New York, NY – On October 8, protesters gathered outside of the Southern District Court to demand the release of Cilia Flores. Chants of “Cilia, listen! The people are resisting!” rang throughout the courthouse plaza.

Participating organizations included Brooklyn Against War, Workers World Party, Code Pink, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). The small but steadfast rally of around 30 people lasted from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., closing with a press conference.

Briony Smith, an organizer with Brooklyn Against War and an Anti-War Action Network steering committee member, witnessed as the motion for Cilia Flores’ release to home detention was denied.

Smith stated, “Cilia Flores is facing immense gendered violence. What I witnessed inside the courtroom was a room full of men making medical decisions for a woman.”

Smith continued, “We heard in the arguments today that she has suffered a probable heart attack. Now the judge seems to be under the impression that a heart attack, a heart catheterization, and the procedures that will follow are something that can be recovered from in general population detention among 40 other women, when Cilia is getting three to hours of sleep.”

Tom Burke of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization was also in the courtroom Thursday morning. Burke stated, “Trump is trying to kill the first lady of Venezuela here. He doesn’t care about her life. He doesn’t care about President Maduro. Trump doesn’t care about the Venezuelan people! He just wants their oil. If you think you’re going to find justice in a U.S. federal courtroom, you better think again.”

Speakers at the press conference continued to emphasize the inability of the Trump administration to grant Flores a fair trial.

Not only was Cilia Flores’ motion to be released on house arrest denied, but U.S. prosecutors also brought forward new charges of “conspiracy to commit torture” against Flores and Maduro. The original indictment of narcoterrorism conspiracy, for which there is no evidence, was used by the U.S. government to justify the illegal kidnapping of Flores and Maduro on January 3.

The conspiracy to commit torture indictment alleged torture of U.S. citizens. Five of these citizens include oil executives who were arrested for corruption, and two of them were U.S. special forces members who attempted to raid and overthrow the Venezuelan government. They were all freed later in deals with the U.S.

Ignoring this important context, the court is content to paint Maduro and Flores as dictators who torture U.S. citizens, all while the U.S. is subjecting them to a notoriously inhumane prison and refusing medical treatment to Cilia Flores. It is the goal of the prosecution to obscure who Flores and Maduro really are – leaders who refuse to sell out the resources of their country to the United States.

Despite the second indictment and the outcome of the motion for house arrest, activists remain ready to take to the streets to defend Flores and Maduro, and plan to be at the Metropolitan Detention Center on November 3, for the tenth month in a row, to demand their release.

#NewYorkNY #NY #NYC #AntiWarMovement #Venezuela #CiliaFlores #NicolasMaduro #Featured

New Orleans, LA – On October 3, over 200 students and youth rallied for Nicolas Maduro and Celia Flores at the New Orleans Healing Center. The protest called by the Anti-War Action Network (AWAN) condemned the horrific treatment of Cilia Flores, who is currently experiencing a life-threatening heart condition. New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports (NOSHIP), an AWAN affiliate, organized the demonstration alongside Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

“When I met farm workers, indigenous organizers, and trade unionists in Venezuela, all of them denounced the Yankee imperialist attacks on their sovereignty!” cried Ebtesham Ahmed, a member of New York University SDS. Ahmed visited Venezuela mere weeks before the kidnapping of Maduro and Flores. They lifted their fist to the crowd, sharing a chant they learned in Venezuela: “¡Yo solo sé tres palabras en inglés, Yankee go home!”

Protesters held signs that read “Free First Lady Cilia Flores!” and “Stop U.S. war on Venezuela!”

Maduro and Flores have been held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York for over 200 days. Their capture on January 3 resulted in the death of 100 people in Venezuela. During their imprisonment, the United States has maintained suffocating sanctions on the country.

Trump has openly bragged that taking Venezuela’s resources and labor will bolster the U.S. economy, but student activists rejected this exploitation. “My enemy is not the people of the world, they're our allies. I stand with the people of Venezuela as they stand with us, against our true enemy, Donald Trump and the ruling class of the United States,” shouted Khalid Hamu, National SDS secretary.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization member Chris Maldonado connected the struggle to his family’s fight against sanctions in Cuba, stating, “Whether it's my country or Venezuela, it is important that we don’t sit idly by while the U.S. monopoly capitalists plot to murder revolutionaries, strangle sovereign countries, and profit off of exploitation. We must stand up and fight back!”

As the rally ended, NOSHIP organizers made sure to give everyone in attendance a call to action for Maduro and Flores. “The Anti-War Action Network will be at every single court hearing that they have, demanding their freedom and an end to the attacks on Venezuelan sovereignty. We ask that you join us in signing our petition, and rally in your city every time AWAN calls a day of action,” said NOSHIP member Cristine Farah.

People interested in supporting Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores can sign AWAN’s petition at tinyurl.com/awanfreemaduro and follow their Instagram @antiwaractionnetwork for days of action in solidarity with Venezuela.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #AntiWarMovement #Venezuela #CiliaFlores #NicolasMaduro #AntiWarActionNetwork #SDS #Feature

New York, NY – On October 3, New Yorkers joined the Anti-War Action Network National Day of Action to demand no U.S. intervention in Venezuela and “Free Cilia, free Maduro.” Waving Venezuelan flags and holding signs that read “Support women’s health! Release Cilia Flores,” 50 local activists and community members rallied outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, in Sunset Park, where Maduro and Flores are being held prisoner on bogus charges of narcoterrorism.

The rally marked nine months since Maduro and Flores were abducted from Caracas, Venezuela during an illegal U.S. raid, which killed over 100 people. It also came only five days before Cilia Flores is due in court for a hearing to decide whether she should be released under house arrest as a result of her worsening health. Since being kidnapped, Flores has experienced increasingly severe cardiac issues, including what her lawyers believe was a heart attack on July 29.

Additionally, court documents filed on September 30th revealed that in May 2026, the U.S. government attempted to force Flores to undergo heart surgery without her consent, transporting her to the hospital without warning and without a chance to consult with her lawyers. Her lawyers cite these and other incidents as part of their argument that Flores must be released to house arrest in order to undergo the needed heart surgery, which she would not be able to effectively recover from while in custody at the MDC.

At the rally, speakers kept the focus on Flores and highlighted these revelations from the court documents.

Briony Smith, who led the action on behalf of Brooklyn Against War, said “Now, Cilia needs us to come to her defense. Cilia is facing the same mistreatment, medical neglect, and denial of her bodily autonomy that so many women in the U.S. prison system face. We are here because she should never have been illegally abducted from Caracas. We are here because every woman has the right to make their own medical decisions. We are here because we must fight for Cilia as fiercely as she has fought for the women and people of Venezuela.”

Other speakers at the rally represented a broad coalition of anti-imperialist organizations, including Black Alliance for Peace, Workers World Party, All African People’s Revolution Party, Struggle La Lucha, Colectivo Bravo Pueblo, Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Amidst chants of, “Free the prisoners, free them all! Free Cilia from these walls,” Joe Wilkins of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization said, “So when we, as citizens of the United States, say ‘Free Cilia Flores,’ we’re not asking! We’re demanding that our government takes its boot off the neck of Venezuela, off Latin America, off the Caribbean, off West Asia, off the Pacific, off everyone it’s holding as a political prisoner! The Freedom Road Socialist Organization will not rest until these two political prisoners are free.”

The final speaker of the rally, Michela Martinazzi, also of Brooklyn Against War stated, “The billionaire class thrives on the oppression of women,” said Martinazzi, “from the heartbeat bill to trans women, to kidnapping women by ICE, Black women killed by the police to the thousands of women overseas Vietnam to Korea to the Philippines. By demanding that Cilia receives appropriate medical care, we are standing up for women everywhere neglected by this rotten system!”

After a short march, the rally ended with a moment of celebration. Participants signed cards and sang Happy Birthday for Flores, whose 70th birthday is on October 15.

The same organizations will also rally on Thursday, October 8, outside of the Federal Courthouse in Manhattan, beginning at 9:30 a.m. and continuing through Flores’s hearing, which is scheduled for 10:30 that day. The rally will be followed by a public press conference.

#NewYorkNY #NY #NYC #AntiWarMovement #Venezuela #CiliaFlores #NicolasMaduro

New Orleans, LA – Hundreds of student activists from across the country will arrive in New Orleans this Saturday and Sunday, October 3 and 4, for the 20th National Convention of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). October 3 will also mark nine months since the United States shamefully invaded and attacked Venezuela, kidnapping President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports (NOSHIP), a partner of the national Anti-War Action Network, has led the local struggle against intervention in Venezuela. The intervention has accomplished nothing but more suffering. In particular, the June 24 earthquakes near the capital city of Caracas killed over 6000 people and injured nearly a quarter million more.

“Our city was also devastated by a federal policy of neglect. Now we have the Trump administration trying to cut off aid and resources to more innocent civilians experiencing a disaster. Here, we find that especially alarming and abhorrent,” said Charlie Schully of NOSHIP. “That’s why it is fitting that the largest rally for Venezuelan sovereignty this week may be right here in New Orleans.”

Schully pointed to the fact that the United States is freezing Venezuelan assets in the International Monetary Fund, preventing them from accessing their own funds, and the decades of sanctions which have grown worse. “We call for their leaders to be freed, particularly Cilia Flores, who is quite literally dying in an American prison. But we also demand an end to U.S. sanctions and freeing up their nearly $5 billion in assets!”

Silas Gillett, of Liberate and Unite New Orleans (LUNO) Students for a Democratic Society, said that “Students for a Democratic Society stands in full support of jailed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.”

“As students and youth, we remember the student movement’s history of fighting against U.S. interventions abroad, from Vietnam to Palestine,” Gillett added. “As young people, we refuse to sit by and allow this imperialist government to spoil our world’s future by starting chaos and crises in independent countries. We all have a stake in the fight against foreign interventions. Whatever rights the U.S. imperialists can take away from people abroad, they can take away from us.”

NOSHIP will partner with local chapters of SDS to bring the rally and march against U.S. intervention in Venezuela to downtown New Orleans right after the first day of the National Convention. The rally will begin on Saturday at 5 p.m. in front of Armstrong Park. Activists will march through the French Quarter and end on the steps of Jackson Square.

You can sign the Anti-War Action Network petition to free President Maduro and First Lady Flores at www.tinyurl.com/awanfreemaduro.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #StudentMovement #AntiWarMovement #Venezuela #NicolasMaduro #CiliaFlores #AntiWarActionNetwork #SDS

At the end of August, Venezuela signed a major oil deal with the U.S. Because President Trump is widely viewed as a thief, liar and a braggart, the nature of the agreement is difficult to grasp at first glance. But we can and must seek truth from facts, which requires sifting through Trump and Rubio’s statements, the media’s framing, and the reality of the situation.

After a decade of punishing sanctions, Venezuela has endured invasion by the U.S., the bombing of its capital city, the kidnapping of its elected president and first lady, devastating earthquakes, and eight months of constant threats and blackmail. Delcy Rodríguez remains loyal to the Bolivarian Revolution, but she is locked in a delicate and existential negotiation for the future of Venezuela. It requires a sober grasp of reality to see that Venezuela is attempting to navigate an asymmetrical balance of power with a blood-thirsty pack of ghouls hell-bent on claiming dominance over the entire Western Hemisphere.

Eight months after the U.S. raid that kidnapped democratically-elected President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and National Assembly Deputy Cilia Flores, Trump bragged that he ”refills U.S. oil reserves with Venezuelan oil.” While his followers might believe this claim, the reality is very different. A major part of the new deal is a $100 billion investment so that North American Blue Energy Partners can expand its existing production from three oil fields to 17. Building infrastructure, extraction and refining are not quick operations, and will not be filling U.S. oil reserves in the near future. They are, however, recognized by oil workers and trade unionists throughout Venezuela as a major step forward to return to previous production levels and beyond.

While the Bolivarian Revolution has used oil revenue to invest in other sectors to diversify its economy, its main economic engine is still petroleum. It has been the golden goose that funded so many important, transformational achievements, like alleviating super-poverty and illiteracy while creating access to free health care and education. The involvement of U.S. oil companies in Venezuela is not unprecedented; the U.S.-based Chevron Corporation has continued to operate in Venezuela under Chavez, Maduro, and now Rodríguez.

Speaking to the weekly videoconference of international trade unionists on September 4, Jorge Arreaza, a deputy of the National Assembly and head of the National University of the Communes, shared how this deal aligns with exactly what President Chavez had said for years. “Even on his hospital bed in 2013, El Comandante said: we need to increase oil production, we need to be selling to the U.S. market.” Fellow National Assembly deputy and past president of the Venezuela Transport Workers Union, Francisco Torrealba, added this deal “achieves concrete results that will benefit the working class, improve our telecommunications sector, provide funding to improve our national electrical infrastructure, hospital and care services.”

A poll on September 7 by the Venezuela firm Hinterlaces showed 82% of Venezuelans support the deal. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez also highlighted the potential of $200 billion in tax revenue for Venezuela over the 25 years of the deal. With a goal of yielding an added 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), the oil deal would more than double current production.

To put this into context, since 1965, Venezuela has produced 3 million-plus bpd 20 times, and 2.5 million bpd another 12 times. In fact, production had not dropped below 2.5 million bpd since 1993, until 2014. That is when the Obama administration started sanctions that have only ramped up year after year. This was a major factor that caused Venezuela to lose its biggest oil export market, some 40% of its total global oil exports, as exports to the U.S. went from 300,000 barrels to zero by 2020. This constituted a loss of over $200 billion in revenue and the equivalent to 213% of Venezuela’s GDP.

In addition to economic warfare, the U.S. also deployed political interventions. Both the Obama and Trump administrations supported the wealthy opposition in their hoarding and price gouging, fomenting unrest and violence, declaring self-selected presidents, and assassination attempts. All of these attempts, to either force regime change or bring Venezuela’s government to the negotiations table to privatize its oil sector, failed.

With the U.S. market closed to it, Venezuela adapted and shifted the majority of its exports to China. After 2020, Venezuela experienced a remarkable recovery in which the economy grew, achieving some of the highest GDP growth in Latin America from 2022 to 2024. This recovery screeched to a near halt in 2025 when the U.S. invaded the South Caribbean with 15,000 military personnel, hundreds of aircraft, and dozens of warships; began extrajudicial killings of fisherpeople; and resorted to piracy, as naval vessels seized tankers carrying Venezuela oil headed for Cuba and China.

Even as the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) built up its forces clearly to engage Venezuela, President Maduro and the PSUV made sure that the masses had access to democratic organs to participate in their own self-defense and defense of the revolution. This effort to deepen the revolution created more communal councils, restructured top leadership with gender balance, aligned trade unions in the military-civic union, and nearly doubled the numbers of citizens in the militias and provided military training. This level of preparation demonstrated to the whole world that a traditional invasion and land battle would be a difficult one for the U.S. So that option for the U.S. was off the table; instead they resorted to kidnapping President Maduro and First Lady Flores.

After January 3, the U.S. did not simply withdraw all of its military forces back to the states. The U.S. SOUTHCOM has stayed nearby and quickly moved 2000 troops, allegedly to support earthquake relief. And it continues to use force to flex its power in the region. Recently, the U.S. conducted its 68th extrajudicial killing, bringing the death toll up to 227.

With an elected president kidnapped, a capital city bombed and that military threatening further destruction and higher toll, what was Venezuela to do? As yet, no international or domestic movement has been strong enough to force the U.S. to drop its sanctions on Venezuela, to allow Venezuela full access to its $5 billion in assets in the IMF, or to compel the Bank of England to return Venezuela’s $5 billion in gold. Venezuela remains a country dependent upon oil production for economic, social and political maintenance of daily life and future progress. Now, it stares down the barrel of U.S. imperialism stalking its shores and airspace. What other options remained?

The Bolivarian Revolution needed to adjust, endure a setback, and yet still benefit from a deal that aligns with their goals and needs in both the short and long term.

The PSUV is still in power, and the Bolivarian Revolution continues to roll on. Trump and Rubio must go through the people’s government to get deals. Marina Corina Machado and the reactionaries are not in power. This all signals that the revolution remains popular, and that it can endure setbacks, overcome obstacles, and seek a rebirth.

#Venezuela #International #NicolasMaduro #DelcyRodriguez #Trump #PSUV #Oil

Caracas, Venezuela – “A PSUV victory is the most important present for Commander Hugo Chavez. Today, July 28, is the anniversary of his birthday, the same day as the popular triumph of the people,” says international observer Diakaridia Diakita, the president of the youth of the Yelema party in the Republic of Mali. PSUV stands for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

Over 800 international observers from around the world are in Venezuela to observe the historic elections between the Chavista PSUV leader Nicolás Maduro and the opposition pro-imperialism parties.

The main opposition candidate is Edmundo Gonzalez, who supports the privatization of the oil companies, schools, healthcare, and the removal of social programs that former President Chavez started.

These international observers come from unions, left parties, newspapers, and organizations from around the world. The grandson of Nelson Mandela, Nkosi Zwelivelile, is also observing this important election. Observers talk about the importance of this election for Venezuela, Latin America and the world.

Observers from Africa, Latin America, Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, and all over the world will be monitoring today’s election.

“Venezuela has been strangled by sanctions for over a decade. This election will show us if Maduro has been able to lead his country to persevere, or if smear campaigns and national betrayal of the opposition will bring the country back down into vassal status. The fate of Venezuela rests on July 28,” says Ahmed Eltouny, the former cochair of the Green Party in the U.S.

Booker Omole, the vice president of the Communist Party of Kenya, says, “I am here in Caracas to attend this very important event of the revolutionary history of Venezuela. Particularly, the Communist Party of Kenya is an internationalist organization, and we support the Bolivarian Revolution. Also, there are certain commonalities between the Venezuelan revolution and the ongoing processes in Kenya, which is still a neocolonial entity.”

Omole continued, “In 1989, in Caracas and major cities in Venezuela, there was a social explosion in the streets, where the IMF and World Bank had imposed austerity measures, the anti-people policies. In Kenya today, the masses and the working class are also resisting. We have seen millions of people pouring into the streets to resist the puppet regime that is sponsored by the USA imperialism. This reminds of similarities where the IMF has designed policies, particularly here in Venezuela, that took ten years after the social explosion for the Bolivarian revolution to materialize. Hugo Chavez still lives among us, not only here in Caracas, but also in Kenya.”

#CaracasVZ #Venezuela #Caracas #Venezuela #Maduro #NicolasMaduro #Elections #VZElection #HugoChavez #PSUV #Chavista #EdmundoGonzalez #Mali #DiakaridiaDiakita #GreenParty #Kenya #IMF #WorldBank #Kenya #BookerOmole #HastaLaVictoriaSiempre

Caracas, Venezuela – “Hasta la victoria! El pueblo unido jamás se ha vencido!” tens of thousands chanted, filling the streets, in the rally for President Nicolás Maduro on July 26.

The presidential elections of Venezuela are July 28. These historic elections are crucial in continuing the PSUV-led Bolivarian revolution of former President Chavez and the current President Maduro.

Under Chavez and now Maduro’s leadership, widespread social programs such as free schools, literacy centers, free universal healthcare and free universities have been established. Due to these widespread literacy centers and free education, UNESCO declared Venezuela free of illiteracy. The PSUV also launched a program called, “La Gran Misión Vivienda Venezuela” (Great Mission Housing Venezuela) and built over 5 million units of free housing for Venezuelans. You can see these buildings all over Venezuela, with Chavez’ signature in big letters on the outside of the buildings.

Under Maduro’s leadership, the government launched the People’s Assembly, made up of leaders from Las Comunas, the neighborhood organizations. The democratic People’s Assembly has real power and can pass laws and establish new programs that serve the Venezuelan people.

They have also nationalized the oil companies to bring more profit into Venezuela, instead of having the profits go to other imperialist countries like the USA. Before Chavez, five-sixths of the profit from petroleum went out of the country. Now, most of the profits stay in the country to support social programs. 

In Venezuela, the pro-imperialist opposition parties want to take control away from the people and remove social programs. The main opposition candidate is Edmundo Gonzalez. His neoliberal program, called the “Land of the Grace,” states that his first measure will be to privatize the oil and gas industry. The opposition wants to privatize schools, so they will no longer be free; privatize companies; amend the Organic Law on Labor to remove the restrictions on labor rights; remove pensions so workers will pay their own retirement in private banks.

The opposition party has close relations with the United States government. The U.S. government has major interest in these elections due to the profit they would make from the opposition’s right-wing program and to crush the Chavista national democratic movement. 

Venezuela is an inspiration to workers all around the world that another world is possible, a world where the power is in the hands of the “pueblo” (the people).

#CaracasVZ #Venezuela #Caracas #Venezuela #Maduro #NicolasMaduro #Elections #VZElection #HugoChavez #PSUV #Chavista #EdmundoGonzalez #HastaLaVictoriaSiempre