Milwaukee Anti-war Committee holds ‘No War with Venezuela’ teach-in

Milwaukee, WI – On Saturday, January 17, over 30 community members drove through a snowstorm to gather at Milwaukee Public Library to attend Milwaukee Anti-war Committee’s (MAC) teach-in on Venezuela, part of MAC’s No War with Venezuela month of action. Attendees heard speakers cover Venezuela’s rich history of resistance and the connections between Venezuela and Palestine.

The teach-in featured four activists, starting with MAC Education Co-chair Añita Herrezuelo, who spoke on the U.S.’s long history of meddling, intervention and coup attempts in Venezuela, which has continuously been met with successful resistance. There is a pattern of the U.S. committing illegal war crimes, most recently kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro under the pretense of “drug trafficking,” without any evidence.

Herrezuelo stated, “Western media ignores the historical sabotage of the U.S. on Venezuela’s economy. Instead, it often talks about poverty, inflation, inaccessibility of goods, ‘corruption,’ and blames this solely on the Venezuelan government and economic system while never talking about the coup attempts, hybrid warfare, and illegal sanctions by the U.S.”

Casey Serrano of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) recently returned from a solidarity delegation to Venezuela, attending the International Peoples’ Assembly for Sovereignty and Peace hosted by the Simón Bolivar Institute for Peace and Solidarity Among Peoples. That assembly gathered thousands of people from around the world, even from the U.S. as Trump issued a no-fly zone. Casey spoke about their experiences meeting union workers and visiting several communes led by working class people. 

One of the most important takeaways from their trip was the difference in priorities between U.S. presidents and Venezuelan President Maduro. While at the commune, their delegation and ambassadors from other countries, including Russia and Burkina Faso, waited while President Maduro first toured the commune and walked among the people. 

Casey stated, “President Maduro’s speech was about reinvesting money into the communes and reinvesting money into the people. In the U.S., all we hear about is how we’re going to reinvest money into fighting other countries, like Venezuela, and giving more money to Netanyahu. It’s all about these external battles that the U.S. is so concerned about and never about putting more money into education, healthcare, food, or anything else that would actually make anybody’s life better.”

Eric Kleppe-Montenegro, a member of Guacamaya Roja, a national organization made up of Colombian diasporas, talked about the solidarity between Venezuela and Latin American countries.

Kleppe-Montenegro stated, “Under President Gustavo Petro, Colombia has been able to prevent any sort of U.S. intervention to be staged from Colombia. President Petro understands that an attack on Venezuela is an attack on Colombia, and that solidarity is what we see in Cuba too. Venezuela and Cuba have both suffered under the same type of economic blockade and have come to depend on each other greatly, especially because of how much Cuba depends on the Venezuelan economy to stay afloat. This isn’t about Venezuela, and it’s never just been about Venezuela. It’s about all of Latin America and the threat to our sovereignty, our freedom, dignity, and self-determination.”

The threat to Venezuela significantly impacts the surrounding region, including Puerto Rico. Herrezuelo noted that Puerto Rico has been under permanent U.S. military occupation and has been unable to govern itself.

The bombing of Caracas and kidnapping of President Maduro is one front of U.S. imperialism. This comes as the destruction of Gaza by Israel continues, a central project of U.S. imperialism for decades. Janan Najeeb, co-chair of the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, spoke about not only the coordinated similarities of U.S. imperialism, but the history of solidarity between the Venezuelan and Palestinian people.

“Since the rule of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela has been a strong supporter of Palestinian rights, twice expelling the Israeli ambassador,” Najeeb said. “Chavez was a hero in the Arab world. Maduro was also hated by Israel, for condemning their actions and calling them an illegal state.”

As the United States and Trump regime continue to make enemies around the world and within their own borders, the solidarity movement only grows stronger. MAC will conclude their No War with Venezuela month of actions with a One Year Against Trump rally and car caravan on Tuesday, January 20.

Details for January 20 can be found on MAC’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #AntiWarMovement #MAC #Venezuela

Source: https://fightbacknews.org/milwaukee-anti-war-committee-holds-no-war-with-venezuela-teach-in?pk_campaign=rss-feed