Anti-War Action Network delegates to People’s Assembly for Peace and Sovereignty speak on recent trip to Venezuela
On January 11, the Anti-War Action Network (AWAN) held a nationwide webinar featuring a report back from a panel of six AWAN activists who had visited Caracas, Venezuela in December 2025 for the People’s Assembly for Peace and Sovereignty of Our Americas.
Meredith Aby, a member of AWAN and panel host for the event, opened the webinar with a breakdown of the current political situation in the world, describing the continued bombings on Gaza despite the ceasefire agreement, the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Combatant Cilia Flores by the U.S. and the murder of Renee Good and Keith Porter at the hands of ICE.
Aby stated, “As anti-imperialists, we know that these events don't happen in a vacuum. We know that they're all rooted in one cause, U.S. Imperialism. And every life taken, whether it’s in Palestine, whether it's a life defending the Bolivarian Revolution, or whether it's a life taken by the hands of ICE, all these lives are taken to feed the same monster of U.S. imperialism.”
Speaking on the content of day one of the solidarity conference in Venezuela, Jae Franklin from the Anti-War Committee Chicago recounted that unity was one of the primary topics of discussion across the speeches and breakout sessions for over 500 attendees from around 40 different countries. Franklin quoted speaker Blanca Eekhout, president of the Simón Bolívar Institute, saying, “We must unite under a single cause. What's at stake is mankind. This operation in the Caribbean is an attempt to colonize the continent. But fear cannot defeat the conviction of the Venezuelan people. If we remember the lessons of Chávez and Bolívar, we will win.”
Panelists further described their experience on day two, hearing from other notable members and friends of the Venezuelan government such as Minister of Foreign Affairs Yván Gil, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, and President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples Fernando Gonzalez.
Jessica Plichta of Grand Rapids Opponents of War recounted, “Most speakers connected struggles, such as the genocide of Palestinians and how that struggle relates to the Venezuelan people, and the importance of international solidarity and the global liberation struggle.”
A member of Seattle Against War, Rae Lee, described their visit to some of the “Comunas” or communes, a unique and developing structure in Venezuelan public life. Lee explained that “10% of the Venezuelan population is organized into 19,500 communal councils. These are made up of anywhere between 20 to 200 families per, depending on where they're based. They meet at neighborhood assemblies every week to make decisions together. These local units of direct democratic self-government make up 4000 communes which link up to the National Communal Council. What we see in Venezuela is a system of participatory democracy.”
Lee argued that learning about the commune structure can help solidarity activists cut through the propaganda advanced by the U.S. ruling class that Venezuela is an undemocratic dictatorship under President Maduro. “We would be so lucky to have such a participatory government,” Lee suggested.
The final panelist to speak relayed his experience as an international delegate at the Worker’s Congress where representatives from different Venezuelan trade unions, representing over 22,000 workers’ assemblies, were able to present and debate their proposals to Maduro directly.
The webinar concluded with a Q&A portion and a call to action for AWAN affiliates and activist organizations in the Venezuela solidarity movement to keep the pressure up by organizing actions for the release of Maduro and Flores in preparation for their second court date in March 2026.