South Africa blasts US invasion of Venezuela as an act of imperial aggression
Venezuela Crisis
View of a destroyed truck at La Carlota air base in Caracas on Jaunary 3, 2026. US President Donald Trump said Saturday that US forces had captured Venezuela's leader, Nicolas Maduro, after bombing the capital Caracas and other cities in a dramatic climax to a months-long standoff between Trump and his Venezuelan arch-foe.
Image: Juan Barreto / AFP
SOUTH African political and civil society formations have issued scathing condemnations of the United States’ military assault on Venezuela, denouncing it as a flagrant breach of international law, an act of imperial aggression.
According to the South African Communist Party (SACP), an unprecedented “act of international piracy” involving the reported abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
In a statement released Saturday, the SACP said: “The SACP condemns and denounces in the strongest terms possible, the Trump administration’s criminal military invasion of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, an act in complete violation of international law.”
The party expressed profound alarm over reports that Maduro and his spouse had been forcibly taken. “The SACP has also learnt with shock and horror of the Trump administration’s brazen act of international piracy of abducting Venezuela’s democratically elected President Nicolás Maduro together with his wife,” the statement read.
Simultaneously, the civil society coalition Africa4Palestine and the Anti-Fascist International (South Africa Chapter) issued a joint press statement confirming the onset of US military action: “This morning, Saturday 03 January 2026, in a clear violation of international law, the United States began bombing the Latin American nation of Venezuela.”
Both the SACP and the coalition characterised the attack not as an isolated incident but as the latest escalation in a long-standing campaign of US hostility. The SACP stated: “The US’s latest criminal aggression in Venezuela is the culmination of a series of threats and political rhetoric by Trump towards Venezuela and its president and deserves only the strongest condemnation.”
Africa4Palestine and Anti-Fascist International echoed this, stating: “This US attack is not an aberration. It is the continuation of long-standing US policy and aggression toward Venezuela.
“In recent years, Washington has tried using unilateral coercive sanctions, economic strangulation tactics, coups, and propaganda to try to collapse the Venezuelan government. It failed. Now it has resorted to kidnappings and bombings without accountability, without mandate, and without regard for civilian life.”
Both statements identified control over Venezuela’s vast natural wealth as the core motive. The SACP stated bluntly: “The objective of the predatory Trump administration is imperial regime change in order to seize the strategic resources of Venezuela, in particular its oil and minerals.”
The coalition was equally direct: “Let us be clear: Venezuela is being targeted by the US for its oil and rare earth minerals. It is home to the world’s largest proven oil reserves.”
They further warned that the goal is political subjugation: “The objective is clear: to replace Venezuela’s elected government with a compliant regime that will act on behalf of the US and in the interests of its corporations.”
Both groups emphasised the broader implications of the assault. The SACP said: “This dastardly banditry act constitutes a criminal and flagrant violation of the United Nations articles 1 and 2, which enshrine respect for sovereignty, legal equality of states and the prohibition of the use of force. It is a violation of international peace and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean and puts the lives of millions of people at serious risk.”
Africa4Palestine and Anti-Fascist International placed Venezuela within a global history of US-led interventions: “This morning’s invasion of Venezuela follows a familiar US imperial script. This is Iraq again. This is Afghanistan again. This is Libya, Syria, and Palestine. This is also Vietnam, Chile, Panama, Nigeria, Sudan and Somalia.
“Today’s violent aggression against Venezuela is viewed in the context of the US’s ongoing attacks and wars, launched on false pretences such as ‘weapons of mass destruction’, ‘terrorism’ or the so-called ‘war on drugs’. Venezuela is the latest in a long and violent US history.”
Beyond resources, both statements affirmed that Venezuela is punished for its political sovereignty and social model. The coalition declared: “Beyond its resources, Venezuela is targeted because it chooses redistribution over plunder, sovereignty over submission, and solidarity with the oppressed over alignment with US empire.”
They praised Venezuela’s developmental path: “Under the Bolivarian Revolution, Venezuelan oil wealth has been redirected toward healthcare, housing, education, and food security for the poor — an independent path initiated by Hugo Chávez and continued under President Nicolás Maduro. That independent, redistributive, and developmental path by Venezuela is the real crime in the eyes of Washington.”
Noting Venezuela’s internationalist stance, the coalition further said: “Venezuela, under Presidents Chavez and Maduro, has been a steadfast supporter of oppressed peoples across the world — including the Palestinians, the people of Western Sahara and Cuba, and liberation struggles across Africa and the Global South.
“Today, we — the people of South Africa and the Global South — stand with the people of Venezuela and with all nations under attack by USA imperial domination.”
The SACP affirmed Venezuela’s right to self-defence: “The SACP fully supports Venezuela's right to defend and protect its people, its territory and its independence.”
It also endorsed global mobilisation: “The SACP further supports Venezuela’s just call on the peoples and governments of Latin America, the Caribbean and the World to mobilise in active solidarity in the face of the Trump led administration’s criminal imperialist aggression.”
Echoing this call, Africa4Palestine and Anti-Fascist International voiced a rallying cry: “As South Africans, we join the global call by peace-loving peoples: Hands off Venezuela! End US bombing and aggression! The people of Venezuela will prevail!”
The coalition also announced upcoming actions: “Various protests against the US bombing are being planned across South Africa and will be communicated in due course via our social media accounts.”
Together, these voices from South Africa represent a unified front of political and civil society resistance to what they describe as a new chapter in US imperial aggression — one met with resolute solidarity from the Global South.