UE News: No More Blood for Oil: UE Condemns Military Attacks on Venezuela Our government’s escalating attacks on Venezuela are unconstitutional, immoral, and a massive waste of resources. The idea that Venezuela represents a military threat to the U.S. is patently absurd; the use of the U.S. military to carry out lethal attacks on fishing boats and seize oil tankers amounts to simple murder and piracy. The administration has been attempting to justify its attacks with claims that the vessels it is attacking are smuggling drugs into the U.S., and that this is being funded by the Venezuelan government — claims for which it has not produced a shred of evidence. We demand that our government immediately cease these attacks, and that Congress exercise its power to reign in this overreach by the executive branch. In the resolution For Jobs, Peace and a Pro-Worker Foreign Policy, delegates to our most recent convention declared that “Foreign and military policies should defend the interests of working people, not the wealthy. UE has long believed that the labor movement should promote its own foreign policy based on diplomacy and labor solidarity.”
Orinoco Tribune: A Unified Venezuela Strongly Condemns US Threat of Blockade, Gains International Backing “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump wrote on social media December 16, adding that “it will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.” The Venezuelan government was an “illegitimate regime” accusing it of using “oil from stolen fields to finance narcoterrorism, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping.” Trump refused to provide any evidence for his fictitious claims.
President Maduro stated in an address to Venezuelan workers that despite prolonged US aggression, Venezuela will defeat “the oligarchy and imperialism under any circumstances. For 25 weeks, Venezuela has been denouncing, confronting, and defeating a multidimensional campaign of aggression that ranges from psychological terrorism to the piracy that has plundered our oil, and which has multiple forms. What has Venezuela demonstrated? That Venezuela is a strong country, that it has real power. And we have demonstrated that we are prepared to continue our march. And, what’s more, that we are prepared to accelerate the march of a profound revolution that will give power to the people, completely and definitively.”
The Venezuelan government response to Trump’s threats read “On his social media, he assumes that Venezuela’s oil, land, and mineral wealth are his property. Consequently, he claims that Venezuela must hand over all its riches to him immediately…We call upon the people of the United States and the peoples of the world to reject by all means this extravagant threat.” Even some opposition politicians who are not sympathizers of President Maduro or Chavismo, such as Bernabe Gutierrez, Enrique Ochoa Antich, and Henry Falcon, among others condemned Trump’s statements.
TeleSur: Venezuela Condemns US Seizure and Theft of a Second Oil Tanker It denounced the theft and kidnapping of a second Venezuelan private ship loaded with oil and the disappearance of its crew, acts perpetrated by US military on December 20. The US government intercepted a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker in international Caribbean waters off Venezuela. The detained ship, named Centuries, is not on the list of tankers sanctioned by the US.
Mexico President Sheinbaum demands UN Action to Stop US Aggression against Venezuela “The United Nations has been conspicuously absent. It must assume its role to prevent any bloodshed and to always seek the peaceful resolution of conflicts,” Sheinbaum said that regardless of “opinions” about the leadership of Maduro, Mexico’s position is to reject “foreign interference”. “We call for dialogue and peace to be used in any international dispute, and not intervention. That is our position by conviction and by our constitution.” Sheinbaum called for de-escalation and offered Mexico as a venue for any potential negotiations or meetings between Venezuela and the US. “The entire world must ensure that there is no intervention and that there is a peaceful solution.”
Prof. John Mearsheimer: Venezuela – Unintended Consequences of a Meaningless War Mearsheimer looks from the point of view of the position the US government has put itself in, even if it invades Venezuela.
Dan Kovalik: Venezuela, Unveiling a Latin-American Vietnam He also says the US has boxed itself in a corner.
Tom Whitney: US Pirate Attacks in the Caribbean Will Aggravate Emergency in Cuba The U.S. government, top-level disturber of the peace now brandishing a Caribbean armada, is striking out against Venezuela—and Cuba too, indirectly. Cuba depends on oil supplied by Venezuela. High U.S. officials want to cut off Cuba’s access and thereby deliver a decisive blow against its government. The U.S. military on Dec. 10 seized a large oil tanker in the Caribbean bound for China. Then, on Dec. 16, President Donald Trump declared he was imposing a total blockade on all oil leaving Venezuela. The ship stolen last week had offloaded 50,000 barrels of oil to a smaller ship for delivery to Cuba just before U.S. helicopters landed soldiers on its deck.
Recent measures taken by Cuba’s government, explored below, strongly suggest Cubans face an emergency. U.S. activists responding to their government’s warlike preparations in the Caribbean—another emergency—have good reason to urgently build their solidarity, not only with Venezuela but with Cuba, too. What follows here is a report on extreme measures recently taken by Cuba’s government. The object is to portray these measures as so unusual as to confirm the existence of Cuba’s last-ditch situation and, that way, motivate Cuba’s U.S. supporters toward action.
Venezuelanalysis: Elizabeth Blaney, of Unión de Vecinos and part of the broader Los Angeles Tenants Union, participant in the People’s Assembly for Peace and Sovereignty in Caracas “People [in Los Angeles] also understand that war funding comes directly at their expense. We’ve lost school programs, social services, and benefits. Starting in January, many people will lose Medicaid support. There is a widespread understanding that public resources are being redirected to fund wars. So, beyond solidarity or morality, there is also a concrete economic reason that people oppose war…Many people now understand that retreating into fear only strengthens the state. They also recognize that the same violence the US government deploys against them is being used against the people of Venezuela and Palestine.
“Politically, what stood out most [at the Caracas People’s Assembly] was how clearly delegates connected US aggression against Venezuela to its global impact. People discussed how sanctions and seizures—such as the illegal confiscation of oil tankers bound for Cuba and other countries—directly affect energy access and economic stability elsewhere. This makes it clear that what’s happening in Venezuela is an international issue. , the Assembly’s debates emphasized people’s sovereignty and who has the right to control resources—those resources belong to the Venezuelan people. If they are stolen from Venezuela, nothing prevents similar theft elsewhere.”
Roger Harris: US Blockades Venezuela In War Still Searching For An Official Rationale The US president announced the US would blockade Venezuelan oil tankers. He justified this act of war with the striking claim that Venezuela had stolen “our oil, our land, and other assets.” For the record, Venezuela had nationalized its petroleum industry half a century ago. Foreign companies were compensated. In response to the threat, President Maduro ordered the Venezuelan Navy to escort the tankers. The Pentagon was reportedly caught by surprise. China, Mexico, Brazil, BRICS, Turkey, along with international civil society, condemned the escalation. Russia warned the US not to make a “fatal mistake.”
Trump’s claim that Venezuela stole “our” oil and land is less an error than a confession. It articulates a worldview in which US power defines legitimacy and resources located elsewhere are treated as imperial property by default. The blockade is the logical extension of a twisted belief that sovereignty belongs to whoever is strong enough to seize it. Trump is, in effect, demanding reparations for imperialists for the hardship of living in a world where other countries insist their resources belong to them.
TeleSur: One Venezuelan who won the Nobel for selling out her country, and one who was denied it for not doing so The Venezuela Nobel controversy reignited this week as President Maduro invoked the legacy of Dr. Humberto Fernández-Morán—a renowned Venezuelan scientist who once refused the Nobel Prize on ethical grounds—to sharply criticize the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to opposition leader María Corina Machado. Speaking at the first-anniversary celebration of the National University of Sciences “Dr. Humberto Fernández-Morán,” Maduro framed the award not as an honor, but as a symbol of betrayal and imperialist alignment. In the mid-20th century, as Fernández-Morán gained global acclaim for inventing the diamond knife—a revolutionary tool in electron microscopy—he was reportedly offered the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. But there was a condition: he had to renounce his Venezuelan citizenship and become a U.S. national.
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Events
December 23 (Miami): US Hands off Venezuela Rally
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Delegations to Cuba, Nicaragua:
Cuba – Video: Yes You can Travel to Cuba
Witness for Peace 2026 delegations to Cuba
Friendly Planet delegations to Cuba
Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade
Nicaragua
Casa Ben Linder Email casabenjaminlinder@gmail.com to apply:
7 -15 March 2026: Power & Protagonism: Women in Nicaragua
June 2026: Global Health: Family and Community Health in Nicaragua
July 2026: Solidarity in Action: Nicaragua’s Popular Revolution
October 2026: Salud & Solidaridad: Hands-On Healthcare in Nicaragua
Now offering Spanish classes! Fun and practical language classes at Casa Ben Linder – our model teaches 1/2 day class & 1/2 day practice in a community setting.
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This is also available at ChicagoALBASolidarity.org. If you have events to publicize, send them to venezuelaweekly@afgj.org or stansfieldsmith100@gmail.com