15 Central American points of reflection and outrage on the aggression of the United States in Venezuela

Joint statement from the Central Americanist Articulation O Istmo, its CLACSO Working Group “The Central American Isthmus”, and the Central Americanist journal Claroscuros

1. The Central Americanist Articulation or Isthmus and the CLACSO Working Group The Central American Isthmus: Epistemological and Peripheral Perspectives expresses its position regarding the political-military aggressions of January 3, 2026 in Latin American territories, in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, promoted by the current government of the United States of America, whose gravity inaugurates a new era of alarm in international relations in these first decades of the 21st century. The operation “Absolute ResolveThe plan to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro under the implausible pretext of accusing him of being a "drug trafficker" materialized through a violent and crude military attack of an imperialist nature by the U.S. against the national sovereignty of Venezuela and the current international order, which also resulted in at least 80 deaths during the offensive in the country's capital, Caracas. 
2. The official rhetoric of the United States to justify its cinematic aggression against the Latin American country and its president, which insists on the version of Venezuelan state narcoterrorism, is particularly hypocritical when President Donald Trump himself authorized a pardon just weeks before the aggression against Venezuela for the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando.
   Hernández, sentenced in 2024 in the US justice system to 45 years in prison for links to international drug traffickingUnder the spurious pretext of drug trafficking imputed to Nicolás Maduro, an unprecedented hostile military action has been mobilized in South American territory, unilaterally and without authorization from the legislative power of his country or the United Nations (UN).
3. Beyond the media spectacle, the US aggression of January 3, 2026, is an extreme geopolitical gamble by the current US administration. Following its execution, the concrete political intention has not been concealed by Donald Trump and is well known to the public: control of Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world, which were, de facto, under the control of US energy exploration companies from the beginning of the 20th century until Hugo Chávez came to power in Venezuela (1999-2013), consolidating a renewed cycle of openly anti-imperialist stance in Latin America.This new US aggression, therefore, is part of the old attempt, now open and desperate, to mitigate the effects of the country's current degeneration from its hegemonic status as a global power.
4. The so-called "petrodollar system"—upon which the global financial architecture has been designed since the second half of the last century, based on the exploitation of fossil and non-renewable energy sources—has maintained the United States as the global economic power for more than 50 years, but it is becoming exhausted as a viable system in the face of increasingly evident economic and political signs of a shift in global power from the Atlantic to the dominant powers in the Indo-Pacific region. China stands out in this regard, and Russia, with its enormous military power and innovative energy matrices and digital technologies, is partnered with it, controlling the supply of raw materials and the industrialization of these materials and their derivative products.
5. Therefore, the direct and far-reaching effects, impacts, and global significance of this US aggression on the international political architecture, with the consequent weakening it has caused in an already fragile international system of nation-states (e.g., the non-binding nature of international law), make It is essential that organizations around the globe, committed to emancipatory processes, peace and social justice — networks, collectives, associations and social movements, especially in Latin America — take a stand on this issue Based on a critical reading of the facts, an analysis of the broad and profound socio-political implications, and with responsibility for the present and future of the peoples and territories of Venezuela and the entire planet.
6. Therefore, from the Central American Articulation O Istmo and its GT-CLACSO, we express our categorical rejection and vehement indignation at these US aggressions which constitute, in addition to a violent attack against human rights, a blatant violation of the principles that govern the current international system of nation-states, embodied in the Charter of the United Nations, of the most basic values ​​of sovereignty, self-determination of peoples and which represent a dangerous update of the Monroe Doctrine.
7. The current United States government has made explicit its implementation of the “Trump corollary” of this imperialist doctrine of United States foreign policy, first stated more than 200 years ago, in 1823, by then-President James Monroe, who originally expressed – in the context of the independence of European colonies in the “new world” – that any intervention in the political affairs of the American continent by foreign powers from other continents would be considered a potentially hostile act against the United States.
8. In Central America, the violent and utilitarian interventionist evolution of the United States takes on particular relevance Because, based on this Doctrine, the idea that the Caribbean and Central America are part of the “exclusive sphere of influence of the United States” has existed, at least, since 1880. It was characteristic of the vision of the government of the president of the time (“Rutherford Hayes corollary” of the Monroe Doctrine) that shaped the political terrain for the US to justify its vision of “exercising the right”, for example, of exclusive control to erect and manage the Panama Canal, in 1914, which changed global trade in the 20th century in its favor.
9. Also with direct reference to Central America, in this historical timeline what we saw on January 3, 2026, reflects what happened more than three decades ago, in 1989, in Panama, in one of the most shocking US aggressions in Latin American territories, when the US government of George Bush carried out the arrest of Manuel Noriega, who served as Head of Government of the isthmian country. In the first days of 2026, we witnessed a “Noriega-ization” of Venezuelan President Nicolás MaduroHe was accused of drug trafficking to the United States and was also captured in a military operation in his own country. Noriega was tried and convicted in 1991 in the United States, where he received a 40-year prison sentence. He served his sentence until 2007 in the U.S., then was extradited to France and finally returned to Panama, where he died in 2017.
10. The Central American Articulation O Istmo and its GT-CLACSO, from a Central Americanist, isthmian and liberating human rights ethic, We denounce the kidnapping of a president of a sovereign nation-state in his own country Because, in addition to the brutal nature of such an action, it sets a very dangerous precedent with profound consequences: the transformation of respect for state sovereignty into the vulgar imposition of the strongest country. Any political project imposed by force or coercion demands our indignation and rejection. It violates the right of the diverse peoples inhabiting our Latin American region to decide on their own interests, without the interference of foreign or oligarchic states, or international corporations.
11. We understand and are concerned about the reactionary wave sweeping across Latin America and the world Through national governments, which in many cases are established in different countries through democratic elections (requiring a deeper and more in-depth analysis of the electoral process and liberal democracy), the political battleground on which we must operate is redefined. The current United States government, however, goes even further, brazenly reviving, in the 21st century, the retrograde imperialist logic of wielding power by invading and dominating territories for its own exploitation and profit.
12. US President Donald Trump, in the first year of his second term, He has already publicly and openly expressed his intention to annex Greenland, Canada, and Mexican territories to the United States. He has also threatened attacks to destabilize Iran, Cuba, and Colombia.Defiantly and explicitly demonstrating its belligerent, violent, and contemptuous view of political processes, the US culminated in its decision, less than a week after the invasion of Venezuela, to withdraw from more than 60 international organizations within the UN system.
13. However, and above all, We stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela, We stand with those who remain in the country, as well as with the 7,9 million Venezuelans who, in the last two decades, have been forced to leave the country for socio-political and economic reasons. We condemn the various attacks this people has received from different ideological positions, long before January 2026, particularly those that seek to moralize or delegitimize their feelings, whether it be the joy at the possibility of returning to the country or the powerlessness in the face of a persistent reality of exclusion and violence. The Venezuelan population in exile, especially the working class, has faced poverty, regional neglect, and multiple forms of racism and discrimination.
14. We call for respect for history and trajectories. These people, and those from other countries in the region—such as Nicaragua—have lived through the socio-psychological traumas and material effects of authoritarian regimes. Their reactions do not stem from ideological abstractions, but from concrete and profoundly painful experiences of repression felt firsthand. It is possible to condemn interference and interventionist policies while simultaneously recognizing and sharing the hope—however fragile—for a democratic Venezuela. These two positions are not mutually exclusive.
15. Finally, We urge the Latin American community to approach the diverse expressions of the peoples And, especially during this period, to the people of Venezuela, with respect, empathy, and a critical perspective, recognizing the complexity of the current sociopolitical situation—with its global effects—which cannot be reduced to a binary, Manichean reading nor interpreted exclusively as a conflict between right and left. Our peoples and our social and political organizations must deepen their reflection in order to mobilize decisive and emancipatory action. The silence and resignation will not be broken by the neocolonial submission of the current governments of Argentina or El Salvador, with Javier Milei and Nayib Bukele as sad examples in present-day South and Central America. Imperialism is not invincible, but it is popular organization, beyond the state apparatus, that is capable of breaking the current and truly emancipating the world.

Central Americanist Articulation or Isthmus
CLACSO Working GroupThe Central American Isthmus: Epistemological and Peripheral Perspectives"-
Central Americanist Magazine Claroscuros

This text expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Groups and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.