The actions of the Trump administration are unacceptable, and SNH DSA condemns the acts of war that were carried out against the people of Venezuela on January 3rd, 2026.

This situation is plain and simple: we are in the midst of an imperialist war to install a US puppet government that will give Venezuela’s oil resources over to the US empire, a global cartel, and to further entrench US hegemony over Latin America. This is a continuation of the Monroe Doctrine. The new “Trump Corollary” is a farcical rebranding of the colonial ambitions found within the early 1800s, and further emphasizes how far the oligarchy will go to impose its ghoulish agenda across the globe. This war is illegal both under international law and the laws governing the declaration of war within the United States.

These imperialist actions in the pursuit of oil and blood were first tested on our immigrant communities here in the United States. The attacks from our President created the permission structure for the escalation towards striking Caracas. This past year, the Trump Administration has manufactured consent for these acts of war, not just by fanning the flames, but by sparking the embers as well.

In March of 2025, the Trump Administration trafficked over 240 men, citing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, an act that has been used throughout our history to imprison innocent people based on race. Trump claimed that these 240 men were members of “Tren de Aragua,”a Venezuelan prison gang, based on fabricated evidence. These men were trafficked to the El Salvadoran prison, CECOT, where they have and still are being enslaved and tortured. We later found out that only 6% of the men sent to CECOT had any US criminal record, and only 4% had violent criminal records. About 50 of the men were legal residents of the United States.

The Trump Administration hijacked the fears of the American people, connecting Venezuelans with “narco-terrorism,” and providing the social permission to conduct strikes against fishing boats, which further allowed for the bombing of Caracas. Trump’s war has nothing to do with drug trafficking. There is no substantiated evidence that high-level members of the Venezuelan government are “narco-terrorists.” Yet, the Trump administration continues to float this fabrication as the pretext for this imperialist aggression.

This has been done to many different immigrant communities, including Haitians and Somalis. These communities become targets of not only vitriol and hate, but physical and financial attacks as well.

We must not only stand with the people of Venezuela, but also with the immigrant communities of America that have been targeted based on race or ethnicity by the radical right wing of our country. When we attack our own communities, we allow the oligarchy to trample the human rights and sovereignty of all.

It must not be forgotten that while tribalism destroys our local communities, the same colonial degeneracies govern our foreign policy. This war is a violation of true democracy. President Maduro, and the PSUV, preside over one of the most vibrant and transparent democracies in the world. This socialist project, which has lifted the Venezuelan working-class out of poverty and brought the people’s will onto the international stage, is a direct threat to the US empire because it has crushed imperialist ambitions in South America. Make no mistake, the Bolivarian Revolution, democracy in South America, poses a threat to the oligarchy because the working-class has found a way to beat back the capitalist cartel which aims to enslave the entire world.

This is another regime-change war to steal another country’s oil, just like the failed war against Iraq, and to crush any resistance to US imperialism. Do not fall prey to the social media campaign being launched to support the color revolution currently taking place in Venezuela. The Venezuelan people are not celebrating. They are mourning, they are rising up to resist this illegal war, and their volunteer army is being mobilized to destroy the incoming invasion. The Bolivarian Revolution is not a single man, President Maduro is simply a politician, and the people’s will cannot be crushed. Venezuela has shown us that the working-class can rise to the occasion, and they will once again when the United States forces misguided soldiers to die for profit.

DSA demands:

• a return of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores to Venezuela
• an immediate end to the war and an end to all US military violence against Venezuela
• a total withdrawal of all US warships, fighter jets, and military assets from the Caribbean and an end to any operations with intervention purposes driven by SOUTHCOM
• an end to the illegal unilateral sanctions against Venezuela, and the end to the use of unilateral sanctions anywhere in the world, which kill an estimated half a million people every year worldwide
• an end to the failed “war on drugs” framework that has already led to massive human and environmental tragedies in countries such as Colombia and Mexico
• the restoration of diplomatic relations with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, including the reopening of the embassy and consular offices in US territory
• a US foreign policy centered on peace, multilateralism, and respect for national sovereignty and self-determination

Long live the Bolivarian Revolution,

Vicki N. and Patti C.