Venezuela, Memory, And The Long Arc Of US Imperialism

Venezuela, Memory, And The Long Arc Of US Imperialism Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report (blackagendareport.com › venezuela memory and long arc us imperialism). Memories of a sovereign Venezuela collide with the reality that it is now a U.S. vassal state. The U.S. subordination of the Venezuelan state did not occur in a vacuum and cannot be discussed without mentioning the awful toll imperialism has taken on people all over the world. The list of recent imperialist victories against sovereignty and self-determination of peoples is a long one, even if one begins as late as the 21st century. George W. Bush led a U.S. invasion of Iraq which killed 1 million people, and the occupation continues to this day. In 2011, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton achieved regime change against the Libyan state, which resulted in the deaths of thousands and a divided nation. The humanitarian crisis caused by the U.S. continues and not just for that country but for the entire region. Fresh off of that diabolical victory, the U.S. and its NATO co-conspirators began the same strategy of using jihadist proxies against the Syrian Arab Republic, and they succeeded in its destruction in 2024. The Ukraine proxy war began with a U.S. coup against the elected Ukrainian government in 2014. Now a four-year-long war using that country against Russia is still being waged by the president who said he would end it. There were wars against socialist governments in the Americas for decades before. The Cuban government was under assault from the earliest days of the 1959 revolution, from the Bay of Pigs invasion to germ warfare, suffocating coercive measures, and the designation as a “state sponsor of terrorism.” Nicaragua was attacked militarily by U.S. proxies in the so-called Contra War in the 1980s. In 2018, the first Donald Trump administration attempted another Nicaragua coup using opposition groups who waged a violent campaign against their fellow citizens. Venezuela was also targeted by multiple administrations. In 2019, Washington actually chose a would-be president, Juan Guaido, for the oil-rich nation, which was prevented from selling its resources, and which was also subjected to coercive measures that devastated its economy. The Biden administration continued Trump’s state terror designation against Cuba, assisted opposition groups working against all of these states, and sponsored legislation dedicated to weakening them. In the early morning hours of January 3, 2026, the U.S. finally struck Venezuela militarily, kidnapping President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, First Combatant Cilia Flores. The attack began months before, as the U.S. public was told that Maduro was a “narco terrorist” and the label was justified by the killings of 200 fishermen in the Caribbean who were said to be drug traffickers. The U.S. has since stolen billions of dollars in oil revenues, threatened the Interim President with a secret indictment and succeeded in rearresting Alex Saab (blackagendareport.com › betrayal venezuela), who is now back in U.S. custody after being freed in 2023, giving its US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) free rein to do as they please in Venezuela, and inviting Israelis who allegedly assist in earthquake rescue efforts. Not very long ago, there was hope that Venezuela would survive as a sovereign nation and not as a U.S. vassal state. There was hope that socialist governments would thrive, despite many attacks. This columnist was fortunate enough to witness for herself how millions of people were able to live freely in the Americas despite Washington’s hostility. I was able to participate in meetings in the U.S. to talk with officials and travel with other supporters of human rights and self-determination. In January 2022, I sat on a stage in Managua, Nicaragua, as President Daniel Ortega was sworn in after his electoral victory. Nicolas Maduro was there and so was Miguel Diaz-Canel, the president of Cuba.