For months, Trump and his fascist regime have been ramping up military action and threats against Venezuela and its president, Nicolás Maduro. Last week, those threats and attacks took a major leap when Trump announced that he is authorizing covert CIA action inside Venezuela. He also said he was considering direct military strikes on Venezuela—after weeks of bombing speedboats off the coast of Venezuela in the name of targeting drug traffickers. 

In brazen defiance of both international and U.S. law, Trump is threatening war against another country without any provocation. 

Unprovoked Attacks

In September, Trump sent a confidential memo to select members of Congress saying his regime considers members of drug cartels to be “unlawful combatants” with whom the United States is engaged in “non-international armed conflict.” In other words, Trump has declared that drug smuggling is equivalent to an armed attack on the U.S., justifying the use of military force—like the bombing of the speedboats—in response. According to the U.S. Constitution, only Congress has the right to authorize the use of military force or declare war.  Presidents can only take unilateral actions in matters of the country’s immediate self-defense. So with this declaration of “war” on cartels, Trump was defying the Constitution in claiming extraordinary powers.

The Trump regime has not presented a shred of evidence to back up their claims about the boats they attacked off of the Venezuelan coast. But even if it turned out the boats were actually carrying drugs, so what?! Drug trafficking is a crime but not punishable by death. The U.S. attacks on these boats are grievous crimes under American and international law. United Nations human rights experts condemned these U.S. military strikes, calling them "extrajudicial executions."

(Meanwhile, the U.S. has imposed economic sanctions on Venezuela that have caused terrible suffering, including needless death, in order to force a regime change there to cave in to U.S. demands. Yet you do not hear Venezuela threaten, let alone carry out, military action against the U.S. in self-defense. To borrow a phrase, this is what imperialism looks like—everywhere the U.S. sets its foot.)

Military Draws Up “Options” for Yet Another U.S. Imperialist War

And now, the U.S. military is reportedly drawing up options for Trump to consider in carrying out strikes on Venezuelan territory, supposedly against drug-trafficking suspects. But the military force they have now built up in the Caribbean region since August would be capable of much, much more than going after some drug traffickers. They have deployed 10,000 troops, F-35A fighter jets, an amphibious assault squadron, three destroyers, a guided-missile cruiser, and a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine. On October 15, in a dramatic show of aerial threats, B-52 bombers flew for several hours close to Venezuelan air space. All of this is putting maximum pressure on Maduro and his regime, while giving Trump options for what to do next.

Since early September, the U.S. military has carried out at least seven bombings on boats in international waters near Venezuela, killing some 32 people. The latest attack was on October 17, when three men were killed in a boat that the Trump regime claimed was carrying drugs for a Colombian rebel group. It has now been learned that at least two of those murdered in one of their earlier bombing were actually fishermen from Trinidad, who were on their way to join another fishing boat. In fact, these bombings are being carried out along the routes fishermen use to get to their fishing sites.

In a sign of possible divisions among the top ranks of the U.S. military, it was announced that the four-star Navy admiral overseeing the ramp-up in the Caribbean—Alvin Holsey—is unexpectedly resigning his post, one year into his three-year term. While there has been no public explanation about the sudden departure, the New York Times reported that “one current and one former U.S. official, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said that Admiral Holsey had raised concerns about the mission and the attacks on the alleged drug boats.” According to the Reuters news agency, “…there had been tension between Admiral Alvin Holsey and Hegseth over operations in the Caribbean and questions about whether he would be fired...”

Trump Regime's End Goal: Regime Change

The Trump fascist regime has made no secret that the end goal of their pressure campaign is to force Maduro from power. Trump ended “diplomatic” talks with the Maduro government this month, after Maduro refused to fold to U.S. demands to give up power voluntarily. While Maduro has tried to offer deals to Trump, reportedly involving concessions on Venezuela’s oil and other resources, he's also called what Trump is attempting a “coup d’etat” and is mobilizing military defense forces around the country. Maduro mocked Trump’s authorization of CIA operations in Venezuela: “Can anyone believe the CIA hasn’t been operating in Venezuela for the past 60 years?” 

The mobilizing of massive U.S. military forces near Venezuela can itself serve the pressure campaign to force Maduro to step down. But the danger that the U.S. may attack Venezuela itself in some fashion looms larger and larger. 

At the same time, the Trump regime has been meeting with forces opposed to Maduro outside the country, and even with some members of Maduro's government, about who would replace Maduro if he is removed. This includes the leader of the main opposition party, María Corina Machado, who dedicated her newly awarded Nobel “Peace” Prize to Trump! One of her advisers told the New York Times, “She was coordinating with the Trump administration and had a plan for the first 100 hours after Maduro's fall” that would “guarantee a stable transition to their candidate.” 

On Thursday, October 16, according to a former Trump administration official, Venezuelan government officials floated a plan in which President Maduro would agree to eventually leave office, stepping aside after three years and handing authority over to his vice president. The proposal was rejected by the Trump regime. 

Trump's imperialist bully threats and attacks against Venezuela, and any other countries that join in condemning those attacks, are completely lawless and illegitimate. These moves pose extreme danger to the people of Venezuela, and to people in the U.S. and the whole world. It is this fascist regime that must be driven out, NOW!