World leaders greet Maduro at Maduro’s second inauguration on 10 January 2019. Photo: Office of the President of El Salvador.

There is only one word to describe the US attacks on Venezuela. That word is criminal. It is the only word that describes the act of invading another nation and kidnapping its president. Of course, it is also a word that describes the essential nature of the US empire—an empire currently run by a band of psychopaths whose actions are only outdone by their equally psychotic comrades in Tel Aviv. Let’s be clear, Donald Trump may have pulled the trigger, so to speak, but Washington has been pointing a loaded gun at Venezuela since its people elected Hugo Chavez in 1998. By electing Chavez, the Venezuelan popular majority instituted a process that redistributed wealth inside the country, bringing popular education and free health care to the millions of Venezuelans previously denied these human rights–human rights which are under serious attack in the heart of the US empire as I write, by the way.

This attack, and any further military action by the US against Venezuela, must be opposed by those around the world who care about peace. If those who support a more peaceful version of the US Empire in the mainstream parties oppose this escalation, they should speak up in Congress, the media and in the streets. Those on the Left who disagree with Maduro for reasons real or manufactured by the consent organs of the Empire need to set those concerns aside and oppose these attacks. Folks whose concerns tend towards the concerns of family and their home should resolve to voice their opposition to a White House whose go-to solution is murder, war and repression. Already, those with loved ones in the US military—from the Air Force to the Air Guard, the Marines to the Coast Guard—have seen them sent to kill people in Venezuela, Iran, Palestine and the Caribbean (for starters).

Here in Vermont, where I live, the skies above my home no longer resound with the inhuman noise of the F-35s that are based five miles away; those planes and their crews are now involved in attacking Venezuelans just minding their own business. The basing of the planes in Vermont was supported by its entire Congressional delegation, including Bernie Sanders. The National Guard spokespeople and their hacks in the media called the planes’ deafening sound the “sound of freedom.” I can assure you, that’s not what the Venezuelans are calling that noise. The last seventy years of history makes it clear that the only freedom the US military brings is the freedom to exploit the country being invaded. The Empire’s “sound of freedom” is the sound of death and repression to those who bear the brunt of its bombs, its troops, and its economic strangulation.

Let’s be clear. Although it is the Trump White House that has launched this attack on Venezuela and apparently kidnapped its president, these actions are the result of an ongoing bipartisan assault on Venezuela. Bill Clinton began the attacks in 1998, mostly keeping his opposition to words and providing money to the wealthy comprador right-wing opposition in Venezuela. His wife, Hillary, accepted a million-dollar donation to her presidential campaign in 2015 from Gustavo Cisneros, a leading figure in Venezuela’s far-right politics. In 2002, the George W. Bush administration helped fund and plan a coup attempt that ultimately failed despite Washington’s immediate support for the coup plotters.

After Hugo Chavez died in 2013 and Maduro was elected, Barack Obama intensified the sanctions against the government in Caracas and in 2015, labeled Venezuela as a clear and present danger. Donald Trump continued the threats and sanctions against Venezuela, as did Joe Biden (although his administration did make a short-lived deal to purchase gas from the country). Meanwhile, Washington’s sanctions intensified the economic problems being experienced by the Venezuelan people. One might say the sanctions were the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Despite the hardships, Venezuela persevered, refocusing its efforts on organizing responses to the US offensive by working towards self-sufficiency. Trump pulled the trigger, but every administration that preceded his provided ammunition and paved the way for Trump’s illegal and immoral assault.

While the main focus of this short piece is the attacks on Venezuela, it is essential that we pay attention to what’s going on elsewhere in the world. Trump had the US military attack Nigeria on Christmas Day; he has once again threatened Iran and the US recently approved millions more dollars in arms shipments to Israel, which continues to murder Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, while also bombing Lebanon and Syria.

It’s been a long time since the world was so close to a global conflict. Indeed, it seems reasonable to say that the last time we stood so close to world war was when Hitler’s armies invaded its neighbors to the east. His actions were considered rash and dangerous when they happened. One can say the same about the actions of Donald Trump today.

The post Trump’s Venezuelan Coup: Criminal Attacks by a Criminal Empire appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

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