U.S. imperialism, like a vampire lodged in the veins of Latin America, is once again attempting to feed on the “veins it has cut” through Venezuela. On the evening of January 3, by attacking the capital Caracas after weeks of threats, kidnapping President Maduro and his wife, it turned this into a challenge to the entire world. It sought to give the message that it is an “invincible, unchallengeable” power both to rival imperialists and to oppressed nations and peoples. With the form of the attack directed at Venezuela, Trump also declared that none of the rules they had previously set, in the world and in Latin America, are valid any longer.
While Trump was presenting himself as the “President of Peace,” he was in fact proclaiming to the world that he is nothing but a fraud. For imperialism is characterized, for oppressed peoples and nations, by war, occupation, savage colonialism, political enslavement, and cultural degeneration. Trump, on the other hand, is the leader of how this is carried out in a more effective and more powerful manner. In implementing his imperialist policies, he often prefers not to put on the “liberal mask,” possessing a recklessness that feels no need to conceal its baseness. He is an imperialist barbarian who does not hide his hostility toward workers and laborers, the poor, migrants, women, homosexuals, nature, animals, and everything that is weak; who advocates an “enslaving peace” that serves his own imperialist interests “through force.
Trump, who leads the United States, is on the path of representing the most rotten, most degenerate, and most reactionary clique of the imperialist system. Within the crisis-ridden structure of this rotten and degenerate imperialist system that is dragging the world toward catastrophe, he is pursuing the re-establishment of U.S. leadership power, renewed and expanded even further. The economic crisis experienced by the imperialist system is intensifying competition among the imperialists and deepening political concentration. This political concentration, in turn, is bringing the possibility of regional wars closer day by day. Nuclear threats among the imperialists have now become routine. Defense budgets, meanwhile, are being formed by surpassing those of the previous year many times over. All reactionary forces have taken their place in a large-scale arms race.
U.S. imperialism is engaged in an effort to consolidate its economic, political, and military power in all markets. Trump, who presents himself as the “President of Peace,” has repeatedly demonstrated in a short period of time that while providing political and military support to all his lackeys for attacks, he will also not refrain from direct interventions. He has made this openly evident in Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, and Libya.
Trump’s definition and understanding of “peace” is a clearing of the way that includes preparation for greater wars. It is to resolve the problems among his lackeys, to assign them the correct roles, and to subordinate all of them powerfully and unconditionally to his own orientation. It is to neutralize, encircle, and weaken rival imperialist powers in the struggle over markets through this method. On this basis, he has no intention of ever refraining from using military force. He is in a state of preparation for every kind of war in order to build U.S. leadership even more powerfully. He continues these preparations by making use of the opportunities created by the balance of forces in his favor.
The U.S. has always treated absolute domination in Latin America, which it sees as its backyard, as a fundamental issue. Today, in particular, every economic and political move by Chinese and Russian imperialists directed at this region is considered a threat from the perspective of the U.S. The policy of the dominant powers in the region to take advantage of the competition between the U.S. and other imperialists is seen as “crossing red lines.
Here, Venezuela has been defined as a “threat element” due to these crossed red lines. Since the beginning of Trump’s second presidential term, threats against Venezuela have continued without interruption. Claims such as being the “center of drug trafficking,” having a “repressive political regime,” or a “democracy problem” are the product of U.S. imperialism’s historically shaped reflex to fabricate lies and create justifications for attacks. The justifications of “terror,” “chemical weapons,” “nuclear threat,” and “dictatorship,” along with the lies of “democracy” and “human rights” used in the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and in attacks on Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon, are still fresh in our memories. We see once again that the same scenario is being enacted in the attacks against Venezuela.
However, the main target is to reshape Latin America, which U.S. imperialism sees as its backyard, in accordance with its own political and economic interests. The Venezuelan administration under Maduro creates a serious hegemonic problem for the U.S. because it follows a political line that is not aligned with U.S. orientation. The element that keeps Maduro in power and provides a certain legitimacy among the masses is the anti-U.S. discourse. Venezuela has long been experiencing a deep political crisis and sharp polarization; the struggle for sovereignty has become intertwined with the problem of coexistence.
The ruling clique led by Maduro builds its existence and power largely through anti-U.S. discourse. The historically rooted anger and hatred of the people toward imperialism has been transformed into political power through this discourse. However, Maduro presenting himself with a “nationalist independence” and “Bolivarian” line is largely an illusion. This political line is far from a genuine anti-imperialist perspective that aims at the economic, political, and military liberation of the oppressed nation and the working people from imperialism.
In the age of imperialism, the anti-imperialist struggle is not limited to standing against military invasion; it also requires overthrowing the system dependent on imperialism and its ruling classes. This situation demands a clear stance against feudal remnants, comprador-bureaucratic capitalism, and its social bases. The “Bolivarian independence” line, from Chávez to Maduro, has been an approach that preserves the existing relations of production and all their foundations, envisioning only limited adjustments in the sharing mechanisms.
This line, which is based on its contrast with the U.S, is not only far from consistent anti-imperialism but also rests on a pragmatic balance-of-power policy aimed at taking advantage of the competition among imperialist powers. Indeed, since the system dependent on imperialism and the relations of production have not been dismantled, the resulting political formation has remained far from democratic; the contrast with the U.S has opened the door to dependence on other imperialist powers such as China and Russia. From this perspective, the sovereignty regime under Maduro and the network of relations it has established neither carries a popular character nor represents a consistent anti-imperialist line.
U.S. imperialism has defined its contradictions with Venezuela under Maduro as a threat to its imperialist interests and has moved to direct aggression against Venezuela’s political sovereignty. Undoubtedly, regardless of the nature of the ruling regime, imperialist aggression is the fundamental problem. As seen in what is happening in Venezuela, imperialism seeks complete hegemony and absolute lackeyship.
With his statements after the operation, Trump set aside the claims of “drugs” and “a democracy problem” in Venezuela and openly expressed his objectives that U.S. oil companies should restructure Venezuelan oil. He declared that the vacuum to emerge after Nicolás Maduro would be filled in the manner and form they determine and desire. The U.S. clearly stated that the operation it carried out requires a new political regime that serves its own interests.
The purpose and target of this operation are clear to every eye that sees and every ear that hears. This intervention is directed toward Chinese and Russian dominance. It is evident that each of these moves will further escalate imperialist competition. The fact that the U.S. operation was quite easy, rapid, and effective, and focused solely on Maduro, points to another dimension of the matter.
This situation raises serious questions about an agreement among powers, internal betrayal, or the nature of the new balance to emerge. But most importantly, imperialist aggression generates deep and entrenched anger among the oppressed nation and the working people, maturing the conditions for the further development of anti-imperialist consciousness, attitude, and struggle.
Nicolás Maduro may have been overthrown by imperialist intervention; however, there are no conditions for a stable and legitimate political transition under U.S. leadership in Venezuela. Imperialism means chaos, blood, tears, and savage exploitation. The U.S. intervention will never be accepted, not only by the people of Venezuela but also by the peoples of Latin America and the world. This intervention once again demonstrates the necessity for a stronger struggle against imperialism for the oppressed nation and the working people.
The imperialists serve no function other than to darken and corrupt the future. The future of Venezuela had long been darkened by being entirely exposed to competition among imperialists. On one side were U.S. threats, on the other, Maduro’s policy of relying on China and Russia against them, which meant handing Venezuela’s future over to the imperialists. The U.S., now, at the risk of the anger and hatred of all the peoples of the region and the world, and at the cost of securing the fear-based loyalty of its reactionary allies, has sent the message that it can do anything, anywhere in the world.
Now it is time for the response that the peoples of the region and the world, starting with Venezuela, will give against this imperialist aggression.
Let Us Organize Anger Against the Fear the Imperialists Are Trying to Spread!
Against Imperialist Aggression and War Provocation, Let Us Raise the Revolutionary War and the Struggle!
Imperialism Is a Paper Tiger in the Face of the People’s Organized Struggle!
Let Us Develop and Raise the Organized Struggle!
Killer U.S., Get Out of Venezuela!
Down with Imperialism and All Forms of Reaction!
Against imperialist occupation and aggression, the peoples of the world will resist, and imperialism will lose!
January 2026
TKP/ML CC-PB
(Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist
Central Committee – Political Bureau)
