Two weeks ago, Trump deployed dozens of Navy ships and aircraft, as well as thousands of troops, just off Venezuelan waters in the middle of a pandemic. Nobody in Congress has said a word about this dangerous maneuver! Tell Congress that the U.S. must fight COVID-19, not Venezuela.

Dear John,

Nobody in Congress has said a word about Trump’s deployment of ships and troops just off Venezuelan waters during a pandemic that has cost the lives of tens of thousands of our fellow citizens. Trump has been threatening war with Venezuela for nearly three years, and he’s been hinting at a naval blockade of the country (which itself is an act of war) since August 2019. This deployment could be the first step in such a blockade. It also puts thousands of U.S. sailors and marines at risk for contagion of COVID-19. 

The good news is that there are already two bills in Congress prohibiting the Trump administration from using military force in Venezuela without Congressional authorization. The bad news is that those two bills have stalled and nobody in Congress has stepped up to denounce this dangerous escalation in the Trump administration’s goal of regime change in Venezuela.

We might be on the brink of war with Venezuela! Let’s tell Congress to actively support S.J.Res.11 in the Senate and H.R.1004 in the House, which prohibit unauthorized military action against Venezuela!

The pretext of the U.S. Navy deployment is an alleged plot by the Venezuelan government “to flood the streets” of the U.S. with cocaine, which is absurd since 92% of the cocaine in the U.S. comes from Colombia. The actual reason is regime change, and in recent days the White House stepped up its efforts to destroy the Venezuelan economy by banning U.S. companies from selling gasoline or gasoline additives (which are necessary to produce gasoline) to the country. A senior Venezuelan official expressed concern that the naval deployment could be used to attack the Venezuelan economy if oil tankers and other trade ships are boarded and have their cargo seized by the U.S. Navy. This is a real possibility given that a Pentagon official recently claimed, without any evidence, that Venezuelan oil tankers ship drugs to Cuba. 

It might seem unlikely for Congress to take action on foreign policy during these difficult times, as they are understandably focused almost exclusively on COVID-19. That is why in our emails to Congress, we will frame the debate in terms of the coronavirus. After all, the White House itself has already done this, claiming in a press conference that the deployment will somehow help fight the virus. In fact, the deployment will make the virus even worse; as we saw on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. service members are particularly at risk for contagion, given that they live in close quarters—especially on ships. The Department of Defense has already said that over 4,700 of its members (including military and civilians) have contracted COVID-19. 

Tell Congress to Fight COVID-19, not Venezuela! 

Despite the call for a global ceasefire, Trump is sending more troops and military assets towards Venezuela, a country he has had on his radar for years. The Venezuelan people have asked us to help stop Trump’s war. Venezuela is doing a great job so far in containing COVID-19, but the sanctions continue to kill innocent civilians and the navy deployment will make things worse. Let’s oppose U.S. intervention and take action to stop this war.

Join us in saying Hands Off Venezuela,
Leonardo, Medea, Michelle, and Teri
CODEPINK Latin America Campaign

P.S. On a recent episode of CODEPINK’s webinar series, WTF Is Going on In Latin America, Teri and Leonardo spoke about the deployment and what it could mean. Be sure to catch the WTF webinar every Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET on our YouTube channel for great analysis of events in Latin America and the Caribbean. Also, make sure you check out a special webinar on Friday at 2 p.m. ET in which Leonardo will speak to Professor María Luisa Mendonça about COVID-19 in Brazil.