Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza. File photo.
This Tuesday, ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary Jorge Arreaza took to social media to condemn the Washington government’s misuse of a coin commemorating the Alien and Sedition Acts of the late 18th century—laws now being invoked to support racist anti-immigration measures.
Arreaza stressed that the enforcement of these laws provoked a political firestorm in the U.S. “for trampling immigrants’ civil rights through brutal and discretionary application. The inscription on the coin itself underscores the severity of this historical precedent,” the Venezuelan official stated.
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The Venezuelan diplomat noted that these 18th-century regulations were “largely applied for political purposes,” undermining individual freedoms and fueling public backlash. “The Alien and Sedition Acts threatened civil liberties, provoked widespread anger, and contributed to Thomas Jefferson’s election in 1800,” read the text on the coin Arreaza shared in his post.
He further explained that the laws “triggered immense controversy, leading to the electoral defeat of John Adams (their main proponent) and the elite’s eventual endorsement of Jefferson as President.”
Arreaza linked this history to recent events, citing the abduction of Venezuelan migrants in El Salvador under the pretext of one of these 1798 laws. “This demonstrates that, since its founding, the US ruling class has perpetuated the same racist, supremacist, and fascist behavior,” he wrote. “Today, they even enlist puppet leaders in other nations to enforce similarly oppressive policies,” he added, in a clear reference to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who authorized a flight deporting some of these Venezuelan migrants.
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“Should the U.S. elite fail to heed history’s lessons, its people surely will. Venezuela’s sovereign government and people remain unwavering in protecting their nationals’ rights—and as in the past, will continue to resist every act of aggression from this era’s supremacist empire,” concluded ALBA-TCP Executive Secretary Jorge Arreaza Monserrat.
(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SH
