US President Donald Trump at an event to speak with Venezuelan-Americans on February 18, 2019, in Miami. Photo: Jim Watson AFP/Getty Images/file photo.
By Luis Fuenmayor Toro – Jan 24, 2025
Let me start by saying, to make it clear from the start, that if I have to choose between the interests of the United States and those of Venezuela, I would, without hesitation, choose those of Venezuela. If I have to decide between Trump and Maduro, I choose Maduro.
I will always be against any kind of armed intervention in Venezuelan territory, and it seems cynical and ridiculous to me that those who place their political hopes in this type of action try to disguise them as humanitarian interventions and defense of human rights, following the script of justifications and rationalizations of US imperialism and its European allies, to attack entire nations, subjugate them, destroy them and dismember them. They are a national disgrace.
The military invasions of Yugoslavia, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan and recently Syria were “humanitarian” and “in defense” of human rights, with the tragic destruction and dismemberment of these nations, totally contrary to the propaganda.
“Humanitarian” is the genocidal conduct of the Zionist entity called Israel against the Palestinian people, with hundreds of thousands of people massacred, including children, women and pregnant women. “Humanitarian” has been the merciless exploitation of human beings, including children, for the appropriation of mineral resources in several African countries, by the perverse alliance of the US and Europe. My total rejection of this type of conduct is due to principled convictions acquired very early in my life.
In the name of freedom first, the anti-communist struggle second, and then of human rights and the anti-terrorist struggle, the worst atrocities have been committed against many peoples in the contemporary world. And I emphasize this, not to explain my political conduct within Venezuela, which would continue to be the same regardless of what has been said, but to expose the hypocrisy and utter shamelessness of those who weaponize democracy, human rights and women’s rights to justify their perverse actions.
Trump has come to revitalize and encourage imperialist behaviors that have been diminished by the rise of new economic-military powers and the presence of Russia on the world stage. He wants to rescue the “manifest destiny” of those who consider themselves to be chosen by heavenly powers. Like those other genocidaires of this century, who are supposedly also God’s chosen people.
Defense Ministers of Venezuela and Colombia Meet to Discuss Catatumbo Crisis
The “big wig,” as Maduro should not call him, since it diminishes the seriousness and strength of his anti-imperialist position, has already clearly said that he wants to expand the US territory with the incorporation of Canada and Greenland, thus getting closer to the Arctic Circle; he wants to resume US control of the Panama Canal, a country and government that are allied to the US and clearly subjugated to the US State Department; and complete the closing of the border with Mexico, with the wall already partially built, while expelling from the territory all existing illegal immigrants who, whether he likes it or not, support the US economy, which will surely be affected by these measures.
With regard to Venezuela, he has stated that he does not need our oil and that he is considering not buying it any more, to make it clear that he cannot be pressured in this way.
He is taking steps to remove environmental restrictions that prevent him from further increasing US oil production, and handing Syria over to Al-Qaeda makes it easier for him to expand the already existing theft of Syrian oil. However, one of his senior officials said that “diplomacy is back,” that he has spoken with several officials of Maduro’s government and that they would meet next Tuesday.
In Venezuela, a high-ranking official said that the government is willing to shake the US hand, within the framework of respectful relations. Another said that cooperation in criminal matters may be resumed, for the extradition of Venezuelans who are members of criminal groups. We know that US positions can change to be totally opposite at any time, depending on circumstances that may arise. But they give us an idea of ​​the initial intentions of the new US government, which do not seem to be in tune with Uribe’s desire for an invasion of Venezuela from Colombia, nor with the enthusiasm that these desires arouse in certain opposition sectors of Venezuela.
Luis Fuenmayor Toro
Luis Fuenmayor Toro is a Venezuelan physician and surgeon, and a university professor, based in Caracas. He was rector of the Central University of Venezuela from 1988 to 1992. Fuenmayor Toro was a Chavista sympathizer until 2009 when he joined the opposition.
