The War on Latin America and the Caribbean
The Trump administration’s recent escalation against Venezuela, bombing civilians and kidnapping a sitting head of state, are acts of war that make a mockery of domestic and international law. They are part of a deliberate strategy to inflict suffering on the Venezuelan people to force regime change. An escalation from the economic war through crippling sanctions imposed by the US government over the past 25 years. These acts of war are a warning to Latin American and the Caribbean: submit or be destroyed.
The dangerous rhetoric and actions targeting Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and other progressive movements in Latin America threaten to plunge the entire region into deeper conflict. We denounce this imperialist drive for war and domination. We stand in solidarity with the people of Latin America who have the right to self-determination and sovereignty.
We must stay alert! As people in the U.S. we not only have the right to speak out against these crimes of war, we have the responsibility to denounce and act to stop them. Our siblings in other countries, from Palestine to Venezuela, have the right to live free from U.S. intervention and coercion.
Just a few days into the new year and we have already witnessed: the bombing of civilians and the kidnapping of the sitting head of state in Venezuela, the assassination of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis by ICE agents, and continuing threats of escalating war – at home and abroad.
This is not a time for silence.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned us that “justice too long delayed is justice denied,” and that “he who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” In this spirit, we reject and denounce silence as complicity. We refuse to ‘wait’ while our siblings at home are terrorized by ICE and our siblings abroad are strangled by sanctions and threatened with war. Our solidarity must be vocal, active, and organized.
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Now is a time for clear-eyed condemnation, unwavering solidarity, and organized resistance. In order to better organize and build solidarity, we must seek information and engage one another.
For this reason, The Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) is inviting you to participate in an urgent exchange with Afro-Venezuelan organizer, artist and member of Cumbe Nacional Afrovenezolano in Venezuela, and organizers with the ICE OUT of NY Coalition on Wednesday, January 14th at 8pm EST.
