December 13, 2025
A massive protest in Venezuela. Photo: Black Agenda Report.
By Afro-Venezuelan Organizations Network – Dec 10, 2025
Drawing on a history of resistance, Afro-Venezuelan organizations are mobilizing their communities to meet the threat of military action by the Trump administration and calling on the people of the U.S. to act on behalf of human rights.
The Afro-Venezuelan Organizations Network (ROA) and the Regional Articulation of Afrodescendants of Latin America and the Caribbean (ARAAC), Afrodescendant organizations born from anti-imperialist social change processes and anti-neocolonial struggles at the dawn of the twenty-first century, carry the dignity and sovereignty that our African Ancestors entrusted to us as a living imprint of the self-determination of peoples.
Latin America and the Caribbean have suffered, throughout the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, invasions, territorial dispossession, and targeted assassinations of Latin American and Afrodescendant leaders. The historical record confirms this across nearly all the countries of Our America (Abya Yala), from the seizure of Puerto Rico, Panama, and several Caribbean islands, to the tragic invasions of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Grenada, among many others.
The current president of the United States, Donald Trump, attempted through multiple avenues to invade Venezuela. He relied on internal civilian and military enemies through Operation Gedeón, as well as mercenaries neutralized by the heroic Afrodescendant community of Chuao (Aragua State). With military and paramilitary support from Colombian-Venezuelan sectors and the backing of former presidents Duque and Uribe, he attempted to provoke an invasion. Trump sought to undermine the legitimacy of our government by imposing an illegitimate president, a puppet named Juan Guaidó. He attempted to delegitimize Venezuela internationally by creating in 2017 a group of countries led by delinquent presidents, known as the Lima Group (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru). They appointed parallel ambassadors, imposed more than a thousand coercive measures that remain in effect nearly a decade later, and even stole our embassies, including the one in Washington, D.C.
In the face of these covert, open, and shameless aggressions, our sovereign people have responded with dignity, just as our cimarrón ancestors did during the colonial period, the war of independence, and the contemporary struggles that followed. The majority of the Venezuelan population lives along the Caribbean coast, from Zulia State to our border with Trinidad and Tobago, whose president Kamla Persad-Bissessar openly defends pro-imperialist positions.
THE INVASION ATTEMPT BY MR. TRUMP AND HIS ALLIES
The resident of the White House, Mr. Trump, has launched a second campaign aimed at invading our country, obsessed with seizing our oil reserves, the largest in the world, along with our gas, gold, and rare earth minerals. His motivation stems from the imminent depletion of U.S. reserves within five years and the decline of rare earth minerals necessary to sustain emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence.
The deployment of United States military forces only a few kilometers from our coastline, the killing of eighty fishermen under the pretext of drug trafficking, the violation of our airspace with threats against commercial flights, the illegal sale of the oil company CITGO, and more than 1,100 coercive measures reveal a multifaceted attack. This aggression could lead to the outbreak of a third world war, with the Caribbean and Latin America as its stage. At the center of this racist and white supremacist hatred stands Secretary of State Marco Rubio, an ultraright Cuban-American figure who has made it his mission to destroy the region’s progressive governments and act as a mercenary for ExxonMobil.
In light of this situation, we call upon the noble people of the United States to halt these aggressions. We also call on sovereign governments in the Caribbean and Latin America to stop the attacks led by Donald Trump and his mafia. We call on Afrodescendant peoples, communities, and social movements to mobilize in solidarity with our people, to denounce the false U.S. narrative of a war on drug trafficking, and to stop the march toward war.
We also call upon our Afro-Venezuelan people to defend our sovereignty and independence, and to uphold our right to self-determination as a nation. We urge our people to prepare for resistance and participate actively in a prolonged popular struggle for the defense of our homeland.
Caracas, December 4, 2025
Leadership of the Afro-Venezuelan Organizations Network
Coordination of the Regional Articulation of Afrodescendants of the Americas and the Caribbean
https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-ca ... -struggle/
Venezuela Condemns US Piracy Before UN as Killings Resume; US Debate Heats Up, and Trinidad Lends Airports to US Military Operations
December 17, 2025
USS Gravely, a US Navy warship, docked in Trinidad and Tobago for four days in October, within striking distance of Venezuela. Photo: Martin Bernetti/AFP/file photo.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil reported Tuesday that his nation delivered a letter to the United Nations Security Council repudiating the “serious use of force, abduction, and piracy” by the United States.
The letter, presented by Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, to Security Council President Samuel Z’bogar of Slovenia, concerns the Dec. 10, 2025, incident in international waters of the Caribbean wherein US forces targeted a private oil tanker engaged in legitimate trade while it transported Venezuelan oil. The Venezuelan crew members were abducted and remain missing.
“Venezuela will continue to exercise its sovereign and inalienable right to legitimately trade its resources and demand that no legal operation be subjected to theft, seizure, or acts of piracy, regardless of its origin,” Minister Gil stated.
Venezuela claims the US action deserves the Security Council’s attention, as it involves the use of force in international waters and the disappearance of civilians and sets a dangerous precedent for regional security.
More US executions
A few hours earlier, on Monday night, the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) reported new extrajudicial killings and strikes against three small boats allegedly operated by “designated terrorist organizations in international waters.” As usual, the US did not deign to provide any evidence of its accusations or any detailed information. The announcement was made via a social media post by the US military.
The post stated that the strikes killed eight people—three on the first boat, two on the second and three on the third—in the Eastern Pacific. Media reports claim that the extrajudicial executions occurred off the coast of Ecuador.
According to a detailed count by Orinoco Tribune, the US has now assassinated 95 civilians in this murderous campaign. Public records show that 48 (51%) were killed in Caribbean waters and 47 (49%) in Eastern Pacific waters. The US has murdered—at the very least—civilians of Venezuela, Trinidad, and Colombia, and one Ecuadorian survivor has been reported. Analysts claim that nationals of other countries are certainly among the victims.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth appeared before the US Senate to answer questions about SOUTHCOM’s controversial operation, reflecting a heated internal debate over its nature and legality and about the opacity of information provided to legislators.
In statements after the briefing, Rubio remained defiant, claiming that the operation would “remain ongoing.” Mainstream media reported that top US officials did not provide an unedited video of the September 2 strike as demanded by many legislators and the public.
US Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told press after the briefing that “there is no legal or national security justification for what they are doing. Not even close.” He added that Rubio and Hegseth acknowledged that no fentanyl comes to the US from Venezuela and that the relatively small amounts of cocaine that may be trafficked through Venezuela are destined for Europe and not the US.
US Senator Joaquin Castro, commenting on the briefing, reiterated that despite White House attempts to avoid seeking approval for a land operation against Venezuela, US Congress will demand it. He noted that a War Powers Resolution will be discussed next week to block President Donald Trump’s hostilities against Venezuela.
Despite the US claims of a “war on drugs,” most analysts agree that Washington’s true intention is to overthrow the democratically elected president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and install a government that is compliant with US demands.
Trinidad reaffirms subservient role
Also on Monday, the government of Trinidad and Tobago announced that it will allow US military aircraft to transit through its Piarco and Arthur NR Robinson airports in the coming weeks, referring to the actions as bilateral security cooperation of a “logistical nature.”
According to Trinidad and Tobago’s Foreign Ministry, the transits will facilitate resupply and routine personnel rotations and do not change the country’s defense policy.
However, last week, revelations about Trinidad and Tobago’s role in aiding the US to seize a Venezuelan oil tanker led to a public outcry. Domestic analysts and politicians noted that newly installed US radars were used in Washington’s seizure of the oil tanker Skipper, which was carrying 1.9 million barrels of Venezuelan oil.
The government of Trinidad and Tobago reiterated that the cooperation with the US fulfills the commitment by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to strengthen national security. However, since taking office, she has launched anti-Venezuelan tirades against Venezuelan authorities and migrants.
Trinidad and Tobago’s authorities have lent diplomatic and operational support to the US killing spree in the region despite the fact that innocent Trinidadian fishers were among the victims of the US strikes. In a controversial “double-tap” strike of September 2, apparent survivors of a first strike were then subsequently killed by a second round of US strikes. The victims were nationals of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Trinidadian government issued a rather hollow statement in an attempt to garner support for what have been referred to as actions that are submissive to the US crimes and warmongering in the region. In an attempt to justify its actions, the government claimed that “the United States Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago has also supported national development through educational initiatives, including school equipment donations and infrastructure enhancement projects.”
Internal political tension in the small Caribbean country has reached unprecedented levels as a result of these actions. Meanwhile, Venezuela has retaliated by suspending the multi-million-dollar Dragon Field project a few weeks ago and, on Monday, halting all natural gas supply to the Trinidad and Tobago.
https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-co ... perations/
