By João Pedro Galvão Ramalho, historian and coordinator of articulation of the Pororoka Collective

January 3, 2026. Latin America woke up today in shock at the news of the bombings carried out by Donald Trump against Venezuela, which culminated in the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro.

These attacks constitute a very serious violation of international law, of the sovereignty of peoples around the world, and, above all, an attack on the entire Venezuelan people, regardless of political preferences.

Do not be mistaken about what is happening in Venezuela. For Trump and for the United States, the people and democracy matter little. What they want is oil!

The bombing is yet another chapter in the escalation of tensions driven by the renewed imperialist policy of the United States toward our region. This is made explicit in the new National Security Strategy, released by the Donald Trump administration in the final days of 2025.

Under the false justification of fighting “narco-terrorism” or “defending democracy,” the United States has, in this century alone, destroyed the lives of populations in Iraq and Libya. The objective laid out in the new national security strategy of the U.S. government is to redirect its guns toward our region.

If the United States truly cared about the quality of democracies, it would not have authoritarian theocratic regimes as strategic allies, nor would it keep someone associated with pedophilia as President.

What the U.S. government wants is to take over our continent. It tried to impose sweeping tariffs on Brazil; it bombs and kidnaps the President of Venezuela. Trump longs for the time when the U.S. government condemned our entire region to dictatorships in order to plunder our common goods. The legacy of U.S. invasions is misery and destruction. Today the attack is on Venezuela; tomorrow it could be Brazil.

The Pororoka collective stands in solidarity with the Venezuelan people affected by this attack. There's no democracy with missiles, sanctions, or coups. It is built through self-determination, autonomy, democracy, and respect for the sovereignty of Latin American peoples.