Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, strongly condemns the U.S. attack on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the kidnapping of its elected president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores. This criminal act represents a grave violation of Venezuelan sovereignty, and is yet another expression of U.S. imperialism’s relentless war against independent nations that refuse to forfeit their national resources and labor to imperialist exploitation. The genocide in Gaza – funded and armed in the United States – has set the standard for the utter destruction of any facade of international law, especially as there has been, so far, complete practical impunity for the Zionist and U.S. officials responsible for the genocide, despite the legal efforts being made in international courts. From besieged Gaza to Caracas under the bombs, the people of the world are under attack, and we stand together against the forces of death and destruction.
The targeting of Venezuela is not an isolated incident. It is part of a long and bloody imperialist trajectory of coups, blockades, sanctions, assassinations, and destabilization campaigns waged against peoples and governments that stand for self-determination, social justice, and national dignity. From Latin America to West Asia, from Africa to the Caribbean, U.S. imperialism seeks to punish resistance and enforce its domination by force.
The invoked Monroe Doctrine is a colonial expansionist and racist construct.
Venezuela has long stood on the side of justice and liberation, including its principled and unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people and our struggle for return, liberation, and self-determination. Under the Bolivarian Revolution, Venezuela has consistently opposed Zionist colonialism, rejected normalization with the occupying entity, and affirmed Palestine as a just cause of all free peoples. This solidarity, in addition to the nationalization of its natural resources, has made Venezuela a target, just as Palestine itself is targeted for refusing to surrender.
We know all too well the meaning of siege, aggression, the abduction and assassination of our leaders, and attempts to impose colonial rule by violence. The crimes committed against Venezuela, and Latin America as a whole, mirror those inflicted upon our people for over 75 years: collective punishment, economic warfare, regime-change plots, and the criminalization of resistance. The same imperialist forces backing genocide, apartheid, and occupation in Palestine are behind the aggression against Venezuela, and Venezuela is being targeted not only for its oil and resources, but because it stands with Palestine and liberation struggles in all international forums.
We demand an immediate end to U.S. aggression against Venezuela, the release of President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, and full respect for the Venezuelan people’s right to determine their own future without foreign interference. We call on all progressive forces, popular movements, and international solidarity organizations in support of the Palestinian cause to stand firmly with Venezuela, just as we call upon them to continue to act and stand with Palestine. As the U.S. bombs and invades Venezuela today, the Zionist entity is also attacking Gaza, kidnapping Palestinians throughout the West Bank, bombing Lebanon and invading Syria. We are part of one struggle, and we urge all to hold high the Palestinian and Venezuelan flags in the streets of every city and community, as we make it clear that we will not accept the ongoing crimes of the U.S. war machine.
From Caracas to Beirut to Jerusalem, from Gaza to the communes of Venezuela, the peoples of the world will continue to resist imperialism and affirm that liberation and return is inevitable. We know that it is US tax dollars going to fund warfare, destruction and genocide, and we call upon our movement to take to the streets for justice and global solidarity, to demand U.S. hands off Venezuela and Palestine, the immediate release of President Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores, and a complete end to U.S. aid, funding and military support for the Zionist entity.
Victory to the peoples in struggle.
Free Palestine, from the river to the sea.
Free Venezuela and all of Latin America.
Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
