By International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International
3 January 2026. After the criminal bombings of 3 January, carried out by helicopters and drones by the government of the far-right Donald Trump against various military and civilian installations (the number of dead is still unknown) in Caracas and in the states of La Guaira, Miranda and Aragua, and the reprehensible kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Donald Trump stated, in his press conference, that the United States will assume control of Venezuela indefinitely.
He maintained that Washington would govern the country until a “safe, proper, and judicious” transition was completed, and made it clear that the White House would determine when and under what conditions that transfer would take place. He went so far as to announce that his own administration would manage this “transition” that Trump ignored any mention of opposition leader Gonzalez Urrutia and even disqualified the right-wing Maria Corina Machado from participating in it.
In other words, Trump has taken another step toward fulfilling his threats to invade Venezuela. He dropped the pretense of “fighting drug trafficking” by announcing that he would assume control of Venezuela to “rebuild” the oil industry, which, incredibly, he continued to claim was “stolen” (sic). Trump asserted that U.S. companies would “repair” the oil infrastructure to begin operations and “generate money” for the U.S. Thus, Trump confirms that his objective is to recolonise Venezuela, to establish a kind of protectorate, in order to steal its oil with the help of U.S. multinationals.
In fact, Trump is threatening new military actions and an invasion since the “transitional” government he announced still does not exist.
For now, the Venezuelan government, through Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, condemned Maduro’s aggression and kidnapping, calling for resistance. This comes after Trump announced that the vice president was “making herself available.”
When questioned by reporters, Trump said they were “prepared for a second action” and that they “would have no problem putting American troops on the ground.” That is why the people of the world must continue to mobilise against Trump and his attempt to invade and control Venezuela. Nothing is over in Venezuela.
Since September, Venezuela had been the target of threats from US imperialism, with a massive military deployment in the Caribbean, the largest in the region since the invasion of Panama in 1989. In recent weeks, the military operation that the United States called “Southern Spear” has grown increasingly larger: more than 20 bombings of vessels with a death toll of more than a hundred; the blockade of Venezuelan oil shipments; the seizure of ships.
This is an unprecedented attack against Venezuela perpetrated by the United States, the world’s leading imperialist power.
This aggressive policy of US imperialism, under the guise of fighting drug trafficking, seeks to redouble the plundering of countries’ natural resources, the overexploitation of the world’s peoples, and to curb the mass mobilisation that is challenging the entire capitalist/imperialist system, which is mired in its deepest crisis.
All these attacks are part of a global counteroffensive launched by Trump to try to reverse the United States’ economic and political crisis, which is itself part of the global crisis of imperialist capitalism. Trump is pursuing “Making America Great Again,” as his slogan goes, so far without success. More recently, this has manifested itself in his unconditional support for the genocidal Netanyahu and the ethnic cleansing in Gaza and throughout Palestine, where they have yet to claim victory.
Our categorical condemnation of this criminal and cowardly attack against the Venezuelan people comes from the left-wing opposition to the government of Nicolas Maduro, who, under a false socialist discourse, leads a repressive and authoritarian regime with hundreds of political prisoners and implements brutal capitalist austerity measures, subjecting the working people to starvation wages and abysmal public services. But the IWU-FI and the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSL), its Venezuelan section, believe that it is the Venezuelan working people who must determine their own destiny, not the genocidal imperialism of the United States. Therefore, we condemn this imperialist aggression, as well as any new military attack or attempted invasion of the country.
From the IWU-FI, we call upon the peoples of Latin America and the world to condemn and mobilise against the aggression, the kidnapping of Maduro and his wife, and the renewed threat of a second attack and US invasion to impose a puppet government of the US and its multinational corporations. There have already been marches of condemnation in New York, Washington, and other US cities, as well as in various cities in Europe and Latin America. Mamdani, the new Muslim and socialist mayor of New York, also condemned Trump’s aggression. ” Trump’s attack on Venezuela is illegal and reckless ,” said The New York Times (Editorial Committee, 3 January 2026).
We reject the support of the Argentinian president, the far-right Javier Milei, for Trump’s military intervention. On the other hand, the presidents of Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico—Petro, Lula, and Claudia Sheinbaum, respectively—have rejected Trump’s aggressive threats. We propose that they call for a continental mobilisation to defeat Trump’s colonial aggression, something that has not yet occurred. We urge political, labour, student, women’s, and sexual divergent organisations that identify as democratic and anti-imperialist to call for unified mobilisations on the streets or in front of US embassies or consulates in each country. No to Trump’s and imperialism’s military intervention in Venezuela! Stop the criminal bombings in Venezuela, the Pacific, and the Caribbean! We condemn the kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro! Trump out of Venezuela and Latin America! International
Workers’ Unity-Fourth International (IWU-FI) 3 January 2026
