Minneapolis, MN – On January 3, 400 people rallied and marched to demand an end to U.S. intervention in Venezuela. The Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC) organized the emergency protest after reports of overnight bombings in Caracas and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores by U.S. special operations forces.

The action began with a rally, where protesters gathered on a cold afternoon near a busy Minneapolis intersection, waving Venezuelan flags and chanting “No war on Venezuela,” “No blood for oil” and “Free President Maduro!”

Drake Myers, a Freedom Road Socialist Organization member and public school educator with MFE 59 stated, “The U.S. wants oil money to go straight to the wealthiest of Wall Street, while Maduro and Venezuela want the Venezuelan poor provided for in their own sovereign country.” Myers also addressed how Venezuela used its oil revenue to make enormous strides to eliminate poverty, create social services and provide free education.

Allison Gunderson, a member of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee and Women Against Military Madness, addressed Venezuela’s resilience in the face of U.S. attacks, stating, “They are an example to the world that this reality is possible, a country taking care of its people rather than pouring billions into efforts of wars that only benefit oligarchs like Trump, his cronies, and U.S. oil companies!” Having recently returned from a delegation trip to Caracas in December, Gunderson added, “when I was in Caracas, I witnessed a country that had love and solidarity not only for their own country but with all peoples struggles against U.S. imperialism.”

Relating U.S. foreign policy from Venezuela to Palestine, Nadiyah Salawdeh of the Minnesota chapter of U.S. Palestinian Community Network spoke about the term “narcoterrorist” to show the connection between these struggles, stating that “when the U.S. empire evokes the image of the scary terrorist to justify its murder of Venezuelan people it is yet more proof that nobody is free until we are all free. In the eyes of the U.S. – both the government and, let’s be honest, many of its citizens – ‘terrorist’ is a word that is used to describe somebody that they can kill with no repercussions.”

After a march through busy streets and the surrounding neighborhood, the action closed with a video message of solidarity from Chris Gilbert, who was in Caracas among a crowd ready to defend the Bolivarian process and President Maduro.

Minnesota made clear its solidarity with Venezuela, calling for the defense of national sovereignty, opposition to U.S. intervention in Venezuela, and an end to U.S. imperialism.

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