Imperialist Hands Off Venezuela
by Socialist Action
Stop the U.S. Assault and Canadian complicity
The naked U.S. counter-revolutionary offensive against Venezuela and Latin America will be repelled by global mass protests and by militant self-defence. The future is for the working class of the hemisphere to decide, free of foreign coercion. The answer to imperialist war and plunder is socialist revolution, commencing with demonstrations and labour strikes against the capitalist monsters.
On December 16, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela. On January 3, 2026, U.S. forces struck targets in Venezuela and seized President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, transporting them to New York to face concocted drug charges. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres cited the dangerous precedent, urging respect for international law.
Ottawa has not been a mere bystander to aggression. Prime Minister Mark Carney reports that Canada imposed additional sanctions in March 2025 and “welcomes” the new “opportunity” in Venezuela. Foreign Minister Anita Anand reminds us that Ottawa has refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Maduro government since 2019. Canada’s “all parties” language is political cover for Washington’s escalation. The duty of the NDP is to vigorously defy this rotten ‘consensus.’
Canada’s regime-change record
Canada has been a junior partner of U.S. imperialism in Venezuela for years:
After the April 2002 coup attempt against President Hugo Chávez, Canadian diplomats were silent while most Latin American leaders condemned it (see the analysis of Yves Engler and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute).
Under Canadian leadership, the Lima Group (created in 2017) coordinated international pressure against Venezuela. Canada recognized ultra-right wing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as “interim president” in 2019.
Canada imposed and expanded sanctions since 2017, adding new measures in 2024 and 2025. Sanctions hit working people hardest and only worsen a deep crisis, including a lack of food and medicines, stemming from the U.S. embargo.
Why Washington attacks
The U.S. campaign intensified after Venezuela asserted greater control over its oil wealth, funding public housing and other social programs. Chávez’s 2001 Hydrocarbons Law raised royalties on oil production and strengthened state authority. Washington and the giant oil corporations strive to reverse those gains and reassert their power over the world’s largest proven oil reserves.
Trump openly talks about “running” Venezuela, indefinitely. U.S. officials insist Washington needs to control Venezuelan oil sales and revenue. This is clearly not a matter of “human rights.” It is imperialist plunder, pure and simple.
Part of a broader counter-revolutionary offensive
Cuba: Washington tightened sanctions, reversed Biden’s move to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, and maintains the embargo condemned year after year by the U.N.
Colombia: The crisis is already regional. Colombia helped convene an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting after the U.S. attack. Several Latin American countries are on military alert.
Across the hemisphere, right-wing forces applaud Washington’s aggression while working people pay the price.
We demand: No to intervention. Yes to self-determination.
1) End the blockade and all sanctions against Venezuela.
2) Return Maduro and Cilia Flores to Venezuela. No to extraterritorial arrests and no to “might makes right” and “gun-boat diplomacy.”
3) No U.S. occupation, trusteeship, or control of Venezuelan oil and revenues. Release the seized oil tankers.
4) Stop US military threats against Cuba and the entire region. Charge U.S. commanders who approved the murder of scores of fisher people in Caribbean waters. Hands Off Greenland.
5) End Canadian sanctions and stop coordinating regime change efforts with Washington.
6) Withdraw from the Lima Group framework. Restore normal diplomatic relations.
7) Publicly oppose any U.S. military action, intelligence sharing, base-building, or logistical support used against Venezuela.
Build solidarity: Hands off Venezuela!
No blood for oil! The enemy of the working class is at home: giant corporations, big banks, and their hired politicians who make workers pay for the crisis of their wretched profit system.
Join protests, organize in unions and communities, and demand:
www.socialistaction.ca, socialistactioncanada@gmail.com, Tel. 647-986-1917