In response to the United States military attack against Venezuela

In response to the US military attack against Venezuela and the interventionist statements of President Donald Trump

The CLACSO Working Group on US Studies expresses its strong condemnation of the US military attack against the people and authorities of Venezuela, as well as the unilateral actions and interventionist statements recently made at the press conference by President Donald Trump, in which he again legitimized the use of force, coercion and threats as instruments of foreign policy.

Both the content and the tone of that speech reaffirm a logic of direct interference, disregard for sovereignty, and contempt for the principles that govern international coexistence, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean.

These actions and pronouncements are not isolated incidents, but rather part of a long tradition of US intervention in the region, the historical consequences of which have been political violence, institutional destabilization, systematic violations of human rights, and the deterioration of living conditions for large segments of the population.

This Working Group clearly states that peace cannot be built through kidnapping, coercion, threats, or military offensives. Such practices constitute flagrant violations of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, and the basic principles of peaceful coexistence among states, and only lead to a further escalation of conflicts, human suffering, and increasing regional instability.

We reiterate that no State has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, in the internal affairs of another, and we reaffirm the self-determination of peoples as an inalienable premise of the international order. In this context, we support the calls and mobilizations aimed at preserving peace, preventing any escalation of hostilities, and promoting political and diplomatic solutions based on dialogue, mutual respect, and full adherence to international law.

We warn that the normalization of discourses and practices that legitimize kidnapping, threats, or military intervention represents an unacceptable breach of the basic consensus of the international order, sets extremely dangerous precedents for Venezuela and the entire region, and opens the door to new forms of violence, arbitrariness, and domination that Latin America and the Caribbean have historically suffered and that decades of struggles for democracy, peace, and human rights have sought to eradicate.

CLACSO Working Group on Studies of the United States

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.