No Women's Liberation Under Sanctions and Bombs - Denounce U.S. Imperialist War Against Venezuela!

International Women's Alliance Asia Pacific condemns in the strongest terms the recent U.S. imperialist attacks waged against the Venezuelan people, including the bombing of Caracas, Fuerte Tiuna and La Guaira port last January 3, and the kidnapping and trial of President Nicolás Maduro, a veteran of the Bolivarian revolution and successor of Hugo Chávez, and "First Combatant" Cilia Flores, former attorney general and senior advisor to United Socialist Party of Venezuela, under the bogus pretext of "narco-terrorism".

We maintain that the recent developments of the trial and the military aggression through Operation Absolute Resolve are blatant acts of intervention and international terrorism in direct violation of national sovereignty. This unmistakably and clearly reflects the U.S.'s self-serving foreign policy: to reassert dominance and oppression over Latin America and the Caribbean.

Beyond its global ambitions to maintain political hegemony, Washington seeks to seize Venezuela's oil which holds a fifth or 20% of the world's reserves of crude oil. Washington justifies its treatment of Latin America as a U.S. backyard through the revival of the Monroe Doctrine. Masked as a "war on drugs", Trump desires unrestricted access for Venezuelan oil, ensuring dominance in the global energy market and preserving the petrodollar system.

The January 3 attacks are only the latest escalations in a systematic and decades-long campaign of economic warfare, military aggression and imperialist offensives by U.S. imperialism. The U.S.'s imposed economic sanctions and blockades on Venezuela have functioned as weapons of economic warfare as Venezuelan people face difficulties caused by artificial shortages of basic goods and consumer products. Women are disproportionately burdened as shock absorbers of imperialist crises, facing heightened unpaid care labor, forced informal and precarious work, and increased migration, while the collective punishment enforced by U.S. imperialism deepens maternal mortality and access to basic services.

US military aggression on Venezuela further continues the pattern of colonial domination whether overt, covert or hybrid. Since August 2025, Washington has intensified its attacks and use of military arsenal on the Venezuelan people. Civilians, especially the working class, the poor and the women and children, are the primary targets of military aggression as Washington perpetrates attacks on Venezuelan territory and population, illustrating how economic sanctions and structural violence is deployed as a gendered instrument of imperialism.

The human toll of U.S. imperialism on Venezuela is genocidal in both scale and intent. The Center for Economic Policy Research estimates that economic sanctions caused the deaths of at least 40,000 between 2017 and 2018 alone, while the systemic denial of medical treatment placed 300,000 people at risk including those deprived of HIV medication, dialysis, cancer care, and life-saving medicines for chronic disease.

In spite of the years of sustained U.S. efforts and billion-dollar funded campaigns aimed at erasing and undermining the historic achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution, Venezuela remains a living example of a nation upholding its sovereignty against imperialist domination.

The Bolivarian Revolution, under Chávez, eradicated illiteracy, expanded healthcare, housing and popular democracy rooted in communes, with women at the backbone of social organizing as political agents and community leaders. Even under siege, women continue to lead popular resistance while Venezuela sustains domestic food and medicine production and mobilizes millions of people to protect national sovereignty.

The legacy of women's leadership in the Bolivarian Revolutionary project carries into the present struggle. It's no coincidence that the Trump administration also targeted First Combatant Cilia Flores, a seasoned lawyer and revolutionary strategist, for her decades-long political career as attorney general under Chávez and Maduro, and for her role in shaping revolutionary projects in Venezuela.

The struggle of Venezuelan women amidst U.S. interventions affirms a fundamental truth for women worldwide: there can be no women's liberation under imperialist sanctions, military occupation, or foreign-imposed regimes. True women's liberation is built only through national sovereignty, self-determination, and collective struggle.

From Asia Pacific to Latin America, we affirm our unwavering solidarity with Venezuelan women and peoples resisting imperialist war. We reject and denounce all attacks by U.S. imperialism on sovereignty and self-determination as we echo the demands of the Bolivarian people:

• The immediate and unconditional release of President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores;

• End all U.S. military operations and airstrikes on Venezuelan soil immediately;

• Uphold the absolute sovereignty of the Venezuelan people to determine their own future without foreign dictate.

Bombs will not break Venezuela, and imperialism cannot break the indomitable will of its people to remain free.

Hands off Venezuela!

Long live international solidarity!

Down with US Imperialism!

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