Opinion: U.S. Violations and Crimes Against Venezuela

By David Starr

When Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was in power, there was an urgency to defend the country’s sovereignty and Bolivarian revolution by any means necessary. After the kidnapping by the Trump regime of Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, Delcy Rodriquez took over as interim president.

I think Maduro and his wife will eventually be free and return to Venezuela. Maduro can then retake his role as president. 

In the meantime, Rodriquez has been shown to be too politically cooperative, kowtowing to the Trump regime, and Israel as well. The U.S. empire has been a major instigator in the affairs of Venezuela, and other countries. For now, it is somewhat calling the shots, although spreading itself thin with various imperial wars. 

Rodriquez has allowed the Trump regime to virtually control Venezuela’s oil sector. Much of the profits that are made go to U.S. and Venezuelan elites, i.e., the wealthy capitalist class. For the common Venezuelan, there will be “crumbs” from the oil transactions.

Rodriquez, meeting with Israeli officials, has Venezuela reestablishing relations with the Zionist, Nazi-like country. An inexcusable act given Israel’s war crimes. Hugo Chavez, who understandably broke off relations with Israel, is turning in his grave. 

But let us detail the violations and crimes the U.S. empire has committed against Venezuela (and this is just looking at recent events).

• There was the Jan. 2026 kidnapping of Maduro, which violates international law. The Trump regime accused Maduro of supporting drug-trafficking, with no evidence. Trump has tried to connect Maduro with Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang. But, again, no evidence was offered.

• The U.S. empire conducted air strikes against vessels that Trump claimed were carrying drugs to the United States. Trump said 11 people on one boat were killed, then showing off a video clip which shows the boat exploding. In all, there were over 21 air strikes against boats carrying people who were killed. Evidence on the victims? No. Murder? Yes.

• There are the sanctions which started in 2005, and involved a number of restrictions. The oil sector was sanctioned which had been connected to markets and profits Venezuela had relied on to fund public services such as education, healthcare, housing, etc. Several Venezuelan officials were sanctioned for “criminal” activity. For example, the current president Delcy Rodriquez and her brother Jorge Rodriquez, Minister of Communications. The excuses coming from U.S. officials pertained to corruption and repression. But the question is, was there evidence? Even if that’s the case, U.S. leaders and their supporters are in no position to judge, seeing, for example, the massive corruption and murder by the Trump regime.    

• Venezuela has also been accused of funding terrorism. The U.S.’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) claimed that Venezuela aided the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in its decades-long struggle against U.S.-backed regimes in Colombia. The OFAC claimed there was evidence that Venezuela helped the FARC in drug trafficking. I no longer seriously take what the agencies of the U.S. empire have been claiming, seeing the blatant hypocrisy, and the usual lying.

• Then there is an old stand-by for U.S. propaganda, accusing Venezuela of human rights abuses. While there may have been instances of this, the U.S. empire accuses any country of abuses that don’t go along with the current unipolar world order led by the empire.

• Add in the claims that Venezuela violaties freedom and democracy, something that has been used for years and has become a worn-out cliché. Again, any country that tries to forge a system that is a threat to U.S. imperial interests, it’s labeled a violator of freedom and democracy.

The talk about freedom and democracy rings hollow when the U.S. empire violates these ideals more often than not.

Maduro, the elected president of Venezuela, is currently imprisoned in New York, which is a strange position coming from the Trump regime…and an outrageous one. All the norms of due process have been violated. And the violation of Venezuelan sovereignty. This is nothing new from the U.S.

The United States has to renounce itself as an empire. Things have gotten way out of hand. The violations are so blatant and obvious that there will be further blowback. Cause and effect. But it isn’t any time soon that the U.S. will willingly give up as an empire. Thus, further struggles.

Maduro sincerely had the objective of defending his country. Many Venezuelans were also ready. Delcy Rodriquez appears to have surrendered to those who have committed some of the worse rights violations. And when it comes down to it, all for the profiteering off of Venezuelan oil.

But the current situation with the Trump regime calling the shots won’t last forever. Equality and justice must be upheld in the face of the regime’s terror tactics. So shall it be.    

 

       


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