From WBAI, a firsthand account of Venezuela after Trump’s invasion—why both opposition and loyalists rejected the abduction of their president. Activist Gabriel Aguirre exposes the U.S. policy aim.
Gabriel Aguirre, a Venezuelan Activist, Speaks
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As news of Donald Trump’s invasion of Venezuela and abduction of President Nicolas Maduro, WBAI scrambled to put a panel together to discuss the aftermath in real time. Venezuelan activist Gabriel Aguirre chimed in directly from Caracas, Venezuela. Listen to the full 3-hour program [here, here, here].
Summary
The U.S. assault on Venezuelan sovereignty exposed the brutal logic of empire. What unfolded after Donald Trump’s invasion and the abduction of Venezuela’s president confirmed long-standing warnings from Latin American activists and independent journalists. Gabriel Aguirre’s firsthand account following the invasion revealed a nation traumatized yet unified against foreign domination. Both government supporters and opposition forces rejected the kidnapping of their president, seeing it as an attack not on a party, but on the Venezuelan people. Aguirre underscored how years of U.S.-led sanctions hollowed out the economy, intensified suffering, and aimed to make an oil-rich country fail for daring to use its resources for the public good.
- Venezuelans across political lines opposed the invasion and abduction as a violation of sovereignty.
- U.S. sanctions, not socialism, drove much of Venezuela’s economic collapse.
- Social programs expanded under Hugo Chávez, prioritizing the needs of the people over those of elites.
- Washington could not tolerate an alternative model that used oil wealth for social development.
- Independent journalism remains vital in countering imperial narratives.
This moment demands clarity: democracy cannot be delivered by force, and sovereignty is not negotiable. Progressive movements must confront empire honestly and stand with people resisting domination.
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Gabriel Aguirre, a Venezuelan activist and independent journalist with World BEYOND War, offered the world a necessary corrective to corporate media narratives after Donald Trump ordered the invasion of Venezuela and the abduction of its president, Nicolás Maduro. Speaking with moral clarity on Pacifica Network WBAI, Aguirre described a country reeling from violence imposed in the name of “freedom,” yet unified in its rejection of foreign domination.
The most striking reality Aguirre conveyed was not chaos, but consensus. Venezuelans who oppose Maduro politically, along with his supporters, condemn the invasion and kidnapping. This unity exposed a truth Washington refuses to acknowledge: Venezuelans cherish sovereignty above faction. While the Venezuelan plutocracy is synonymous with its American counterpart, when the empire arrives with guns and sanctions, many internal divisions dissolve in defense of national dignity.
Aguirre dismantled the convenient myth that Venezuela’s suffering sprang solely from internal mismanagement. Reputable analyses from economists and human rights organizations have shown that U.S.-led sanctions dramatically reduced oil revenue, restricted access to medicine, and exacerbated food insecurity. These measures functioned as collective punishment. The policy goal was explicit—make life unbearable so the population would turn against its government. When that failed, force followed.
This hostility did not begin with Maduro. Under Hugo Chávez, Venezuela committed the unpardonable sin of using its natural resources for the people. Oil revenues funded healthcare, education, housing, and food programs—many of which resemble social services Americans still fight for. In a global capitalist order where wealth flows upward, Venezuela’s model posed a dangerous example. An oil-rich country demonstrating that public ownership could work threatened the ideological foundation of neoliberalism.
The United States, which tolerates dictators so long as they serve corporate interests, could not allow that precedent to stand. Documents and policy statements over decades confirm Washington’s fixation on controlling energy resources and preventing independent development in the Global South. Venezuela’s crime was not authoritarianism; it was disobedience.
Aguirre’s account also highlighted the essential role of independent media. Corporate outlets laundered the invasion through euphemisms—“intervention,” “restoring democracy”—while marginalizing voices from the ground. Pacifica’s coverage broke that silence, centering Venezuelans rather than Pentagon talking points. Democracy demands informed consent, and informed consent requires truthful journalism.
This moment calls for progressive resolve. Opposing authoritarianism must include opposing imperial violence. One cannot credibly champion human rights while endorsing sanctions that starve civilians or invasions that kidnap elected leaders. Solidarity means respecting self-determination, even when another nation’s political choices diverge from Washington’s preferences.
Venezuela’s future belongs to Venezuelans. Empire fears that simple truth because it exposes the lie at the heart of interventionism: that domination equals democracy. History proves otherwise, and the aftermath of this invasion confirms it once again.
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