Opposition to United States President Donald Trump’s illegal invasion and bombing of Venezuela, its kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and his partner, and its declaration that it would be running the country on January 3, is growing across the world, but not from the Labor government.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed on January 4 the Australia-US military alliance is not under threat, despite the US openly stating its goal is to control Venezuela’s and Latin America’s resources, land and assets.
Albanese said the government is “monitoring” developments in Venezuela, had “long held concerns about and situation in Venezuela” and urged “all parties to support international law”.
Labor Against War said Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles must condemn the US’s “act of piracy”. It said Labor “must speak out clearly against Donald Trump’s act of piracy, brazen military aggression and adventurism” and “immediately distance itself from the Trump administration, whose conduct is marked by lawlessness at home and violence, reckless coercion abroad”.
It called on all Labor members, affiliated unions and the broader labour movement to stand with the Venezuela people and “support and mobilise for demonstrations against the US invasion and aggression”.
The Australian Greens foreign affairs spokesperson David Shoebridge condemned the US attack and the kidnapping of its President and his wife, saying it is “a gross breach of international law and continues the world on a dangerous path of lawless aggression”.
“Australia has a stake in an international order underpinned by international, peace and non-aggression and this latest US attack is a fundamental breach of these principles.” He said the US attack is not about self-defence but, like so many before it “it is a war about resources, oil and dominance”.
He said Trump’s assault on Venezuela “provides comfort to Vladimir Putin for his aggression in Ukraine, cover for a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan and sets an extremely dangerous precedent”.
Socialist Alliance (SA) warned that US President Donald Trump’s escalating military deployment in the Caribbean over the last several months “represents a deadly threat to human rights, democracy and sovereignty in the Americas”.
SA said it was “just one part of a broader plan by US imperialism to impose full dominance in the region through various means: military (target strikes, threats of war), economic (tariffs, naval blockade) and political support for far-right allies”.
While Venezuela is the country under attack now, SA said “it is not the only one” as “Trump has also made clear threats of targeted military strikes against countries such as Mexico and Colombia”.
SA called on the Australian Labor government rejects the US’ flouting of international law and breaks the AUKUS war alliance. “All those who support democracy and the rule of law should step up solidarity with the peoples of the Americas and help build the broadest possible campaigns to defend self-determination there.”
The Communist Party of Australia added its condemnation of the US attacks and called on the Australian government to condemn them.
Several social movement groups including the Australian Anti-AUKUS Coalition, Wollongong Against War and Nukes and Occupy Australia are calling on Albanese to condemn US imperialist aggression and the US threat to take-over the Republic of Venezuela.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela said on January 3 that the objective of the US attack on civilian and military locations of Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guair is to “seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals” and attempt to break the nation’s political independence by force. “They will not succeed.”
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