Seattle protest demands: ‘Hands off Venezuela!’

Seattle, WA – On October 12, anti-war and immigrant rights organizers in Seattle gathered with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) to answer the Anti-War Action Network’s (AWAN) call for protests against the escalation in U.S. aggression against Venezuela. A small crowd assembled in front of the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building to show solidarity with the Venezuela and demand to keep that country free from U.S. intervention.

The program opened with a speech from Seattle Against War (SAW) member Izzy McCabe, who stated, “We understand that the same system bombing fisher people in the Caribbean is bombing Palestinians; that the same system that steals Palestinian land wants to steal Venezuelan land too; that they call Venezuela a dictatorship to be liberated in the same way they call the Palestinian resistance terrorists from which the Palestinian people must be ‘saved.’ We know all too well that every accusation from our rulers is a confession.”

“When we hear the U.S. say that Venezuela is our enemy, we say ‘I don’t think so!’” said Robert Engel, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization speaker. “When the U.S. tells us Venezuela is trafficking drugs and is a narco-terrorists state, when even the UN will tell you Venezuela has no large-scale drug trafficking or drug production whatsoever, we say, ‘I’m not stupid!’ When the United States accuses the Venezuelan state of punishing their political opponents, or unlawful detention or human rights abuses, we say, ‘Look who’s talking!’ The same U.S. empire that put a two-million-dollar bounty on Assata Shakur’s head. The Supreme Court that just legalized the racial profiling of Chicanos. The same U.S. that let the police department bomb its own people in Philadelphia in 1985. Jails that hold more people than any country in the world. Guess what? We don’t trust you!”

The violence towards Venezuela is not limited to missile strikes on fishing boats. Immigrants, especially Venezuelans, within the U.S. face targeted anti-immigration terror from the Trump administration.

The speaker from the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) related the story of a Venezuelan immigrant named José, stating, “After mobilizing with ILPS after the election, José was picked up by ICE, where he was sent to Texas. In February we found he was deported to Guantánamo Bay. Guantánamo Bay is an illegal U.S. base in occupied Cuban territory, infamous for the human rights violations perpetrated there.” The speaker continued: “To torture a father separated from his family, it is everyday violence of the system. We continue to fight alongside him and alongside all those who have been displaced by the violence caused by imperialism. Amidst Trump’s attacks the mass movement of migrants is rising up and fighting back.”

Another personal connection to the disastrous outcomes of U.S. foreign military intervention was related by a member of Seattle Democratic Socialists of America, who said, “When my Colombian grandparents were alive, they lived through U.S.-sponsored civil war that left the country torn and bloody. This kind of violence and repression is what we expected and continue to expect to see from the United States.”

President Donald Trump has authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to begin secret operations in Venezuelan territory with the ultimate goal of regime change.

“We need to take this seriously,” said FRSO member Jeremiah Baxter after the event. “U.S. aggression against Venezuela isn’t just an anti-war issue; it’s also an immigrant rights issue. We can build a strong united front to make sure this doesn’t go the way it did in Iraq and Libya. We’re stronger together, and when we fight, we win.”

The rally was endorsed the Palestinian organization Nidal, which added their voices and numbers to condemn the threatened U.S. intervention against Venezuela. Closing out the programming for the event, a member of Nidal gave a speech: “We recognize our struggle is intertwined with the struggle of oppressed people around the world, and that includes steadfast Venezuela that has resisted the invasive tentacles of empire. We don’t need to wait for the mass killings of Venezuelan civilians; we don’t need to wait for forced displacement. Together we can free us all.”

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