Veterans for Peace Statement and History Content:

Veterans For Peace unequivocally rejects the Trump administration’s escalating attacks and threats of war against Venezuela. The U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker and President Trump’s unilateral declaration of a naval blockade of Venezuela and closure of its air space constitute a brazen escalation of military aggression and a violation of both the U.S. Constitution and international law.

The U.S. has continually attacked Venezuela since the inception of the Bolivarian Revolution a quarter-century ago. In 2002, a U.S.-backed military coup temporarily ousted then President Hugo Chávez before the Venezuelan people rose up and reinstated him. His successor, President Nicolas Maduro, has also survived several CIA-backed attempts to kidnap and assassinate him.  

In 2015, U.S. President Obama falsely declared Venezuela an “extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security, a baseless position that justified imposing U.S. sanctions. Each subsequent U.S. president has expanded economic warfare to steal Venezuelan assets and to isolate Venezuela from global trade and international finance. The Venezuelan economy initially went into freefall, but with help from international partners, Venezuelans have recently begun to reverse the economic decline.

Despite the U.S. government’s failure to overthrow Venezuelan sovereignty, these interventions have inflicted untold suffering on the Venezuelan population. It is estimated that over 100,000 Venezuelans have died in recent years as a result of U.S. economic warfare.  Far from being an alternative to war, U.S. sanctions are a form of warfare, and are often a prelude to military intervention.

Washington has increasingly resorted to violence to achieve what it could not accomplish through economic and political intervention. The U.S. has now amassed a huge armada of war ships off Venezuela’s coast in a blatant attempt at regime change and the seizure of Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest known oil reserves in the world.

As veterans of U.S. wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan—wars based on lies that killed millions—we see through the familiar justifications for this latest escalation. Just as the “weapons of mass destruction” narrative led to the invasion of Iraq, today’s “war on drugs” rationale ring hollow, especially after Trump’s recent pardon of a major drug trafficker.

A war on Venezuela would be patently illegal. The UN Charter declares no country has the right “to intervene, overtly or covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations.” In order for a war to be legal under international law, it must clearly be in self-defense, and it must be approved by the UN Security Council. Furthermore, the U.S. Constitution gives the power to declare war to the Congress, not to the President. Even a Congressional declaration of war would violate international law and the democratic will of the U.S. people, 70% of whom oppose going to war against Venezuela, according to recent opinion polls.

Veterans For Peace demands that the U.S. government withdraws its military forces from the Caribbean and abandons its campaign of regime change in Venezuela and throughout Latin America. We call on all U.S. military personnel to fulfill their legal and moral obligation to refuse unlawful orders to participate in illegal wars or war crimes.  When you take such a moral and courageous stance, Veterans For Peace and many others will stand with you.

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Historical Context

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U.S.–Venezuela relations have long been shaped by oil. Since the early 20th century, U.S. companies have invested heavily in Venezuela’s petroleum industry, cementing economic influence. This dynamic shifted dramatically after Hugo Chávez took office in 1999, promoting a socialist agenda and nationalizing oil assets. Relations deteriorated further following the 2002 coup attempt, which Venezuela accused the U.S. of supporting. Over the past two decades, successive U.S. administrations have imposed sweeping sanctions, targeting Venezuela’s economy and its state oil company PDVSA. Under the Trump administration, these measures escalated into open threats of military intervention and efforts to install a U.S.-backed government.

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Humanitarian Impacts of Sanctions​
 

Sanctions have had severe consequences for Venezuelans:
 

• A 2025 study inThe Lancet Global Health found that unilateral economic sanctions—such as those imposed by the U.S.—are causally linked to significantly increased mortality, including among children under five and the elderly. [thelancet.com]

• A global 2025 analysis revealed unilateral and EU sanctions result in over 560,000 deaths per year, with disproportionate impacts on young children—underscoring how sanctions can rival the human cost of armed conflict. [straitstimes.com]

• By mid-2025, UNICEF reported that 1.8 million children in Venezuela were in need of urgent humanitarian aid, with massive gaps in malnutrition treatment, health services, and clean water access. [unicef.org]

• Worsening food insecurity has been documented over recent years: one analysis noted acceptable food consumption in households plunged from 67% to just 35%, with acute malnutrition remaining at critically high levels among children under five. [crs.org]
   

These policies—framed as “democratic leverage”—have instead inflicted widespread suffering, cutting access to essential medicine, healthcare, and food. Hospitals operate without necessary supplies. Clinics are forced to ration care or turn patients away, and entire communities have seen children fall critically ill for lack of basic nutrition and medicine.