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro Moros and his wife, Cilia Flores, and we demand that the United States government guarantee their physical safety and their immediate release. 

The violent acts constitute a brazen violation of the Charter of the United Nations, which obligates member states to respect sovereignty, the legal equality of states, and the prohibition of the use of force.

This armed offensive brings back practices typical of colonial times, as it attempts to violently subdue a sovereign country and seize its resources. This interventionist escalation ignores the right of peoples to freely decide their political, economic, and social path, without external pressures or threats. Such aggression also threatens international peace and stability, particularly in Latinoamerica and the Caribbean, and seriously endangers the lives of millions of people. This is not an issue solely belonging to one administration, it is an escalation of a long history of United States global imperialism. This is another unacceptable act of the United States' repeated acts of foreign aggression and interventionist policies in its continued strategy of global domination in the interest of corporations, as well as the resulting daily violations of human rights on civilian populations.

We stand with the people of Venezuela and support their legitimate right to comprehensive defense in accordance with Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, which reserves the right to exercise legitimate self-defense to protect its people, its territory, and its independence. We urge the global academic community, social movements, and the peoples of the world to activate militant and effective solidarity. It is urgent to organize protest, critical debate, and political pressure to stop this war of aggression. It is also urgent to educate ourselves and others on the strategies of the United States and ruling class propaganda.

For over 30 years, we have been organizing the poor of the United States to build power outside of corporate politics and corporate funded political movements – among those of us at the bottom. We are not in unprecedented times. The introduction of laborless production, and now AI, is rendering workers useless and has developed a rapidly growing new class of permanently unemployed and underemployed people. We understand the strategic significance of building a bottom up and independent movement, so that all have the power to determine the future of their families and communities. As an organization based in the United States, we have a responsibility to the people of Venezuela, and people globally, to fight inside the belly of the beast. 

We seek to foster connections with all sections of the population. Join us to collectively develop a strategy for the freedom, liberation, and self determination of all people.

The Poor People’s Army has twice weekly conversations to develop a collective strategy that is open to all. Sign up for interest at bit.ly/PPAstrategictalks

Poor People’s Army spokesperson and founder Cheri Honkala with former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.