Venezuela: What Is At Stake?

Chandra Muzaffar

Chandra Muzaffar

JUST supports the mass protests taking place in cities around the globe against the US for its crass, crude flexing of its military muscles against Venezuela. These peaceful demonstrations and rallies aim to send a simple message to Washington DC: do not use your jets and warships to intimidate and subvert the government of Nicolo Maduro in order to achieve a regime change in Caracas. People everywhere now know that the allegation that Venezuela is trafficking drugs to the US is utterly baseless and is being used as a pretext to initiate some sort of military action against the legitimate Maduro government. It is not just Maduro who is the target. The president of Colombia, Gustavo Pedro, who refuses to crawl to US president, Donald Trump, is also in the spotlight. In fact there are officials in Washington who are talking about re-asserting US powerover the whole of South America.

This is not surprising. For more than two hundred years US leaders have viewed South America as a hemisphere over which they have special authority --- the authority to control its resources and to determine the destiny of its people. This was the essence of the Monroe Doctrine proclaimed by the US in 1823. As states in South America including Central America and the Caribbean demonstrate their independence and project their sovereignty --- states such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Colombia ---- Washington, which for a long while has regarded these and other states in the region as mere vassals that are subservient and servile to the latter’s might and power, has sought to dominate and control them in various ways. This desire for hegemony has assumed an ugly and vulgar twist under Trump’s second term as US president commencing in January 2025.

It is against this backdrop that we should understand what the Trump Administration is trying to do to Venezuela today. Ever since Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999 the US leadership has been hell-bent on undermining his leadership. Electoral manipulations, political machinations and economic sanctions had all been employed against Chavez. There was even an attempt to overthrow him through a coup in April 2002. It failed because the people in their thousands came out to support him. It is the only instance in history where the people restored an ousted leader to his presidency through their own mass action.

One of the main reasons why the people succeeded was because of Chavez’s own popularity. His popularity stemmed from the people oriented reforms that he introduced as soon as he came to power.

He raised rural and urban incomes for the poor. The level of literacy improved significantly. More secondary schoolchildren remained in school because they did not have to abandon education to help increase their families meagre earnings. Chavez gave much attention to youth employment. The range and diversity of industrial and technical skills among youths improved considerably.

Affordable health care was another of Chavez’s societal goals. So was housing for the majority populace. He also focused upon Venezuela’s public transport system. He established more avenues for the people to participate in the nation’s cultural life just as he expanded the infrastructure for sporting activities.

All these changes in the domestic sphere were accompanied by a major shift in Venezuela’s foreign and regional relations. Under Chavez, Venezuela was no longer a state that followed Washington blindly; it became a genuine leader of the non-aligned movement. It championed causes associated with the Global South such as poverty and equitable trade and economic relations in the international sphere. Within the context of South America, Venezuela was particularly close to Cuba. In fact, Fidel Castro was both a mentor and an inspiration to Chavez. Castro and Chavez collaborated to strengthen groupings within the region such as ALBA and CELAC.

Their aim was to enhance the sovereignty of nation-states, their independence and self-reliance. Loosening and lessening Washington’s grip upon South and Central America and the Caribbean was undoubtedly their explicit goal.

Washington became more antagonistic towards Venezuela and other independent minded states in the region. Even after Chavez’s untimely death in 2013, the US leadership continued to target his successor, Nicolo Maduro. Sanctions have been intensified. In the last few years these sanctions have increased the suffering of the Venezuelan people. Even basic necessities are not easily available to segments of the citizenry. Prices of goods and services haveskyrocketed.

At the same time pressure upon the Maduro leadership is escalating. US jets blaze the Venezuelan skies and US warships hug the Venezuelan coastline. On the ground CIA agents are busy collecting data as they infiltrate various sectors and institutions in Venezuelan society. Demonstrations against Maduro are occurring in Caracas itself organized and led by Venezuelans themselves.

In the midst of all this, a lot of Venezuelans are also defending their land and their integrity. They refuse to yield to US intimidation which they rightly see as the arrogance of US power. They will not surrender their freedom and their right to decide their future in their own way. They will not be bullied. They will not be browbeaten into submission. Their leadership is united in its determination to protect Venezuela’s dignity and sovereignty.

For Venezuelans know that it is not just their integrity as a nation or their freedom that is at stake. They know that the underlying reason why Trump and a portion of the US elite want to subjugate Venezuela is because they want to gain control over Venezuelan oil. Venezuela has the largest petroleum reserve in the world. 300 billion barrels of oil reserves lie beneath the Orinoco belt. Trump has on a number of occasions alluded to this oil and his desire to control it. It is 19th century colonialism all over again. Subjugating other countries in order to seize their wealth is the name of the game.

It is not just the good people of Venezuela who should resist this. The whole world should reject this brazen, shameful act of aggression. As human beings we have no choice but to protect our honour.

(Dr Chandra Muzaffar is the president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) 22nd November 2025. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.)