The Diaspora Pa’lante Collective unequivocally condemns U.S. airstrikes on the sovereign territory of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and upholds the right of the Venezuelan people to armed struggle for self-defense and national security.

In the early hours of January 3, the government of the United States initiated attacks on the capital city of Caracas, and the states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira, culminating in the alleged kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. This unprovoked attack is an escalation of the months-long campaign of extrajudicial airstrikes and murders on the open waters of the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, which have thus far claimed at least 115 lives. 

The actions of the United States must be repudiated and resisted by all progressive forces across the world, with a special duty belonging to those residing within the aggressor nation to turn this imperialist war into a war against imperialism. 

From Gaza to Caracas, the arrogance of U.S.colonial power has been allowed to impose itself upon the world with complete and utter impunity. The absence of decisive action to an endless parade of bombings, assassinations, and coups d’etat across Latin America, the Caribbean, West Asia, and Africa, has provided Washington with the false impression that its belligerence will be permitted to proceed without a forceful response by those who oppose its illegitimate rule. It will soon be revealed that Venezuela’s power is derived not from any single individual, but from the unified strength of the Venezuelan masses.

As the international community continues to divert its gaze away from brazen U.S. criminality, it falls upon the free peoples of the world to defend the dignity and honor of the Bolivarian Republic against the incursions of U.S. empire. The people themselves remain the most critical factor in the balance of forces. Launched from the shores of our occupied archipelago, Puerto Ricans at home and abroad must incorporate themselves into the resistance to imperialism and the exploitation of our region. Our fate as a people and nation is inextricably linked with all who struggle in defense of their national sovereignty and self-determination against the invading militaries of the collective West.

This attack is a warning to the world: to maintain its dominance over all corners of the planet, the United States will trample upon the territory of any and all adversaries, and consume entire continents in the fires of war. The prospects for peace rest upon our ability to confront and defeat this flagrant threat to our collective survival.