No war for oil in Venezuela

Friend,

“Illegal aggression.”¹ “Illegal abduction.”² “Dangerous precedent.”³ “Clear violation” of international law.⁴

These are all phrases from experts and global leaders to describe this weekend’s actions by the U.S. military, directed by the reckless Trump regime, to attack Venezuela’s capital and kidnap its president and his wife.

Let’s be clear: This is about control, power, and profit. This is a brazen, violent step in a long history of U.S. imperialism.

This is not about helping Venezuelan people. Venezuela holds one-fifth of the world’s proven crude oil reserves. This is about positioning wealthy, powerful men in the U.S. to profit from Venezuela’s oil at the expense of Venezuelan lives and sovereignty. Trump himself made these ambitions clear at a press conference last Saturday.

It’s immoral. It’s time for our elected officials to fight back and say no to Trump and his Big Oil cronies.

We mourn the loss of at least 80 people, mostly Venezuelans, who were killed in this attack. As Ben Saul, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism said, “Every Venezuelan life lost is a violation of the right to life.”

From DC and Chicago to Caracas and beyond, Trump is seizing our freedoms in his war to extend rule by the bullies for the billionaires. And this latest move is straight out of the authoritarian playbook: distract from unpopularity at home by starting armed conflict abroad.

But we are joining together to protect our freedoms, our families and our futures. Act now to demand every elected leader in the U.S. condemn this attack and the occupation of Venezuela. Then, take a moment to read this statement from Latin America climate justice leaders.

Stay tuned for more ways to take action to stop war and corporate profiteering in Venezuela.