Read our editorial on opposing war with Venezuela here.
US imperialism attacked Venezuela early Saturday (01/03) morning in an attempted coup. US special forces with the support of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) carried out airstrikes involving 150 aircrafts against military and civilian infrastructure in the capital Caracas and coastal states and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro along with his wife, Cilia Flores.
In a press conference following the terrorist attack, Trump stated, “We are going to run the country until such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” later clarifying US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will be a “team” overseeing the US occupation of Venezuela.
Trump also threatened a “second wave” of attacks and occupation if US imperialism’s objectives are not met, adding, “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to have” them, threatening further genocide.
Throughout his speech, Trump heavily emphasized the profitability to US oil monopolies through the occupation of Venezuela and the central role they will play in pillaging the country’s resources, which has the largest oil reserves in the world. Trump pledged a US military presence in the country “as it pertains to oil.”
Trump did not seek congressional authorization for the attack, deepening the trend toward presidential absolutism and its corresponding trend of militarism.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that President Maduro and Flores have been indicted in the Southern District of New York, with Maduro “charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.” Flores and other Venezuelan government officials were included in the same indictment.
The drug trafficking claims against Maduro have long been debunked, with the lie repeated by Trump and included in the indictment that Maduro and others sit atop the so-called “Cartel de los Soles” being exposed as a CIA fabrication by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
A death toll has yet to be released, but the Venezuelan government has confirmed there have been civilian and military deaths.
Trump stated in an interview with monopoly outlet Fox News following the US terrorist attack that some US troops were injured after a helicopter was hit.
Mass mobilizations have taken place across Venezuela against US imperialism, with protests planned in the US as well. US monopoly media polls show that a significant percentage of Americans oppose US war with Venezuela, which aims only to enrich US monopolists at the expense of the Venezuelan people and workers everywhere.
The rest of Venezuela’s government remains intact and has survived the attempted coup.
The Venezuelan government has called for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the US attacks. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said in a televised statement, “United, soldier and people, we will form a wall of indestructible resistance”. Other Venezuelan government officials condemned the US attack as a “treacherous terrorist attack” and called on the Venezuelan people to mobilize against US imperialism.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who was next in line of power and has now been sworn in as President, reiterated Maduro’s calls for the mobilization and arming of the population against US imperialism, stating, “The people of Venezuela, in perfect national unity, must mobilize to defend their natural resources and what is most sacred: their right to independence and to the future.”
During his press conference, Trump claimed without evidence that Rodriguez would back the US’s plans after she had a phone call with Rubio.
Trump has used the attacks to threaten other countries as well. Trump said in his interview with Fox news that “cartels are running Mexico” and that “something is going to have to be done with Mexico.”
The attacks follow months of US escalation against Venezuela, including the largest US troop build-up in the region in decades, airstrikes on fishing ships under the guise of combating “narco-terrorism” that murdered over 115 people, hijacking Venezuelan oil tankers, and carrying out a drone strike on a Venezuelan dock in late December 2025.
The attacks on Venezuela are the latest sequence of increased US aggression across Latin America, aiming to assert US domination of the region as part of the collusion and competition with other imperialist powers for resources and markets, a competition that inevitably will come up against the fierce and organized resistance of the people.
Photo: US bombs Caracas, Venezuela. Retrieved from social media.
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