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A little after 2am, Venezuela time, on 3 January 2026, in violation of Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, the United States began an attack on several sites in the country, including Caracas, the capital. Residents awoke to loud noises and flashes, as well as large helicopters in the sky. Videos began to appear on social media, but without much context. Confusion and rumor flooded social media.
Within an hour, the sky was quiet. US President Donald Trump announced that his forces had conducted attacks on Venezuela and had seized President Nicolas Maduro Moro and his wife Cilia Flores. A short while later, Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriquez confirmed that the whereabouts of Maduro and Flores are unknown. The US Attorney General Pamela Bondi confirmed that Maduro and Flores were in the United States and had been charged with ‘Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy’.
The outcome of this attack on Venezuela is unclear. The government remains in control, even with the President having been kidnapped and with the people of Venezuela in shock but defiant; it is unclear if the United States will strike again, or if the US government has a clear political plan for the aftermath of this strike.
The War Against Venezuela
The attack on 3 January is not the first against Venezuela. In fact, the pressure campaign began in 2001 when the government of Hugo Chávez enacted a Hydrocarbons Law in accordance with the sovereignty provisions in the Bolivarian Constitution of 1999. That campaign had the following aspects (this is an illustrative and not a comprehensive list):
1. (2001) US funding of anti-Bolivarian social and political groups through the National Endowment for Democracy and USAID.
2. (2002) US role in the attempted coup d’état.
3. (2002) Creation by USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives of a Venezuela program.
4. (2003-2004) Funding and political direction for the work of Súmate (led by Maria Corina Machado) to recall Chávez by referendum.
5. (2004) Development of a 5-Point Strategy to ‘penetrate’ Chávez’s base, ‘divide’ Chavismo, ‘isolate’ Chávez, build up groups such as Súmate, and ‘protect vital US business interests’.
6. (2015) US President Barack Obama signs an executive order that declares Venezuela to be an ‘extraordinary threat’, which is the legal basis for the sanctions that follows.
7. (2017) Venezuela banned from access to US financial markets.
8. (2018) International banks and shipping companies pressured to over-comply with illegal US sanctions, while Bank of England seized the Venezuelan Central Bank gold reserves.
9. (2019) Create an ‘interim’ government by ‘appointing’ Juan Guaidó as the US authorized president and organize a (failed) uprising, and freeze Venezuela’s ability to sell oil as well as seize its oil assets overseas.
10. (2020) Attempt to kidnap Maduro through Operation Gideon (and by placing a bounty for his capture), while the US put a ‘maximum pressure’ campaign on Venezuela during the pandemic (including International Monetary Fund denial of Venezuela’s own reserves).
11. (2025) Gift of the Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado with the Nobel Committee saying that Maduro should leave office.
12. (2025-2026) The attacks on small boats off the coast of Venezuela, the positioning of an armada to form an embargo of Venezuela, and the seizure of oil tankers from Venezuela.
The attack on 3 January is part of this war that began in 2001 and will continue long after the engines of the Chinook helicopters cool down.
The Eagle is Angry
When the United States government decides to act unilaterally, whether against Iraq in 2003 or Venezuela between 2001 and 2026, no other force has been able to stop it currently. In 2003, millions of people—including in the United States—marched on the streets to demand no war, and most governments in the world cautioned against the war, but the governments of George W. Bush and Tony Blair (of the United Kingdom, acting as his no. 2) went ahead with their illegal war. This time, major powers informed the United States that a war in South America and the Caribbean would be immensely destabilizing: this was the view of leaders who govern countries that neighbor Venezuela (Brazil and Colombia) and major powers such as China (whose special envoy—Qiu Xiaoqi—met with Maduro only hours before the US attack). Not only could the world not stop the US in 2003, but it has also been unable to stop the US between 2001 and now in its obsessive war for oil against Venezuela.
The attack on Venezuela was timed so that Trump could stand before the US houses of Congress on 4 January, when he will give his annual address, and claim that he has scored a major victory. This is not a victory. It is just another example of unilateralism that will not improve the situation in the world. The US illegal war on Iraq ended with the US forced to withdraw after a million civilians had been killed in a ruthless decade; the same transpired in Afghanistan and Libya—two countries ruined by the American Eagle.
It is impossible to imagine a different future for Venezuela if the United States continues with its bombing and sends ground troops into the country. No good comes from these ‘regime change wars’, and none will come here either. There is a reason why Brazil and Colombia are uneasy with this attack, because they know that the only outcome will be long-term destabilization in the entire northern half of South America, if not in the entire region of Latin America. This is precisely what has transpired in the northern half of Africa (Trump’s bombing of Nigeria is part of the detritus of the 2011 NATO bombing of Libya).
Trump will get his standing ovation at the US Congress, but the price for that has already been paid by hundreds of dead civilians in Venezuela and millions more who are struggling to survive the long-term hybrid war imposed by the United States on Venezuela for the past two decades.
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This article was written by Globetrotter. Taroa Zúñiga Silva is a writer and Spanish media coordinator for Globetrotter. She is the director of the publishing house La Trocha and a member of the Mecha cooperative, a project of the Liberation Communication Army. She is co-editor, along with Giordana García Sojo, of the book Venezuela, vortex of the 21st-century war (2020).
Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor, and journalist. He is a member of the editorial board and chief correspondent for Globetrotter. He is editor-in-chief of LeftWord Books and director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research. He has written more than 20 books, including Dark Nations and Poor Nations. His most recent books are Fighting Makes Us Human: Learning from Movements for Socialism, The Retreat: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of American Power, and On Cuba: 70 Years of Revolution and Struggle (the latter two co-authored with Noam Chomsky)
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