KARAPATAN: Stop U.S. Military Aggression Against Venezuela!
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS STATEMENT
06 January 2026
Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
KARAPATAN: Stop U.S. Military Aggression Against Venezuela!
KARAPATAN strongly condemns the United States’ military aggression against Venezuela, a grave crime of aggression against the Venezuelan people, which is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and the fundamental principles of the Venezuelan people’s right to national sovereignty and self-determination.
The bombing of civilian and military areas in Caracas and nearby states has placed millions of civilians at grave risk. These attacks show a total disregard for civilian lives, and make as false the Trump government’s claims that the strikes are part of its campaign against narcotics and illegal migrants. According to reports, the airstrikes and blockades have already resulted in deaths, injuries, and the destruction of livelihoods, including the devastation of Venezuela’s fishing sector and other sources of economic survival for ordinary people.
The kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro shows how far U.S. intervention and aggression can go to pursue its interests, echoing past U.S. invasions and part of a long-standing pattern of U.S. intervention in Latin America, carried out through economic blockades, military threats, political destabilization, and regime-change operations pursued by successive U.S. administrations.
Right after the strikes, Trump instantly said that U.S. oil companies will take over the oil industry in Venezuela, its vast oil reserves and other strategic resources -- the real motive behind the U.S. military aggression against Venezuela. Venezuela’s decision to assert sovereign control over its oil industry and refuse subservience to U.S. economic domination has long subjected the country to sanctions, sabotage, and now open military attack. These actions are not motivated by any genuine concern for democracy or human rights, but by U.S. imperial interests determined to seize Venezuela’s resources and impose a government that serves foreign economic and geopolitical agendas—at the expense of the Venezuelan people’s lives and future.
The Trump-led U.S. aggression against Venezuela undermines its political independence and trample on the Venezuelan people’s inalienable right to self-determination. Once again, the Trump-led U.S. government exposes itself as a serial violator of international law, and main instigator and driver of wars, occupations, and large-scale human rights violations across multiple regions of the world.
KARAPATAN expresses its solidarity with the people of Venezuela, as a Philippine-based human rights alliance that is cognizant of the oppression, fascism, and dire impacts of US intervention. The Filipino people know from historical and ongoing experience the devastating consequences of U.S. military presence, political interference, and economic domination. We stand in solidarity to oppose any desperate attempt to crack down on the ongoing protests of the people of Venezuela for sovereignty and against U.S. military aggression. Peoples’ struggles against oppression and exploitation are just and urgent, now more than ever.
We call on the international community, human rights institutions, and peoples’ organizations to hold the Trump-led U.S. government accountable, reject wars of aggression, and take action to uphold sovereignty and human rights in Venezuela and the rest of the world.
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KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign.