From the Revolutionary Anarchist Organization
The US military assault on Venezuela and the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Friday night shocked the world and tore down the veil of international law.
The actions of Trump and the US government are once again rivalling those of the largest criminal organizations, with complete impunity. The entire American continent is now threatened by this same imperialist system. By continuing to raise the issue of cartels and drug trafficking, Trump is making thinly veiled threats against Colombia, Mexico, and Cuba, remaining firmly aligned with his plan to “restore American supremacy” in Latin America. Let us not be fooled—these excuses will also be used to tighten anti-immigration policies and legitimize future imperialist interventions.
This is far from being the first U.S. incursion into the affairs of a foreign country. We can’t count the number of coups that were aided by the CIA in the shadows of sordid plots. But this time, it is a violent operation (described as spectacular and exemplary in the western media) that is publicly and proudly claimed by the most powerful position in the world. No need to look too far back in history to see that military force is used directly—as in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Nicaragua—to bring down regimes “that don’t vote the right way.” This is not the first time that the United States has acted in this way and shown complete disregard for a country’s territorial sovereignty. Nor is it a coincidence that extractivism and control of resources are often at the heart of invasions.
For liberals and the most naive, this is a breach of protocol, an action that goes beyond the legal framework. For us, it is a continuation of the usual policies, which today seem unacceptable because of the sensational nature of the level of interference and interventionism involved. But the violence of those in power is always present, even when the legal framework is respected. In fact, the only reason this framework is respected is because it serves the interests of those in power. As soon as legality goes against their interests, they do not hesitate to throw charters and conventions in the trash. They have always done so and will continue to do so.
What is truly new about this aggression is rather the sheer audacity of the lie that was used as a pretext. We are a long way from the months of preparation required for the Lusitania scandal to prepare for entry into the war in 1915, and very, very far from the “weapons of mass destruction” used by the Bush administration to invade Iraq in 2003. At the time, there was at least a semblance of democratic legitimacy: false witnesses were sent to UN committees, a secretary of state was made to cry, and then admitted that nothing in the whole deception was true. But at least they tried to pretend. Today, Trump can simply declare in a disjointed speech closer to senile rambling than political pep talk: “drugs & rape”, repeat it enough times and all the sold-out journalists applaud, and the entire Canadian political class, like frightened lackeys, respond that “yes, Maduro was a bad guy.”
While state propaganda hammers home the bogus reasons for the intervention, it doesn’t even bother to hide the other reason, which is obvious anyway: to plunder one of the world’s largest oil reserves. The lie is so ingrained in the entire media apparatus serving the ruling class that they no longer even bother to hide it.
Political Clarity
The current attack on Venezuelan sovereignty cannot be understood without examining the role of opposition figures elevated and legitimized by Western imperialist powers. Maria Corina Machado has been deliberately presented as a “credible alternative,” not by the Venezuelan working classes, but by foreign governments, corporate media, and international financial interests whose main concern is not so-called “democracy” but access to the country’s resources. Her political project is openly aligned with neoliberal orthodoxy: privatization, deregulation, alignment with US foreign policy, and Venezuela’s reintegration into the global capitalist order under the supervision of institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank. In this sense, Machado is not presented as a leader born of popular self-determination, but as a managerial figure, an intermediary through whom Western capital can reaffirm its control over Venezuelan resources.
Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, along with its strategic minerals and geopolitical position, make it too valuable to be left outside imperial command. Machado’s function within this framework is not to liberate Venezuelans, but to normalize exploitation by presenting submission to foreign capital as a « democratic transition ». Her leadership is imagined to be only accountable to Western state investors who’re eager to reopen the country to extractive business under favorable terms. This is the classic model of the puppet leader: legitimacy granted externally, authority served from imperial backing rather than a popular mandate.
What should be clearly stated, rejecting this imperial imposition does not require romanticizing or defending authoritarian governance. The false binary imposed by Western discourse, imperialist intervention vs so called authoritarian stability, serves as a false dichotomy and forecloses the most important possibility: genuine popular self-determination. One concentrates authority upward and inwards, the other transfers it outward to imperial centers. Both deny the Venezuelan people the right to decide the terms of their own political life. The task is not to choose between domination from within or domination without, but to dismantle both.
We live within the imperial core itself. From this position, the uncritical amplification of state narratives, especially those that claim to be anti-imperialist, blur the lines of political clarity. The power of the United States must be unerstood concretely. No other nation on earth has demonstrated the capcity, reach and impunity to extract a « leader » from another country in the middle of the night, transport them across borders, and place them before a kangaroo court under politically motivated charges. The question that should then be on everyones mind is, if the U.S possesses such reach, why has it not been used agasint Netanyahu and state of Isreal, which continues to wage carnage the Palestinian people with open international defiance? The answer expose the lie at the heart of the so-called « rules based order ». Power is not applied universally, it is deployed selectively, in service of empire.
In the next few days, we are going to see videos of people in Venezuela holding up portraits of Chavez, people chanting for Maduro’s return, and for the defence of Simon Bolivar’s legacy. Propaganda videos by the Venezuelan army will be reshared and the other big imperialist camp is gonna use this to promote their own brand of autoritarianism. Campism thrives on its own contradiction. It asks us to align ourselves with one state bloc against another to excuse repression and domination as long as it appears to resist U.S influcence. This is a trap, and it is one we are especially pressured to fall into from within the imperial core. Campist and liberal politics alike use moments of crisis to reintroduce authority as necessity. They present parties, governments and militaries as imperfect shields for the sake of fighting against a greater threat, despite their long records of crushing dissent, repressing average people and giving no chance to a new political life. We don’t want to fight their wars, we do not want to change one form of power for another.What is needed is a rupture in which Venezuelans themselves can collectively determine how they are governed, on what grounds, and in whose interests. It must be rejected, the idea that leadership must either be imposed by force or sanctioned by foreign capital. Liberation cannot arrive through kidnappings, sanctions, or puppet regimes, nor can it be secured through unaccountable authority concentrated thought the « state ». Real resistance grows out of the terrian that is built through direct action and autonomous self-organization. It does not rely on leaders to speak on one’s behalf. By establishing a praxis, this is expanded and sustained in our conditions, they do not culmiate in a new regime or a rearranged hierachy. They point towards a social revolutionary transformation that reshapes everyday life and social relations themselves. What remains is the refusal to be diverted. Campism, nostalgia, and national mythologies functions as pressure points on our movements, especially here, where imperial power is headquarted. In a world already saturaed with so much violence, what is not needed are more symbols of authoritiy to obscure our vision. What is needed is a clarity about where we stand, and a commitmment to a greater internationalist struggle that aline ourselves with people in resistance everywhere, that goes beyond borders and propels us towads a future where our fight becomes impossible to contain.
What now?
Regardless of Maduro, Hussein, or others, the revolution will not be due to imperialist violence. It belongs to the oppressed, to the masses who refuse to be enslaved. Only the people’s struggle can overthrow the established order.
There are two answers that are needed right now. The first, is direct action, the sabotage and attacks that put a wrench in the wheels of authoritarian machinery, done, ideally, in such a way so as to be coordinated or contagious, resonating and reproduced by others. The second, is the creation of social conditions, including organizations, that are able to advance a fight for humanity’s total liberation from authority and domination so that, never again, will someone’s life be ended or turned upside down because of another person’s desire for profit, power, or greedy pleasure.
Make the US ruling class regret this: The capitalist class and US political class are entirely comfortable with this invasion of Venezuela. If it goes smoothly for them, they’ll do it again in new territories with increasing violence. Who rules the United States? What are their interests? How can those interests be attacked and undermined from Montreal? How can we make them regret this?
US multinationals are everywhere: Montreal is filled with thousands of offices, store outlets, warehouses, and assembly lines for important American businesses headed by the US empire’s most influential capitalists. This includes fast food chains, tech industry, and weapons manufacturers. In the summer of 2025, Mexico city erupted into anti-American riots, destroying investments and symbols of American capitalism. In the UK, Palestine Action, has been entering weapons factories, smashing machinery, doing millions in damage. Across the world, normal people identify targets and act.
Don’t underestimate yourself, you can be a serious force. You can do the most brilliant and daring actions this century has seen, setting examples that strike blows for liberation against authority.
The secret is to truly begin and organize!
ATTACK IMPERIALISM WHERE YOU ARE!
Anarchist texts from Venezuela, to get an idea of the situation before the kidnapping:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/author/el-libertario-editorial-collective
International Statement: We Denounce the Imperial Offensive on Venezuela:
https://www.federacionanarquista.net/international-statement-we-denounce-the-imperial-offensive-on-venezuela/