Today, the United States carried out an open act of war against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
U.S. forces bombed Caracas, struck civilian and vital infrastructure, and desecrated the mausoleum of Hugo Chávez, the historic leader of the Bolivarian Revolution. Most outrageously, the United States kidnapped Venezuela’s democratically elected president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife Cilia Flores, forcibly disappearing them and announcing plans to transport them to New York City for an imperial show trial.
Let us be clear: this is not law enforcement. This is not counter-narcotics. This is not “defending democracy.” This is regime change by force — naked imperial aggression carried out in full view of the world.
President Trump removed all doubt himself. He openly declared that the United States intends to “run Venezuela,” manage its affairs, and hand its oil and resources to U.S. corporations. This attack is about one thing: stealing Venezuela’s resources, crushing its sovereignty, and punishing a nation that has refused submission to U.S. imperialism, colonial domination, and Zionist alignment.
The kidnapping of President Maduro follows a familiar imperial script — demonization, sanctions, destabilization, invasion, and plunder — the same script used in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Palestine, and across the Global South.
And this propaganda campaign was not carried out by Republicans alone.
Here in New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani helped manufacture consent for this moment. By publicly labeling Venezuela and Cuba as “dictatorships” and repeating U.S. State Department narratives, Mamdani legitimized the lie that sovereignty itself is criminal. His words did not oppose empire — they served it. Today, while Trump boasts about kidnapping a head of state, his city is being positioned to host the imperial spectacle.
There is no meaningful difference here between Democrats and Republicans. Trump bombs and kidnaps. Liberal politicians normalize and justify. This is bipartisan US imperialism.
But Venezuela is not isolated.
Across the world, the anti-imperialist resistance has answered clearly. Iran has expressed solidarity. Resistance forces in West Asia, including Hezbollah, have condemned the attack and affirmed Venezuela’s right to defend itself. Movements standing with Palestine have drawn the correct line: to defend Venezuela is to defend every people resisting US empire.
Inside Venezuela, the people are rising.
Millions are mobilizing across Caracas and the country. Workers, youth, and popular forces have taken the streets in defense of their revolution. The United States believed kidnapping a president would break morale. Instead, it has exposed imperial desperation. Venezuela will not be conquered. The Bolivarian Revolution was built by the people and it lives through the people.
As New York City-based organizations, we speak from lived experience.
We remember when Hugo Chávez extended real, material solidarity to the South Bronx — when Venezuelan oil heated homes, funded community organizations, strengthened worker cooperatives, and treated our neighborhoods with dignity while our own government abandoned us. Venezuela materially improved lives here. That solidarity is not forgotten.
And neither is our responsibility.
President Nicolás Maduro has said that the Axis of Resistance is global — that it exists not only in Latin America or West Asia, but everywhere people fight neoliberalism, racism, and colonial domination. Resistance does not belong only to nations under direct attack; it belongs to all people who refuse empire.
That includes us.
The Axis of Resistance does not stop at borders. It does not end in Caracas, Gaza, Beirut, or Tehran. It runs through New York City. It runs through the Bronx and Brooklyn. We cannot outsource resistance to the Global South while empire operates freely in our streets, our courts, and our institutions.
Let it be understood: there will be no legitimacy for this crime.
No normalization. No silence. No compliance.
If the United States insists on dragging Venezuela into its imperial theater, then we open up a new front in New York. If they attempt to parade a kidnapped president through our courts, they will be met with resistance in the streets, in our communities, and everywhere US imperialism rears its ugly head.
OUR DEMANDS ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE:
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FREE NICOLÁS MADURO AND HIS WIFE IMMEDIATELY.
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RETURN THEM SAFELY TO VENEZUELA.
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END ALL SANCTIONS ON VENEZUELA
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END ALL MILITARY, ECONOMIC, CYBER, AND INFORMATION WARFARE
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STOP THE REGIME-CHANGE CAMPAIGN — NOW!
Long live the Bolivarian Revolution!
Long live Hugo Chávez!
Long live Nicolás Maduro!
Long live the Venezuelan people in struggle!
source: Bronx Anti-War