Dr Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo SACP Central Committee Member Head of Media & Communications
South African Communist Party condemns United States’ imperialist aggression against Venezuela and other countries
The South African Communist Party (SACP) strongly condemns acts of aggression directed at the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela by the imperialist regime of the United States of America. The SACP unequivocally denounces the sanctions imposed by the United States on Venezuela, together with the so-called narco-terrorism and other ‘criminal’ charges levelled by the imperialist regime against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and other senior leaders of the democratically elected, legitimate government he leads.
International solidarity with the people and government of Venezuela and other countries that are facing heightened imperialist aggression, such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia, is an essential part of the struggle for world peace. The SACP joins all progressive and peace loving people of the global community in condemning the actions by the United States. International solidarity with the Venezuelan people and their government should be intensified.
The United States launched its additional hostile measures on Thursday, 26 March 2020 against the people and government of Venezuela – this time in the midst of the global health emergency caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). The utterly insensitive Donald Trump administration has relentlessly been involved in fabricating vilification propaganda and baseless accusations it uses as the basis of co-ordinating attacks against the government elected by the people of Venezuela and their exercise of democratic national sovereignty.
At a time when the whole world should be prioritising the fight against Covid-19, with developed countries being called upon to assist least developed countries, the United States government chooses to launch hostile actions against Venezuela and other countries. This inhuman action is calculated at plunging the targeted countries into deeper health and wider economic and social crises and exposes millions of lives to deadly situations. The brutality is myopic and typical of the Trump administration, as rapid and uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 in any part of the global region poses a threat not only to the affected countries but to the world as a whole, including the United States itself.
The United States is leading a wider imperialist agenda to effect regime change in Venezuela and other countries. The objective is to install and maintain puppet governments that are led by captured politicians serving the economic and geo-political goals of the United States.
As elsewhere, the aim in Venezuela is to take control of natural resources for the benefit of imperialist exploitation mainly through United States-based multinational corporations and their subordinate production networks. It is common knowledge that Venezuela is second to none in terms of proven oil reserves. It also has a wide range of mineral resources and massive tracts of arable land.
The goal of the United States regime is to conquer the world oil and other strategic commodity markets and extend the grip of its capitalist ruling class globally. United States-led imperialist aggression is not limited to Venezuela.
Regarding drugs, Venezuela has been one of the major role players in the fight against drug trafficking in Latin America. Whenever the drug trafficking problem has worsened, it has been when the United States intensified its attacks on Venezuela’s independence, among others.