Image from a small-scale demonstration in solidarity with Venezuela on January 3.
Workers of the world, unite!
On the United States’ acts of war against Venezuela
“All reactionaries are paper tigers. In appearance, the reactionaries are terrifying, but in reality they are not so powerful. From a long-term point of view, it is not the reactionaries but the people who are really powerful.”
– Mao Tse Tung – ”Talk with the American correspondent Anna Louise Strong” (August 1946)
Yankee imperialism, as a consequence of its own crisis and decline, has launched a desperate and cowardly attack on the Venezuelan nation. In doing so, it has made it even clearer to the peoples of the world that this despicable state has no respect for the “international law” of the old order, as it has violated almost every single one of the international laws of war. They act as they do, with their powerful and advanced weapons, not because they are strong but because they are weak, since the main factor in war is not weapons but the masses of the people and their will to fight!
For those who were paying attention, today’s acts of war against Venezuela were an expected next step in the series of Yankee imperialist aggressions against the Venezuelan people in recent months. The US and the Trump administration have been moving their pieces during the fall, and many correctly speculated that the US would begin its warfare after the hurricane season, which in the Caribbean usually lasts until the end of November/beginning of December.
It was as early as September that the imperialists openly spoke about what they call Operation Southern Spear. This campaign has involved a series of war crimes against the Venezuelan people, such as kidnapping and theft of ships, and the blowing up of civilian boats. Earlier in December, Trump also issued a statement saying that they had carried out their first successful military operations (explosions) inside Venezuela, led by the CIA. In addition to what has been reported in the media, this of course also means separate assassination attempts that have been prevented.
Today, January 3, the situation escalated significantly when the imperialists bombed the capital Caracas and, according to reports, kidnapped Nicholas Maduro and his wife Cilia. Notable targets were the La Carlota air base, the regiment in Catia La Mar, the Parliament building in Caracas, the Fuerte Tiuna military base, and the airport in El Hatillo. What does this show other than that it is impossible to give in to the imperialists, who are constantly hungry for more?
We cannot avoid pointing out that, strangely enough, the Trump administration always manages to time its unpopular decisions to coincide with days when the US stock market is closed. On Christmas Eve, the Americans bombed Nigeria, the attacks on facilities in Iran on June 22 were on a Sunday, and most of Trump’s tariffs have been announced on Fridays after the markets closed. Would it surprise anyone if it were to emerge in the near future that a large number of members of Congress had, prior to today, purchased shares in companies such as Haliburton or Chevron – as has happened so many times before?
Theater, disinformation, and deception
In line with imperialist warfare, the US is now following the same modus operandi as before. At the time of writing, it is still unclear whether the US and Delta Force succeeded in their operation to capture Maduro, but that is not the essential point. The imperialists and their lackeys are trying to deter the people’s resistance through their spectacular military operations, as that is all they can come up with. As we have seen Israel do, for example, in its action against Hezbollah, with pager bombs, the US is now trying to paralyze and instill fear—that it is pointless to fight back. The Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has stated that the US military should return to this type of military operation, as he glorifies and misses the days when Yankee imperialism was on the rise. We know, of course, that this is far from reality – that wars are not won with circus tricks. What we can learn from this, however, is that it confirms the importance of protecting leadership – above all by ensuring that leadership always lives on and that others can take up the fight.
In the coming hours and days, it will be difficult to discern exactly what is happening, especially in the bourgeois media controlled by the imperialists. They will try to use this to spread their disinformation in the hope of increasing anxiety and doubt. Below are two examples that circulated within the first hour alone.
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Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello was reported dead in the attacks. This was not true, and Cabello commented that “this is an attack against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” Instead, he urged the people not to make it easy for the invading enemy.
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There were reports that Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López had been killed in the attacks, but he also issued a statement saying he was alive and calling on the Venezuelan people to defend themselves.
It is also worth mentioning briefly the hypocrisy that comes from the mouths of the Yankees when they describe the war as a “war on drugs.” The whole world knows that the biggest drug dealer in the world is Yankee imperialism, organized by the CIA.
The Crossroads of Yankee Imperialism
It is incorrect to claim that Venezuela is an important target for Yankee imperialism mainly because of its oil resources. Although this is obviously a factor, the political and military aspects are the main ones.
The attack is twofold and targets two separate enemies in the eyes of the Yankees. The main one, resulting from the main contradiction in the world (which consists of the conflict between imperialism and the oppressed nations), is the peoples of the region, who are becoming more and more combative against the imperialist executioners every day, and thus need greater control in the region and cannot tolerate regimes that are not cooperative, in other words, that have something of their own to say. The second spearhead is mainly directed, as a result of the inter-imperialist contradiction over world domination, at Chinese social-imperialism, which has its hands in the region, and the Yankees thus want to secure their own backyard.
The plan of Yankee imperialism, the so-called “new defense structure for the Western Hemisphere,” and the military deployment of Yankee imperialist forces are aimed at defending its status as the sole hegemonic imperialist superpower in the world. Since Latin America, as its backyard, is the strategic base for its global hegemony, Yankee imperialism, as its grand policeman, is directly targeting the development of the new democratic revolutions on the continent.
The attack on Venezuela is another milestone in the US strategy towards China and in its strategy to defend its position as the world’s sole hegemonic superpower by securing its backyard. We know that the laws of materialism compel the US to try to encircle China and secure its positions in preparation for a new imperialist war of redistribution – the Third World War. They have shifted the costs of the war in Ukraine onto the European states and hope that they can leave Russia to these lackeys while using their vassal state Israel to kick around the Middle East. This is in order to focus on consolidating their positions in Latin America and securing assets and necessary logistics for a future conflict. Its strategy in the region is to create an axis from Canada in the north to Argentina in the south in order to exercise control. It then works from its own core and downwards, from Central to South America.
We also see how the imperialists are increasing their military presence in other Latin American countries for the same reasons. We see this in the interventions of Yankee imperialism in several countries such as Colombia, which is very likely to become involved in the war, in Peru in a desperate attempt to crush the people’s war, and also in other countries such as Brazil or Ecuador, where popular resistance is growing stronger and stronger, as well as in Mexico, with the aim of securing its nearest border, which is an important part of its military axis, and in Argentina, where, in the truest sense of the word, they are buying the elections. In countries such as Panama and Ecuador, the Yankees are trying to dismantle all forms of formal independence and are, in fact, trying to turn semi-colonies into full colonies.
The people’s resistance
“History shows that wars are divided into two kinds, just and unjust. All wars that are progressive are just, and all wars that impede progress are unjust. We Communists oppose all unjust wars that impede progress, but we do not oppose progressive, just wars. Not only do we Communists not oppose just wars, we actively participate in them. As for unjust wars, World War I is an instance in which both sides fought for imperialist interests; therefore the Communists of the whole world firmly opposed that war. The way to oppose a war of this kind is to do everything possible to prevent it before it breaks out and, once it breaks out, to oppose war with war, to oppose unjust war with just war.”
– Mao Tse Tung – ”On Protracted War” (May 1938)
“People all over the world are now discussing whether or not a third world war will break out. On this question, too, we must be mentally prepared and do some analysis. We stand firmly for peace and against war. But if the imperialists insist on unleashing another war, we should not be afraid of it. Our attitude on this question is the same as our attitude towards any disturbance: first, we are against it; second, we are not afraid of it.”
– Mao Zedong – ”On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People” (February 27, 1957)
Yankee imperialism is the number one enemy of the peoples of the world! Wherever it goes, it meets resistance. The Latin American people are no strangers to facing this beast on the battlefield. Not even the bureaucratic regimes in the region give it wholehearted support, as they only exacerbate their own crises and offer no solutions. Here it becomes clear how a national liberation war is on the agenda, for which the peoples of the whole world will show their solidarity.
However, we must not delude ourselves about who is capable of leading a national resistance to victory. Neither the bureaucratic bourgeoisie nor the comprador bourgeoisie nor the national bourgeoisie are capable of leading the Venezuelan people to peace. It is in their nature and in their interest to conclude agreements with the imperialist powers and thereby prolong their existence and exploitation – all at the expense of the people – in exchange for a little cash payment. We therefore emphasize the necessity of proletarian leadership over the national liberation war, which must fight to transform it into a people’s war, and thus unite all the forces of the nation fighting against imperialism in resistance to the invader. This proletarian leadership must be embodied in the reconstitution of the Communist Party, which is a party tempered in steel and the fires of class struggle, which stands entirely on the side of both the Venezuelan and all oppressed peoples, and would never sell out the resistance to imperialism.
The Maoists in Venezuela must therefore take the lead in the armed struggle of the masses and strive to direct it against imperialism, semi-feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, and in the midst of this, form or reconstitute their party in order to transform this armed struggle into a people’s war to carry out the new democratic revolution.
Yankee imperialism, stuck in a strategic defensive position, has faced nothing but failure since World War II, becoming bogged down in the Middle East and weakened in the rest of Asia, and it will do the same here. This time in Venezuela and Latin America, it will suffer even worse defeats, and the flames of revolution on the continent will rise and strengthen the new wave of world revolution, which will materialize in the outbreak of more people’s wars. Yankee imperialism is doomed to defeat—the people are doomed to victory!
We will follow developments closely and report more. Kommunistiska Föreningen stands behind the Venezuelan people in their resistance against the increasingly desperate and savage Yankee imperialism! We wholeheartedly and strongly condemn all actions by the imperialists’ executioners and mercenaries and reaffirm our promise to do everything in our power to wipe imperialism off the face of the earth once and for all!
YANKEE GO HOME!
DEATH TO YANKEE IMPERIALISM!
LONG LIVE THE NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLE OF THE VENEZUELAN PEOPLE!
Kommunistiska Föreningen
January 3rd, 2025