by Hayat Imam
President Donald Trump’s provocative acts towards Venezuela and the attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea are against military and international law. As we struggle to make sense of actions that are being described as murder and war crimes, it may help to remember the context in which these events are taking place: the 200-year history of U.S. intervention and imperialism in Central and South America. In 1823, President James Monroe issued a foreign policy declaration warning Europeans against colonization or interference in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere. But the “Monroe Doctrine,” as it came to be known, not only warned away other nations from the Americas — it was interpreted by the U.S. as a “divine right” to dictate its will over this hemisphere.
Two centuries of tight U.S. grip on the region got a boost during the Cold War, when sharpened focus fell on countries that embraced progressive, left-wing policies. Governments that appeared unfriendly towards runaway capitalism, showed socialist or egalitarian tendencies, or took steps to nationalize corporations were very much in the crosshairs of the CIA/Pentagon nexus. From the 1950s to the 80s, numerous Central and South American left-leaning governments were toppled through CIA subversion, military might, and intelligence support, including Guatemala, Cuba, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile.
A favored U.S. intervention was to give targeted support to dictatorships to crush left-wing political dissidents. The notorious Operation Condor by the CIA facilitated intelligence sharing, prisoner exchanges, and new torture techniques in many countries, among them Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay. We probably also remember regime change tactics and machinations in El Salvador, Grenada and Panama.
What is going on today in Venezuela is part of a very old and sordid story of power and greed. The excuse that Trump is fighting illegal drug trafficking in Venezuela and Colombia is laughable when we just saw him pardon the former president of Honduras who was tried, convicted and imprisoned for smuggling hundreds of thousands of pounds of cocaine into the USA. In fact, the agenda of toppling Venezuela’s leftist government has been ongoing since the Hugo Chavez administration. Now it is Maduro’s turn.
Chavez had two strikes against him, which Maduro has now inherited. First, the U.S. will do everything in its power to gain control of the largest oil reserves in the world which just happens to be in Venezuela. And second, our American mandate has always been to eliminate a socialist government to ensure it will not become a dangerous example of progress and equality.
But things have changed over time. Latin American governments are collaborating with each other. They will no longer accept U.S. hegemony without a fight. Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela will resist U.S. aggression on any one of them. A family of a fisherman from Colombia who was killed has filed the first legal challenge to the U.S. strikes at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The family vouches he was killed while fishing for tuna and marlin off the coast of Colombia, and he was murdered without proof, charges or trial. Now, other fisher folk are afraid to go out fishing, which will have a large economic impact. The Organization of American States, which has jurisdiction over all the American States, including the United States, created the Inter-American Commission (IAC). If the IAC gives a positive decision, the U.S. will have to answer to it.
In the United States, Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) have introduced a bipartisan War Powers Resolution (House Concurrent Resolution 64) to block the Trump administration from engaging in hostilities inside Venezuela or against Venezuela without approval from Congress. Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) have introduced another War Powers Resolution in the Senate (Senate Joint Resolution 98). We each have an opportunity now to educate representatives from every state to sign on to this resolution. Click here to send a message to Congress encouraging them to support these efforts.
If you would like to join Massachusetts Peace Action’s organizing efforts to prevent an invasion of Venezuela, please email info@masspeaceaction.org or call 617-354-2169.