The press conference dthe Donald Trumps, occurred in the hours following the military operation carried out by the USA in Caracas with the collateral capture of Nicolás Madurothe president of Venezuela, is a war bulletin.
«Spectacular operations of this kind have not been seen since the Second World War», says the president of the United States of America, and then continues with words such as «military capabilities, military machine, well-trained warriors», up to the very serious declarations: “We will manage the country, we will remain in Venezuela until a just transition occurs, in this period we will administer it.” But what is most frightening about the Republican leader so desired by the Americans, and what at the same time confirms his imperialist policy, is the phrase: “No Americans were killed”, he means in the bombings carried out by his military forces on Caracas. And he doesn’t care about Venezuelans, just as he doesn’t care about anyone else who isn’t American. Towards the conclusion, and before listing the successes of recent times during his presidency, he says another serious thing: «The future will be determined by the ability to protect trade.” Therefore, no one is interested in human heritage. Nor to Nicolás Maduro, loved and hated by his own compatriots for the serious violations of human rights committed during his presidency – and not only for this -, if we can define an authoritarian state in this way. Trump and Maduro probably have a common origin, which is that of protecting their businesses.
In the presidential elections of July 2024, Maduro did not accept the defeat decreed by the ballots counted through the anti-fraud computer system previously launched by himself, which gave as victory that of president Edmundo Gonzáles Urrutia, former Venezuelan ambassador to Argentina, opposition candidate in place of María Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize winner 2025, also leader of the opposition, but made ineligible by Maduro a few years earlier, in view of the presidential elections.
«He lost the elections, he did not recognize his defeat and he regained power thanks to the military and paramilitary forces, but what I think now is that, net of the accusations of drug trafficking – because they are a cartel like the cartels of Medellín, Cali and Sinaloa -, it was handed over to the CIA by its own cartel because it is not possible that there was no reaction from the Venezuelan army. Is it possible that no one fired, no plane took off to react to the American soldiers who arrived?”, says a cocoa agronomist from Valencia, who asks to remain anonymous. And he continues: «Maduro has negotiated his exit from the country, in these cases it always happens that some boy is sacrificed… if this helps to regain freedom, so be it! In 26 years they destroyed a prosperous country and made it the poorest in Latin America, and I say this as a leftist who lived in the former Soviet Union and was a member of the Communist Party. I hope we move towards freedom even if fear reigns at this moment in the streets as well as the joy, we are happy but we are worried, we don’t know what will happen in the next few hours.”
Euphoria, fear, especially of appearing in videos or statements: this is the common feeling on the streets of Venezuela, as well as the defense of one’s sovereignty and the denunciation of the illegitimate attack ordered by Donald Trump. Because it is an attack that was not approved by Congress, as required by the US Constitution, and violates international law because it includes extrajudicial killings of civilians and a unilateral use of force against a sovereign state.
The concern of this action by Trump therefore extends to the entire world, now dominated by powers that act undisturbed in their territories of influence, such as Russia with Ukraine and Israel with Gaza. Furthermore, are we certain that the use of force produces free and democratic societies? Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya are just the latest examples that tell how a people cannot free themselves with a foreign invasion.
«We have already been suffering from imperialist sanctions from the United States for many months, we knew we were facing danger but we didn’t expect them to actually bomb us. It happened and we were caught by surprise. What seems impossible to us is the fact that Maduro and his wife were caught so easily. We just can’t understand this. Panic now reigns in the streets, people go to get petrol and buy water and food, the army and militias have mobilized to deal with any attack”, says an evangelical pastor from Caracas. He too wants to remain anonymous and makes an appeal: «We ask the Christian and social movements for all possible support. We will resist and win.”
Harold Montúfar Andrade, human rights leader in Colombia, economist, peace activist in his country, says: «Trump took Venezuela at any cost. The ambition for oil highlights that the priority is to have control of the international energy market. Invasions, Nobel Prizes for peace and wars are now the tools to pursue objectives. Trump said that the UN was not needed, as in fact he is the builder of violence in the world today, which he then claims he denies and twists around his unilateral decisions, tariffs and bombings. The sovereignty and self-determination of peoples is once again in danger. Many more years will have to pass before the world discovers that the path of humanity is democracy with a social basis.”
