OMNI
VENEZUELA ANTHOLOGY 11,
January 4, 2026
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
What’s at Stake: Trump’s
illegal and immoral intervention in Venezuela, and the grabbing of President
Nicolás Maduro and his wife, is beyond evil as the US once again displayed its
imperialist face to the entire world. No good can come from this ugly action. Trump now says that the US will run
Venezuela. He intends to attempt to take their oil (which he claims was
‘stolen’ from the US) and the vast mineral deposits inside Venezuela. Trump also claims that he will run
Venezuela ‘right’ to the benefit of the people there. Who actually believes
that?. . . .We all should switch from using the words ‘peace movement’ here in
the US. Instead we should call ourselves an ‘anti-imperialist’
movement which more accurately reflects this historic moment. Bruce Gagnon.
TEXTS
Sources:
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Bernie Sanders, CodePink, Common Dreams, Consortium
News, Counterpunch, Global Dispatches, Fight Back News, Global Network, Orinoco
Tribune, Popular Resistance, Roots Action, TomDispatch, TomGram, Wikileaks.
THE following 8 articles ARRIVED Jan. 4 AFTER PRESIDENT MADURO
AND HIS WIFE WERE KIDNAPPED by USA
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“Trump’s Teatro Yanqui del Absurdo.” Consortium News . 1-4-26 |
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Trump’s
Teatro Yanqui del Absurdo. Consortium
News (1-4-26). Donald Trump’s Mar-al-Lago press conference
announcing that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela was pure Yankee theater of the
absurd, writes Joe Lauria. Read here... “US Lawmakers Seek Vote on Trump
War on Venezuela.” Consortium News (1-4-26). The push for emergency legislative action came as
the U.S. president expressed his intention to further intervene in Venezuela,
Jake Johnson reports. Read here... “Trump’s Act of War.” Consortium
News (1-4-26). This is from the same playbook that destroyed
Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and perpetrated coups across Asia, Africa and Latin
America, write Medea Benjamin and Michelle Ellner. Read here... _______________________________________________________________________________________
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“Gov. Sanders, other Arkansans praise
operation in Venezuela.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Jan 04, 2026.
Gov. Sanders, other Arkansans
praise operation in Venezuela.
BILL BOWDEN. Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette. Jan 04, 2026. Via pat Snyder.
“Force the Trump administration to
reverse course.”
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Hi Dick,
RootsAction has been warning for
months that Donald Trump was planning a regime-change war in Venezuela.
Now, Trump has illegally attacked Venezuela and kidnapped its president. Trump
promises that the U.S. will "run" Venezuela for the foreseeable
future and take control of its oil reserves. Trump has learned nothing from
decades of failed oil wars abroad. On Saturday, Trump threatened military
attacks on other countries, laying bare the extreme violence of U.S. empire.
We are mobilizing people who care
about international law and about the lives of Venezuelans and about unchecked
militarism to contact their congressional representatives immediately. Members of Congress must condemn this unprovoked and
illegal attack – and Congress must do everything in its power to force the
Trump administration to reverse course.
Without a response, there is no telling where Trump and the hawks in his
administration will stop. Cuba or Colombia or Mexico or Iran could be the next
target in Trump’s campaign of illegal attacks. We in the United States have a
responsibility to do everything in our power to avert this nightmarish future.
This work is only possible with your
financial support. Please chip in
$12 now.
In Solidarity,
The RootsAction Team
Read more at Progressive Hub.
"radical"
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Bernie Sanders 1-4-26 |
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Sisters
and Brothers -
Let
me give you the good news and the bad news.
The
good news is that on Thursday afternoon, at a beautiful and moving event, I had
the privilege of swearing in Zohran Mamdani as the next mayor of New York City.
. . .
That
is the good news. And, for those of us who believe in democracy and economic,
social and racial justice, it is very good news.
But
here’s the bad news. [TRUMP KIDNAPPED
THE PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA]
On
Saturday Donald Trump, once again, showed his contempt for the Constitution and
the rule of law with his attack on Venezuela.
Let’s be clear. The President of the United States does NOT have the right to
unilaterally take this country to war, even against a corrupt and brutal
dictator like Maduro. The United States does NOT have the right, as Trump
stated, to "run" Venezuela. Congress must immediately pass a War
Powers Resolution to end this illegal military operation and reassert its
constitutional responsibilities.
Trump's
attack on Venezuela will not make the United States and the world safer. Quite
the contrary. This brazen violation of international law gives a green light to
any nation on earth that may wish to attack another country to seize their
resources or change their governments.
This
is the horrific logic of force that Putin used to justify his brutal attack on
Ukraine.
Trump
and his administration have made it clear that they want to revive the Monroe
Doctrine, the belief that the United States has the right to dominate the
affairs of the hemisphere. They have spoken openly about controlling
Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world. Let’s not hesitate to call
this policy out for what it is. This is rank imperialism. It recalls the
darkest chapters of U.S. interventions in Latin America, which have left a
terrible legacy. It will and should be condemned by the democratic world.
As
many will recall, Trump campaigned for president on an "America
First" platform. He claimed to be the "peace candidate." Well,
at a time when 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, when our
healthcare system is collapsing, when people can’t afford housing, and when
Artificial Intelligence threatens to wipe out millions of jobs, it is time for
the president to focus on the crises facing this country and end military
adventurism abroad. Trump is failing in his job to "run" the United
States. He should not be trying to "run" Venezuela.
So.
That’s what we’ve seen this week. On one hand, we celebrated a major victory
for our progressive movement. On the other hand, we witnessed a reactionary
oligarchic government at its worst.
Needless
to say, these are crazy and tumultuous times - and everyone feels a bit
overwhelmed. But this is what I honestly believe. If we are smart, disciplined
and focused the future will reflect the vision that Zohran laid out in
his speech on Thursday, a vision that many of us have espoused for years. The American people do not want oligarchy,
authoritarianism, hatred and a massive level of income and wealth inequality.
They want to live in a vibrant democracy with a government that represents all
Americans, and not just billionaire campaign contributors.
The
struggle we’re in will not be easy, but keep the faith. We will win.
Thanks
so much for all you do and your ongoing support.
Happy
New Year,
Bernie
Before you go...
Bernie Sanders is once again asking
your financial support...
Over the next year Bernie is going to
be fighting for our progressive agenda and working hard to elect progressive
candidates all over this country who have the guts not only to stand up to
Trumpism, but to take on the monied interests of both parties and fight for a
working class that has been ignored for far too long.
“US troops capture Maduro; Cotton, Crawford applaud ouster.”
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Jan 04, 2026.
“US troops capture Maduro; Cotton, Crawford applaud ouster.” ALEX THOMAS.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Jan 04, 2026. pat snyder 1-4-26 .
[Definitions from
Webster’s New World College Dictionary.
Capture: taking or being taken by force, surprise, or skill, as enemy
troops.
Kidnap: to seize and hold or carry off (a person) against that person’s
will, by force or fraud, often for ransom.
[This word, which seems more accurate, is not being employed. Whatcha think? --D]
Ouster: Law: Any expulsion or dismissal esp. from real property; legal
eviction or unlawful dispossession.]
“Latin American leaders blast US intervention in Venezuela.” JACQUELINE CHARLES. MIAMI HERALD (TNS). Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Jan 04, 2026. Via pat Snyder 1-4-26.
[VFP-all] Brunswick, Maine protest of
Trump's Venezuela invasion. Global Network via uark.onmicrosoft.com 1-4-26 .
Bruce Gagnon.
“Brunswick, Maine protest of Trump's
Venezuela invasion.” January
4, 2026.
In a
matter of a few hours notice we were able to bring together more than 35 people
on Saturday at the busiest intersection in our Brunswick community. People from several local groups turned out
in the 20 degree cold for 90 minutes. The honks and peace signs were more than
we usually get at our weekly vigil on this same corner.
What could come next? Will civil war
erupt in Venezuela? Will the US be forced to put boots on the ground? Will
there be a massive refugee crisis that will make past refugee surges into the
US look like nothing?
We all should switch from using the
words ‘peace movement’ here in the US. Instead we should call ourselves an ‘anti-imperialist’ movement which more accurately reflects this
historic moment.
A
group of us went to lunch after the protest was over. We agreed that we are now
living in WW3. The US is currently creating war$ and chaos all over the world.
Trump understands that the US economy is collapsing and his desperate
administration knows that to steal the oil in Venezuela could very well help
stabilize the US economy over time. . . .
Bruce
[The following 14 articles opposing US lawlessness were
gathered during Dec. 2025 just preceding the US kidnapping of Venezuela’s president
and wife.]
Eric Ross. “U.S. DRUG WAR HYPOCRISY.”
Counterpunch (Dec. 30, 2025). The Venezuelan escalation.
“Who’s The Real Outlaw At Sea?” By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, CODEPINK. Popular Resistance.org (12-25-25). The United States has now intercepted
multiple Venezuelan oil tankers as part of its escalating aggression against
Venezuela, while also destroying dozens of small boats in the Caribbean and
Pacific under the banner of “drug enforcement,” killing over 100 people whose
identities the U.S. has obscured. At the same time, the Trump administration
has threatened a naval blockade of Venezuela—a sovereign country with which the
United States is not at war. How can Washington claim the right to seize or
blow up vessels, disrupt maritime trade, and kill civilian boaters... -more-
“Venezuela Warns The World About US State-Sponsored Attacks
And Piracy” By Alba Ciudad, Orinoco
Tribune.
Popular Resistance.org
(12-25-25). Venezuelan President
Nicolás Maduro sent a letter on Monday to the heads of state of Latin America
and the Caribbean, as well as to the 194 nations that make up the United
Nations General Assembly. The document, read by Venezuelan Foreign Minister
Yván Gil from the Yellow House in Caracas, warns of an escalation of aggression
by the US government that threatens to destabilize the security of the entire
region and the international legal order. The letter’s central complaint
focuses on the US military’s so-called “Operation Southern Spear,” a
naval and air deployment that includes the presence of... - more -
Brett
Wilkins.
“Trump 'Choosing From the War Crimes Menu' With 'Quarantine' on Venezuela
Oil Exports.” Code Pink (12-26-25).
"Economic strangulation is
warfare and civilians always pay the price," lamented CodePink.
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[VFP-all] “Trump Isn’t Planning to Invade Venezuela. He’s
Planning Something Worse.” By Michelle Ellner. Common Dreams. Gerry Condon via uark.onmicrosoft.com 12-26-25 |
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The loudest question in Washington right now is whether Donald
Trump is going to invade Venezuela. The quieter, and far more dangerous, reality is this: he probably
won’t. Not because he cares about Venezuelan lives, but because he has found a
strategy that is cheaper, less politically risky at home, and infinitely more
devastating: economic warfare.
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/will-trump-invade-venezuela
RESIST THE US WAR ON VENEZUELA!
“Trump
and Venezuela: What’s the Endgame?”
"They have no plan." Mark Leon Goldberg. Global Dispatches <globaldispatches@substack.com>
Dec 24,
2025.
The
American pressure campaign against Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro has escalated
sharply in recent days. In addition to bombing alleged drug-smuggling boats,
the United States is now seizing—or attempting to seize—massive oil tankers as
part of a “blockade” that Donald Trump announced via social media two weeks
ago. (As I type, there is an odd, low-speed maritime chase in the pacific
between the American Coast Guard and an oil tanker that refuses to surrender!)
What
is going on here? What is the Trump administration’s endgame? Will they soon
attack Venezuela itself? And why does it seem like they are improvising as they
go? Joining me to discuss these questions and more is James “Boz” Bosworth, who
runs the Latin America Risk Report here
on Substack. We kick off discussing three recent incidents involving American
attempts to enforce a blockade before having a longer conversation about the
Trump administration’s evolving pressure tactics and where this all may lead. [The US kidnapped Pres. Maduro and his wife
Jan. 2, 2026. --D]
“Assange vs. Nobel "Peace"
Prize Committee, Complicity in US War Crimes on Venezuela. “ Dec. 17, 2025. Orig. pub. around the world, but a google search did not
turn up a report in mainstream Western Media
(MSN? Canberra? --D)
https://www.ndtv.com ›
World News
https://www.deccanherald.com ›
World
https://www.msn.com ›
en-in › news › world › wikileaks...
https://english.almayadeen.net ›
News › Politics
https://borna.news ›
Politic › public
“JULIAN ASSANGE FILES CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AGAINST NOBEL
FOUNDATION OVER “INSTRUMENT OF WAR” PEACE PRIZE.” STOCKHOLM.
December 17, 2025.
WikiLeaks Founder Alleges 2025 Award to María Corina
Machado Constitutes Misappropriation, Facilitation of War Crimes Under
Swedish Law, Seeks Freeze of 11 million SEK ($1.18 million USD) of Pending
Transfers to Machado.
Julian Assange today filed a criminal complaint in Sweden
accusing 30 individuals associated with the Nobel Foundation, including its
leadership, of committing serious suspected crimes, including the crime of
gross misappropriation of funds, facilitation of war crimes and crimes against
humanity, and the financing of the crime of aggression.
The complaint shows that Alfred Nobel's 1895 will
explicitly mandates that the peace prize go to the individual who during the preceeding
year “conferred the greatest benefit to humankind” by doing “the most or the
best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of
standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” Assange argues that “The political decision
of the Norwegian selection committee does not suspend the fiduciary duty of
Swedish funds administrators”. “Any disbursement contradicting this mandate
constitutes misappropriation from the endowment”.
The complaint, submitted simultaneously to the Swedish
Economic Crime Authority (Ekobrottsmyndigheten) and the Swedish War Crimes Unit
(Krigsbrottsenheten), states that the suspects, including Nobel Foundation
Chair Astrid Söderbergh Widding and Executive Director Hanna Stjärne, converted
“an instrument of peace into an instrument of war,” through suspected “serious
criminality” including. . . .
“Alfred Nobel's endowment for peace cannot be spent on the
promotion of war,” Assange states. The accused have concrete legal obligations
because they are tasked with “ensuring the fulfillment of the intended purpose
of Alfred Nobel’s will, that is, to end wars and war crimes, and not to enable
them.”
MACHADO'S INCITEMENT OF THE LARGEST U.S. MILITARY BUILDUP
SINCE THE IRAQ WAR MAKE HER CATEGORICALLY INELIGIBLE. . . .
REQUESTED ACTION
The complaint notes that “There is a real risk that the
funds derived from Nobel’s endowment have been or will be intentionally or
negligently diverted from their charitable purpose to facilitate aggression,
crimes against humanity, and war crimes.”
Assange requests that Swedish authorities:
1. Immediately freeze of the pending SEK 11,000,000
monetary prize transfer and any remaining related budget and secure return of
the medal.
2. Investigate the named persons and Foundation officers and
associated entities for breach of trust, facilitation of war crimes and crimes
against humanity, and conspiracy.
3. Seize of board minutes, emails, group chats, financial
records.
4. Interrogate Widding, Stjärne and other suspects.
5. Fully investigate domestically or refer the matter to
the ICC (Rome Statute Art. 25(3)(c)).
“This complaint seeks the immediate freezing of all
remaining funds and a full criminal investigation lest the Nobel Peace Prize be
permanently converted from an instrument of peace into an instrument of war,”
Assange concludes.
Criminal complaint filing now available here:
https://file.wikileaks.org/files/2025/machado29-dist.pdf
Forwarded by Abel Tomlinson
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Progressive Caucus Action Fund. “Tell Congress: NO War With Venezuela!” PCAF via uark.onmicrosoft.com [My apologies for the color. -D] |
Dec 16, 2025, |
Dear James,
Since September, the Trump Administration has conducted 22 unlawful strikes on ships in the Caribbean, claiming
without evidence that the boats carried drugs from Venezuela. These strikes
have killed 87 people and, coupled with the President’s threats towards Venezuela, risk drawing the U.S. into a
needless war in the region.
According to the Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war and
authorize military action. Congress has not authorized military operations in
the Caribbean or Venezuela, making the Trump Administration’s strikes unjust
and unconstitutional.
However, this week, Congress will vote to stop these strikes. The House will
vote on two resolutions, H.Con.Res. 61 and H.Con.Res. 64, which will direct the removal of U.S. armed forces from
the Caribbean.
Call your Member of Congress TODAY and urge them to support
War Powers Resolutions H.Con.Res. 61 and H.Con.Res. 64 to end these
unconstitutional strikes.
There’s no time to waste: President Trump has rapidly escalated tensions with
Venezuela by:
· Falsely claiming that the U.S. is at war with drug cartels, laying the
groundwork to justify an unlawful war and perhaps even regime change in
Venezuela;
· Threatened land strikes on Venezuela;
· Deployed U.S. military to seize a Venezuelan oil tanker;
· Launched double-tap airstrikes that killed shipwrecked
survivors—a crime under international and U.S. law; and
· many more escalatory actions.
President Trump
has even threatened to overthrow heads of states of other countries in
the region. The U.S. has a long and sordid history of violent intervention in Latin
America. Now is the time to tell Congress: DO NOT repeat this past!No war with
Venezuela has bipartisan support: three out of four Americans oppose a regime-change
war in Venezuela, including two-thirds of Republicans.
TomDispatch. Nan Levinson, “Legal
Schmegal.” December 16, 2025. <tomdispatch@typemediacenter.org>
Speak of the devil! Or do
I mean give Pete Hegseth credit? Once upon a distant time, today's
secretary of defense -- sorry, my mistake! Secretary of War (and more and more war after
that) -- insisted repeatedly on Fox News that American
military personnel should never follow an "unlawful" order from --
yes, indeed! -- a future President Trump. “You’re not just gonna follow that
order if it’s unlawful,” he said. He then pointed out that military personnel
could face criminal consequences if they issued or followed illegal commands.
Even more devastatingly, he added, “Here’s the problem with Trump. He says: ‘Go
ahead and kill the family. Go ahead and torture. Go ahead and go further than
waterboarding.’ What happens when people follow those orders, or don’t follow
them? It’s not clear that Donald Trump will have their back."
That, of
course, was in another century (or, to be more exact, during the election
campaign of 2016). Now, we're in a world where Pete Hegseth has
repeatedly given orders to commit illegal extrajudicial killings by blowing seemingly random boats out of
the water in the Caribbean Sea (and the Eastern Pacific Ocean), claiming
they're carrying drugs to the United States. In fact, his military blew away
two helpless survivors of one of those airstrikes clinging to their overturned
vessel after he evidently had given an order, as the Washington Post reported, “to kill everybody.” (He now denies
ordering those two specific men killed with a second strike and was supported
in that by presidential press secretary Karoline Leavitt with a statement one
unnamed military official labelled "protect Pete
bullshit" and another summarized as "it’s throwing us, the service
members, under the bus.”)
As
Hegseth's initial order was evidently “to kill everybody,” I have a feeling
that, back in 2016, even he might indeed have considered that
"unlawful." . . . .
And in such a world, imagine what it's like to be in the U.S. military or rather, let TomDispatch regular Nan Levinson do that for you, as she also considers what it means to resist the Trumpian and Hegsethian military world from the inside. Tom
“
Doin’-the-Right-Thing Rag: Who’s Responsible When a Military Order is
Illegal? (Don't Ask Donald Trump!)” By Nan Levinson.
Any
story about resistance within the military must begin by recognizing that it's
not an easy thing to do. Apparently, that’s true even for a much-decorated
retired Navy commander, former astronaut, and sitting United States senator.
I’m talking about Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. He was one of six Democratic
legislators, all military veterans or former intelligence officers, who, on
November 18th, released a 90-second video reminding members of the
military that the oath they took on enlisting requires them to refuse illegal
orders. The implicit context was the Trump administration's deployment of
National Guard troops to American cities, but their message took on added
urgency after the Washington Post published an exposé about an order coming from high
up to kill survivors of an airstrike in the Caribbean Sea.
Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin, who served in the CIA, on the
National Security Council, and at the Defense Department, and had three tours
of duty as a CIA analyst in Iraq, spearheaded the action. She was joined by
Kelly; Pennsylvania Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (former Air Force captain)
and Chris Deluzio (former Navy lieutenant with one
tour in Iraq); New Hampshire Representative Maggie Goodlander (Navy Reserve lieutenant,
intelligence); and Colorado Representative Jason Crow (Army Ranger, three tours in
Iraq). . . . Click here to read more of this
dispatch.
“Day Two Of International People’s Assembly For Sovereignty
And Peace” By Ebtesham Ahmed, Fight
Back! News. Caracas,
Venezuela . Popular Resistance.org
(12-14-25). On December 10, thousands of delegates from
over 50 countries gathered into the Venezuelan military club for the second day
of the International People’s Assembly for Sovereignty and Peace of Our
Americas. The theme of unity was still present throughout the second day of the
conference. Hundreds of delegates conversed with each other throughout the club
before the start of the event. The U.S. delegation brought out a banner reading
“No war on Venezuela campaign! Stop the wars at home and abroad!” -more-
President Maduro Calls US Seizure Of
Oil Tanker Act Of Piracy.
Orinoco Tribune. Popular Resistance.org (12-14-25). Venezuelan
President Nicolás Maduro described the detention of an oil tanker seized by US
military personnel in the Caribbean Sea on Wednesday as an act of piracy. On
Thursday night, he reported that the crew was abducted and is missing, a
circumstance referred to in human rights terms as a forced disappearance.
“Yesterday, they committed an absolutely criminal and illegal act when they
carried out a military assault, kidnapping, and robbery—like pirates of the
Caribbean—of a merchant, commercial, civilian, private vessel. A vessel of
peace, which was attacked as it was about to enter the Atlantic. -more-
Who’s The Dictator? Venezuela’s Maduro
Or Ukraine’s Zelenskyy By Roger D. Harris, Popular Resistance. 12-14-25. Within
the narrow spectrum of establishment punditry, “dictator” functions as a term
of opprobrium reserved for governments Washington designates as enemies. By
this measure, Maduro is cast as the dictator, while Zelenskyy is sanctified as
democratic. Ronald Reagan’s UN ambassador, Jeane Kirkpatrick, wrote about a
democracy “double standard” in 1979. A Democrat turned anti-communist
neoconservative, she formulated a convenient rhetorical distinction. The
so-called Kirkpatrick Doctrine supported “authoritarian” traditional
dictatorships and opposed leftist “totalitarian regimes.” -more-
END OMNI VENZUELA ANTHOLOGY #11
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