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The Trump administration is escalating its attacks on Venezuela. Since September, the U.S. has built up its military presence in the region, and killed 100 people in at least 26 strikes on alleged “drug boats.” President Trump has ordered blockades of sanctioned oil tankers and the closure of airspace over Venezuela, and issued ultimatums to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro with the explicit aim of regime change.
While the Trump administration claims that these moves are about combatting drug trafficking, the real aim is strengthening U.S. imperialism.
Indeed, U.S. hegemony is weakening — while China’s influence is growing — in a part of the world that the country has traditionally considered its own “backyard.” In this context, Venezuela has become the central target of Trump’s attempts to exert political and economic control over the region.
On this episode of the podcast, Left Voice editor Samuel Karlin explains the imperialist aims of the United States’ moves in Venezuela and Latin America, and how Republicans and Democrats have responded. After all, support for U.S. imperialism is bipartisan: Even though Democrats have questioned the legality of Trump’s boat strikes, they support sanctions against Venezuela and, during Trump’s first term, supported the attempted coup against the Maduro government.
However. the path forward for the international working class isn’t to support regimes like that of Nicolás Maduro, who’s the head of a repressive, bankrupt, and anti-democratic capitalist government that has actually facilitated the imperialist exploitation of Venezuela. Instead, liberation for Latin America, and the defeat of U.S. imperialism in the region, can only come from international unity between workers, students, socialists, and the social movements in Latin American countries, as well as here in the United States. Workers make the economy — and imperialism — run, which means that we can also grind imperialism to a halt.
Listen to the episode on Spotify on Apple Podcasts.
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The post #AllThatsLeftPod: Fighting U.S. Imperialism in Venezuela appeared first on Left Voice.
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