Once again, we have witnessed the United States openly flout international law by bombing Caracas and abducting the Venezuelan president. The accusations of drug trafficking and weapons possession against Nicolás Maduro and his wife are nothing more than a pretext used by Donald Trump to continue playing the self-appointed role of global sheriff.
This way of acting is not new for the most belligerent and hostile country on the planet. Since the end of the Second World War, the United States has carried out military interventions in more than ninety countries. Shielded by its overwhelming military power, every single US president has ordered invasions, bombings, occupations or attacks of one kind or another against dozens of states. The United States represents the greatest threat to world peace, yet it continues to strut about claiming that it kills and destroys in the name of a supposed democracy.
US military interventions almost always share two common features: they are driven by economic interests (Venezuela is a major oil producer), and they leave behind shattered countries, weakened regimes and puppet leaders. Ana Corina Machado, the flamboyant and absurd Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has already put herself forward to lead Venezuela’s future—although, for now, Trump himself has dismissed her.
From the Humanist Party, we denounce this bully-style foreign policy pursued by the United States. Of course, we are fully aware that Nicolás Maduro’s practices are far from democratic. His regime has violated human rights on numerous occasions, and Venezuelans themselves have suffered the abuses of the government. There are reasonable doubts about the validity of the most recent electoral results, and thousands of citizens have been forced to flee the country for political or economic reasons.
However, US intervention will not solve the problems faced by the Venezuelan people. Trump’s interests are not with the venezuelan people and never have been so. His actions in Gaza, openly defending the genocide carried out by Israel, make this abundantly clear. Trump threatens like a schoolyard bully: force is his only argument, and the enrichment of economic elites his only motivation.
Meanwhile, once again, European diplomacy has bowed before the President of the United States. Through the Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, the EU issued a lukewarm institutional statement that merely questioned Maduro’s legitimacy, while failing to denounce the outrage of bombing a country and illegally detaining its president. Because of its leaders, the European Union has ceased to be the necessary counterbalance in an increasingly dehumanised world. And all the while, Donald Trump claims that the United States will take control of Venezuela for as long as it deems necessary.
Humanists warn that no one and nothing is safe from the irrational voracity of this system. Wars, threats and militarism will not ensure the continued evolution of our species. Even more alarming than Trump’s murderous policies are the voices that cheer them on, here and elsewhere. It is shameful to witness the parade of sycophants (politicians, business leaders and assorted pundits) who, in the name of a freedom that does not exist, encourage the defence of a system in its final death throes, leaving behind a devastating trail of pain and suffering.
From the Humanist Party, we call on peoples everywhere to rise up and look beyond the petty interests of those who govern them. Because when faced with bullies, there is only one possible response: the unity of decent people, of all those willing to stand up against atrocity and barbarism. As Silo said in May 2004:
“We are at the end of a dark historical period, and nothing will ever be the same again. Little by little, the dawn of a new day will begin to break; cultures will start to understand one another; peoples will experience a growing yearning for progress for all, understanding that the progress of a few ends in the progress of none. Yes, there will be peace, and out of necessity it will be understood that a universal human nation is beginning to take shape. Meanwhile, those of us who are not listened to will work, from today onward, in every part of the world, to put pressure on those who make decisions, to spread the ideals of peace based on the methodology of nonviolence, and to prepare the way for the new times.”
PHE Coordinating Team
