On January 3, the US, under President Donald Trump’s leadership, launched an unprovoked attack on Venezuela. US forces bombed Caracas and abducted President Nicolás Maduro, First Lady Cilia Flores, and other officials.
This act of state-sponsored terrorism violates international law and national sovereignty. As a South African who fought apartheid, I condemn it unequivocally.
Trump’s regime is a rogue state, and the world must hold it accountable. US military forces struck Caracas, terrorising civilians and destabilising the government. Special forces then kidnapped Maduro and Flores from their residence, an act echoing CIA Cold War tactics.
This is global gangsterism, where force replaces law. Trump, a modern fascist, disregards international norms. His “America First” policy masks hegemonic ambitions. His actions violate the UN Charter’s Article 2(4), prohibiting force against a state’s integrity, and the Vienna Convention and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This marks a fascist regime overriding treaties.
Critics cite Maduro’s governance flaws as justification, but these do not warrant invasion or abduction. Internal issues cannot excuse bombing a capital or kidnapping a leader. The true motive is US greed for Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the world’s largest, containing heavy crude essential for American refineries.
Domestic fracking yields lighter oil unsuitable for the facilities, risking their obsolescence and threatening jobs and profits for companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips.
The assault also aims to block Venezuela’s oil exports to China and Russia, allies providing investment bypassing US systems.
Trump’s action severs the ties, securing resources under American control. This is imperialism, disguised as promoting democracy and human rights.
Venezuela’s Bolívarian Revolution, inspired by Simón Bolívar, has advanced social justice.
Under Hugo Chávez and Maduro, programmes such as Barrio Adentro (healthcare) and Gran Misión Vivienda (housing) lifted millions from poverty, funded by sovereign oil control.
The resistance to neoliberalism, not human rights, provokes US hostility. Venezuelans have suffered US sanctions causing shortages, hyperinflation, and tens of thousands of excess deaths, plus covert operations and the demonisation of the media.
Despite this, Maduro won re-election in 2018. Abducting him and Flores attacks the people’s will. Flores, a women’s rights advocate, symbolises equality. Her kidnapping highlights gendered violence in Trump’s arrogance.
This fits US imperialism’s history: overthrowing Salvador Allende in Chile (1973) and invading Iraq (2003) and Libya (2011). Trump continues the pattern, using military force for resource grabs amid energy transitions.
Western media call it “liberation”, masking aggression. Tepid responses from the EU and some Latin American states reflect fear. The Global South must reject complacency. As a South African, I see parallels with apartheid’s invasions of Angola and Namibia, isolated through global condemnation.
We must give solidarity to Venezuelans defending their revolution. Their street resistance echoes anti-colonial struggles.
Urgent demands:
• Immediate release of Maduro, Flores, and other officials, restoring them unconditionally.
• UN emergency sessions to condemn the aggression, impose sanctions on Trump and enablers, demand reparations, and establish a tribunal for crimes against humanity.
• Global leaders unite in isolating the US through boycotts, severed ties, and protests.
Africa’s colonial history obliges solidarity; the African Union should lead. Progressive forces — unions, students, citizens — must mobilise as international support ended apartheid.
History judges our response. Allowing this invites a world without sovereignty. United, we reaffirm peace and self-determination.
Niehaus is an EFF member of parliament
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