A crowd of around 100 came out in freezing conditions on the evening of Monday 5 December, gathering at Belfast’s International Wall to protest the latest assault on international law by the lawless regime of US president Donald Trump. Standing in front of murals depicting victims of the Washington terrorists’ most egregious ongoing crime – the holocaust in Gaza conducted in partnership with so-called ‘Israel’ – those in attendance heard People Before Profit’s Gerry Carroll denounce the brutal kidnapping of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores by American thugs.
The raid, described gushingly as “daring” and “audacious” by stenographers and courtiers in the mainstream media, was in fact a cowardly instance of mass murder carried out by a US military force vastly outgunning those it butchered. At least 80 people were slaughtered in the illegal attack.
US never followed the law, though Trump more brazen than predecessors
Carroll, speaking in front of people holding signs reading “No to US imperialism” and “Hands off Venezuela”, noted that – though US criminality is nothing new – the brazenness of this violation was striking:
I don’t know about you, but I never thought that the rules-based order ever applied to America. They can do what they want in Vietnam, in Korea, in Latin America and elsewhere.
But what’s happened in recent days really takes the piss. It’s important for us to take a stand against what Trump and his administration have done. You can imagine how the press would have reported if Vladimir Putin went into Kiev and took Volodymyr Zelensky and brought him to Moscow…
I don’t know [exactly] what the BBC, what Sky News, what everybody else would say, but they correctly would call that a kidnap. What Trump has organised in Caracas, Venezuela, is not being described [for] what it is. It’s a kidnapping.
Conor McCarthy of the union Unison also spoke, highlighting the resource-theft motivation behind the savagery in Caracas:
This is nothing new. Hugo Chavez predicted this in 2009 when they would come once he nationalised their own minerals, their own resources that belong to the people of Venezuela.
He continued:
We here standing tonight are just a small demonstration but we’re part of a massive global movement off the back of the people supporting Palestine, and against colonialism and apartheid right across the world, and also imperialism. It’s important we keep that resistance going, and we support the people of Venezuela, the people of Colombia, and the people of Cuba, and of course the people of Palestine.
‘Pathetic’ responses of Starmer and Martin over Venezuela called out
Carroll also called out the feeble responses to the US assault on Venezuela of British prime minister Keir Starmer and Taoiseach Micheál Martin, describing their comments as “pathetic”. Martin chose to place the emphasis on criticising Maduro, rather than on America’s shredding of international law.
The Democratic Unionist Party as always embraced the opportunity to disgrace themselves, with leader Gavin Robinson focusing on supposed figurative “sabre rattling” of China in their comments responding to Maduro’s kidnap. These apparently perturbing words clearly mattered much more to the imperialist bootlickers in the DUP than the very literal bloodbath unleashed in the Venezuelan capital by US terrorist forces.
Sinn Féin criticised the assault, saying:
The illegal US removal of the Venezuelan President from office sits in marked contrast with its defiance of the International Criminal Court arrest warrants in the names of Israeli political leaders for genocidal crimes against the Palestinian people.
During the last 12 months, there has been an unprecedented undermining of the multilateral system.
International law must be defended and enforced. There is no legitimate or legal alternative to respect for national sovereignty, the use of diplomacy and peaceful coexistence.
The Irish government and global democracy must condemn these aggressive actions, and act to support an urgent de-escalation of political tensions in Venezuela, and the establishment of regional political stability and security.
Maduro defiant in first court appearance
Maduro appeared in a New York City court on Monday, charged with the almost certainly confected crimes of:
“Narco-terrorism” conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
He was defiant, saying to the judge that:
I was kidnapped. I am innocent and a decent man, the president of my country.
His wife Cilia appeared alongside him, also in chains, with bruises on her face sustained by attack from Delta Force thugs during her illegal capture. The kangaroo proceedings that provide the pantomime of justice will continue on March 17.
Featured image via the Canary
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