Venezuela & ALBA News #580, 11.17.2025: Venezuela is Prepared for US Attack; Communal Movement Meets; Donate for Cuba Hurricane Relief

Venezuela & ALBA News #580, 11.17.2025:

The Cradle: Empire repurposed: Washington aims at La Patria GrandeWith unipolarity in tatters and Eurasian resistance surging, Washington’s last viable project is consolidation of its so-called “backyard.” Even hawkish institutions realize the US can no longer take on China and Russia. Instead of America guaranteeing Europe’s security, Trump outsourced it to the EU and individual NATO members. Failing global domination, Plan B is control the Western Hemisphere. Even if the Venezuelan army is overwhelmed by the US military, it has provided weapons to citizen militias to carry on the fight. At best, intervention would be like the Iraq War: prolonged, unpopular, and ultimately unwinnable. If Venezuela holds, if the Global South aligns, and if popular forces in Latin America rally around sovereignty rather than subservience, then not even the hemisphere will be safe for empire.

Ultimas Noticias: President Maduro Urges US People to Stop Their Government’s War on VenezuelaMaduro called on the people of the US to stop “the frenzied hand of whoever orders the bombing, killing, and waging of war in South America and the Caribbean.” He emphasized that the people of the US must play a leading role in stopping what could be a tragedy for the entire region. “It was the people of the United States who took to the streets, alongside the peoples of Europe, to end the Vietnam War, the massacre in Vietnam…. The vast majority of the US people do not want war in the world, and even less do they want a war in America.”

He further added that the United Nations Charter and the bodies that emerged from it have been battered, neutralized, and are currently nonexistent. He declared that peace and international law will prevail in Latin America, and that “our peoples will fight to ensure that they prevail… If all the conscious peoples of this America rise up against imperialism and its attempt to start a war, who can stand against us? No one.”

Peoples Dispatch: A brief overview of US military interventions in the AmericasSince the mid-19th century, the US has intervened in Latin American and Caribbean countries to secure its economic and geopolitical interests, at the cost of thousands of Latin American deaths. Mexico is one country that suffered the most. in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), Mexico lost 55% of its territory, and 25,000 were killed.

The territory most attacked by the US in America has been the countries of the Gulf of Mexico. There were continuous invasions of Nicaragua (1853, 1854, 1909, 1912-1933), Honduras (1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, and 1924). Between 1903 and 1914, the US military intervened in Panama repeatedly to secure control and construct the Panama Canal. In 1989, US soldiers overthrew Noriega.

Between 1898 and 1902, Cuba (and Puerto Rico) was occupied by the United States as part of its war against Spain. It then intervened on the island for eight years during two periods (1906-1909 and 1917-1922), before directly sponsoring the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Haiti, the nation of formerly enslaved peoples who won their freedom, has been invaded on several occasions by the United States: 1915-1934, 1994-1995, and 2004. The Dominican Republic was occupied between 1916 and 1924 and in 1965, when around 4,000 Dominicans died. Grenada was invaded in 1983, where nearly 100 Grenadians and Cubans were killed.

In South America, in Argentina (1831), in Paraguay (1859), and in Uruguay (1855, 1858, and 1868), US ships participated in military actions that left an unknown number of casualties. In the 20th century, Washington opted for direct support for various dictatorships in South America and assistance in conspiring against certain governments. The United States is the country that has brought the most military instability to the region, continually ensuring, by whatever means necessary, that its interests prevail.

Orinoco Tribune: President Maduro: Venezuela Has Never Been More Prepared Militarily to Face US Threats; Marco Rubio at G7)Maduro declared military preparedness the strongest it has been in decades, delivering a forceful message to the US empire. “I believe that the spirit and strength of the Independence War’s United Liberation Army which triumphed across these plains 200 years ago with Simón Bolívar, Antonio Jose Sucre, Rafael Urdaneta, and José Félix Ribas at the forefront, has been reborn.”

At the G7 summit, Secretary of State Rubio was confronted with harsh criticism from European Union officials over the controversial US military operation. The US received calls from its usually submissive European allies to respect international law. Pushing back against the criticism, Rubio said, “I don’t think that the European Union gets to determine what international law is. They certainly don’t get to determine how the US defends its national security.”

Steve Ellner: With Trump, Polarization Among Venezuela’s Opposition Reaches New HeightsUntil the July 2024 presidential election, the opposition’s leading parties had rallied behind María Corina Machado and her chosen candidate. Today, that unity has fractured, and much of the division can be traced to Trump’s Venezuela policy.

Leopoldo López, Juan Guaidó, and Machado—each at one time Washington’s preferred figure in Caracas—support U.S. intervention along these lines. Another bloc of the opposition consists of leaders who, from the outset, have been vehemently anti-Hugo Chávez and anti-Nicolás Maduro, but are now distancing themselves from Washington. They find themselves at odds with the pro-Washington bloc.

Henrique Capriles, a leading member of the anti-Machado faction of the opposition, referred to this logic: “Name one successful case in the last few years of a successful U.S. military intervention?” He further points out that “the majority of those [Venezuelans] who favor… a US invasion don’t live in Venezuela.” One of the leading members of this group, Bernabé Gutiérrez, president of a faction of Acción Democrática, has even encouraged Venezuelans to enlist in the militia activated by Maduro in preparation for a possible U.S. invasion.

Capriles condemns Trump’s threats and deportations and questioned US accusations of drug trafficking against the Venezuelan president. According to Venezuela’s leading pollster Datanálisis, only 12.6%t of Venezuelans support international sanctions, and even less—only 3% favor military intervention.

Venezuelanalysis: CELAC-EU Summit Urges Peace as Venezuela’s Maduro Warns of Caribbean ‘War Threats’Latin American and European nations issued a call for peace and dialogue following a high-level summit between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU). “We reiterate our opposition to the threat or use of force and to any action that is not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations,” read the final joint communiqué.

Orinoco Tribune: US Escalates Caribbean Destabilization with 20th Strike, Operation Southern Spear, and Trinidad DrillsAs of November 16, there have been 20 extrajudicial execution boat bombings by the US in the region, claiming the lives of 79 civilians across 22 small boats. Trinidad and Tobago announced new joint military exercises with the US, adding more tension to the situation. Meanwhile, Venezuela continues its military exercises, mobilizing 200,000 troops, aircraft and naval resources to reinforce the country’s defense and readiness.

Venezuelanalysis: Maduro Marches with Communal Youth Ahead of Popular Consultation as Trump Considers Venezuela Land StrikesPresident Maduro joined thousands of members of Communal Youth Committees on the streets of Caracas for a march November 13 as a show of support for the country’s communal movement and for an upcoming popular consultation Nov. 23. This is the fourth such consultation this year, in a process that has become a crucial decision-making mechanism for the grassroots governance structures known as communes. Venezuela recently celebrated the 4,000th officially registered commune.

Donate for Cuba Hurricane Melissa Aid

Code Pink: Help Us Raise $50,000 for Victims of Hurricane MelissaHurricane Melissa has devastated communities across the Caribbean, leaving families without homes, power, or access to basic necessities. We’re responding by sending urgently needed food, water, powdered milk, solar panels, and generators to the hardest-hit areas, but we can’t do it without you.

Donate through Pan American Medical Committee, coordinated by ELAM (Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine) graduate Uriel Ramirez

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