Warships Against Caracas: US Imperialism Prepares for the Next Blow

Editor's Note: the following is an article originally published by our comrades at the Austrian Partei der Arbeit (PdA) in Austria, from their central organ, Zeitung der Arbeit.

The US escalation against Venezuela is gaining momentum again: President Donald Trump has deployed three Aegis warships, equipped with missile defense systems, to the coast of Venezuela. Officially, the mission is intended to "fight drug cartels," but this pretext bears no relation to reality; it stems from well-known imperialist doctrines. For decades, the US has justified military interventions in Latin America with the narrative of "fighting drugs" – always leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

At the same time, according to media reports, the deployment of 4,000 marines is being prepared. Washington accuses President Nicolás Maduro of leading the alleged "Cartel de los Soles" cocaine cartel, which is accused of smuggling hundreds of tons of cocaine into the US over two decades, generating billions in revenue. Just a few weeks ago, this cartel was placed on the US list of "foreign terrorist organizations."

The fact that the US simultaneously placed a bounty of $50 million on Maduro's head, the highest in its history, speaks volumes: This isn't about the supposed war on drugs, but rather the hunt for an unpopular head of state. Caracas responded by mobilizing 4.5 million militiamen – this is intended to prepare the Venezuelan people to defend their sovereignty.

The US had already severed diplomatic relations with Venezuela in 2019 after it refused to recognize Maduro's election victory and instead courted the self-proclaimed "interim president" Juan Guaidó. This was paralleled by sanctions that strangled the country economically, as well as a comprehensive oil embargo – an attack on the lifeblood of the Venezuelan economy.

While the bourgeois media in the north invoke the "danger posed by the Maduro regime," Venezuela's workers know what is really at stake: control of oil reserves, the largest in the world, and the geopolitical subjugation of a country that is resisting Washington's dictates—albeit increasingly timidly. The military buildup off the Venezuelan coast is a continuation of a decades-long imperialist pattern that stretches from Chile in 1973 to Nicaragua in the 1980s, right up to the present day.

The reality is: The US blockade is not affecting Maduro, but rather the everyday lives of the population—workers, families, children. Medicines, food, fuel: everything is being artificially restricted to create social pressure. And now warships and marines are supposed to "do the rest." The US is not waging a war on drugs; it is waging war on peoples who are evading its rule. Venezuela is once again at the center of this conflict. Therefore, the motto is: Hands off Venezuela!