04/01/2026
Down with Trump's imperialist aggression against Venezuela!
Statement by the Organising Committee for the Reconstitution of the Fourth International (OCRFI)
3 January 2026
On the night of 2 to 3 January, the US Air Force bombed Venezuela. Trump announced that he had
kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
The Organising Committee for the Reconstitution of the Fourth International (OCRFI) denounces this imperialist
aggression against a sovereign nation, which is merely a continuation of the deployment of a US armada off the
coast of Venezuela since September 2025, the bombing of Venezuelan and Colombian boats in the Caribbean Sea,
and the Trump administration's order to the CIA to carry out “clandestine operations” on Venezuelan territory.
The OCRFI demands an end to the bombings and the release of Nicolas Maduro and his supporters. It rejects with
utter contempt the pretexts Trump uses to justify them. It is obviously neither the “war on drugs” nor the “fight for
democracy” that motivates the Trump administration.
The Trump administration's main motivation—the same motivation behind the war in Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza,
the war of plunder in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the trade war against all countries, particularly China, and
the war against the democratic and social rights of workers in the United States—is to impose the dictatorship of
Wall Street finance capital by any means necessary.
Regarding Venezuela, its main motivation was revealed on 5 November by its protégée, the Venezuelan “Nobel
Peace Prize winner” Maria Machado, speaking at the American Business Forum in Miami, Florida : “We will open
Venezuela for foreign investment. (…) not only in oil and gas, but also in mining, in gold, in infrastructure, power (…)
will have security for foreign investment, and a transparent, massive privatization program that is waiting for you!”
The genocide in Gaza was a warning to the peoples of the world. Maduro's kidnapping is a warning to any politician
who does not toe the line of US imperialism.
There is another motive that workers need to be aware of. Just as European NATO governments have been waving
the spectre of “external threats” for months to build broad consensus for militarisation, Trump needs war.
Entangled in the Epstein scandal, and with his policies causing a collapse in workers' living standards, Trump needs
national unity around him. For months, he has already enjoyed the support of the Democratic Party, whose leaders—
including most of the leaders of its “left wing”— have covered up his escalation of war.
But neither in the United States nor anywhere else in the world do workers and their organisations have any interest
in supporting this imperialist war of plunder against Venezuela. For it will only reinforce the “war at home” waged by
capitalist governments against the working class and democratic freedoms.
The solution will come neither from the capitalist governments nor from the UN, which a month ago legitimised
Trump's shameful “peace plan” in Gaza. The solution will come from the mobilisation of workers and peoples around
the world in solidarity with the Venezuelan people.
Regardless of one's views on the Maduro government, the broadest unity is necessary to demand an end to
imperialist intervention, the withdrawal of US troops, the release of Maduro and his wife, the rejection of any ground
intervention, and the rejection of the plundering of resources that belong to the people of Venezuela.
For supporters of the reconstitution of the Fourth International, this new step towards a generalised imperialist war
confirms the relevance of Lenin's words: “If socialism does not triumph, peace between capitalist states will be
nothing more than an armistice, a truce, the preparation for a new slaughter between peoples. Peace and bread—
these are the main demands of the workers and the exploited... Peace and bread, the overthrow of the bourgeoisie,
revolutionary means to heal the wounds caused by the war, the total victory of socialism—these are the objectives
of the struggle.” (14 December 1917).
The organisations affiliated to the OCRFI will participate in any rally of unity organised by workers' and democratic
organisations under the slogans:
- Immediate end to Trump's imperialist aggression against Venezuela!
- Withdrawal of US troops, stop the bombing!
- Release Nicolas Maduro and his wife!
- From Gaza to Venezuela, from Ukraine to the DRC: down with war, down with exploitation, down with imperialism.
