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| Volume 55 Number 26, November 1, 2025 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
Demonstration in Caracas to defend peace and oppose US
threats against the country, October 6, 2025
On October 26, the government of Venezuela issued a statement denouncing what it referred to as the "military exercises" being carried out in the neighbouring country of Trinidad and Tobago between October 26 and 30. These warmongering exercises are co-ordinated and financed by the United States government and according to the statement "constitute a hostile provocation against Venezuela and a serious threat to peace in the Caribbean". The government of Venezuela also reported that it had apprehended a "mercenary group" linked to the CIA which provided information that a "false-flag operation" was being prepared to create the pretext for a "full-scale military confrontation" against Venezuela.
Trinidad and Tobago, October 16, 2025, picket for
peace
The statement was issued in the wake of the deployment by the United States of an unprecedented military armada in the Caribbean. The armada includes at least a dozen warships, including three guided-missile destroyers, an attack submarine, a special operations ship, a guided missile cruiser and the world's largest warship USS Gerald Ford, which can carry over 90 military aircraft. In addition, US imperialism has deployed 10 F-35 fighter jets, as well as other aircraft and drones, and over 4,500 marines and other military personnel in the region, even reopening a military base in its colony of Puerto Rico to facilitate this warmongering activity. On October 9, the Prime Minister of Grenada announced that his government had received a request from the US for the "installation of radar equipment and associated technical personnel at the Maurice Bishop International Airport". In recent days USS Gravely, a guided-missile destroyer, arrived in Trinidad and Tobago as part of the armada.
The stated justification for this unprecedented military build-up is allegedly to prevent narcotics trafficking and other illegal activities in the region and the US government have even gone so far as to attack several small boats in the region, killing over 43 local people who appear to have been engaged in fishing and legitimate activities off the coasts of their own countries. As has been pointed out by many commentators, the summary execution of people in this manner, without the due legal process, or any evidence, is completely illegal and contrary to all international norms of conduct. At the same time, leading US politicians have stated publicly that the entire aim of the US government's actions is to bring about regime change in Venezuela. It is certainly not accidental that on October 10 the inappropriately named Nobel Peace Committee announced that it had awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado of Venezuela, who is known for her advocacy of a U S military attack on her own country.
Solidarity with Venezuela at the Bolivar Monument,
Havana, Cuba
One of the most outspoken critics of US warmongering in the region has been the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who has denounced the military attacks launched by the US for killing Colombian citizens and violating that country's sovereignty and has called on the United Nations to hold the US legally accountable for its "act of tyranny" in the Caribbean. Petro added, "There is no war against smuggling; there is a war for oil and it must be stopped by the world. The aggression is against all of Latin America and the Caribbean." In recent weeks the heads of government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), with the notable exception of the government of Trinidad and Tobago, issued a statement reaffirming the necessity to maintain the Caribbean as a "zone of peace" and reaffirming "unequivocal support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries in the Region and the safety and livelihoods of the people of the Region". This statement echoes the many protests and statements that have been made both by notable individuals and numerous organisations in the region, which have all condemned the warmongering and illegal activities of US imperialism, reiterated the principle that the prevention of illegal activity in the region must be conducted, as the CARICOM statement expressed it, by "international co-operation and within international law". The overwhelming sentiment of all people in the region is that the Caribbean must remain a zone of peace.
The illegal warmongering activities of US imperialism in the Caribbean and Latin America must be condemned and terminated immediately, before any further escalation and loss of life. The peoples of the region have the right to live within a zone of peace and to choose their own governments without any outside interference.