Statement from the CLACSO Working Group on Energy and Sustainable Development regarding the United States military attack against Venezuela

The United States military intervention against Venezuela, carried out in the early hours of January 3, constitutes a serious violation of international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the elementary principles of sovereignty, non-intervention and self-determination of peoples.

From the CLACSO Working Group on Energy and Sustainable Development We repudiate this escalation of war and denounce the political motives behind it. Public statements by US authorities have explicitly justified the intervention as a means to “ensure stability” and, above all, to control strategic energy resources: “We seek to surround ourselves with good neighbors and produce oil for many countries.” This is yet another update of the Monroe Doctrine: no longer are supposed civilizing missions invoked, but rather the open intention to subordinate territories and peoples to the US.
security needs and capital accumulation, today centered around oil.

As an academic community committed to a just energy transition, we also warn of the profoundly regressive message this aggression sends: in the context of a global climate crisis, fossil fuels, and oil in particular, are once again being used as justification for intervention, militarization, and dispossession. This rationale blocks sovereign paths to productive and energy transformation and normalizes the idea that military force can be a legitimate instrument for reshaping governments and economies.

We reaffirm that solutions to political and social disputes must be strictly peaceful, democratic, and decided by the people themselves, without threats or external interference. Therefore, we call upon the governments of the region, social organizations and movements, and the international academic community to condemn the attack, demand an immediate cessation of all military action, and promote a diplomatic solution based on full respect for international law.

                                                CLACSO Working Group on Energy and Sustainable Development
                                                                                                                         January 3, 2026

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