Left parties stage protest in Delhi against US action on Venezuela

New Delhi, Jan 4 (IANS) Several Left parties on Sunday staged a protest at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar, condemning the US attack on Venezuela and the "capture" of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. 

The CPI(M) leadership has condemned the US for what they described as an "imperialist military aggression" against Venezuela, calling for worldwide condemnation and urging the Centre to take a clear and firm stand against the action.

The protestors alleged that the US attacked Venezuela to "capture" the oil sources in the South American nation.

This came after US President Donald Trump announced that American forces carried out a large-scale attack on the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, and "captured" President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. He has also said that the US will run the South American nation during the transition period.

Meanwhile, Maduro arrived in New York City late Saturday (local time) to face US criminal charges after federal prosecutors unsealed a sweeping indictment accusing him of leading a long-running narco-terrorism and cocaine trafficking conspiracy.

The indictment was made public by US Attorney General Pam Bondi and filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors allege Maduro used state power to move massive quantities of cocaine towards the United States over more than two decades.

Maduro is charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, firearms offences and related crimes. The conduct is alleged to have begun around 1999 and continued through 2025.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML), RSP and All India Forward Bloc have also called on the Centre to join the voices of countries across the globe in criticising the US "aggression" and stand in solidarity with Venezuela.

General Secretaries M.A. Baby (CPI-M), D Raja (CPI), Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI-ML), G Deverajan (AIFB) and Manoj Bhattacharya (RSP) also released a joint statement following the attack, stating that the US action was an attack carried out against a sovereign nation in "blatant violation" of the UN Charter.

"US President, Donald Trump, in his address, stated that they would capture the oil reserves of Venezuela, laying bare the real intentions behind this aggression. The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, went a step further and warned that Cuba and Mexico would be their next target," the statement read.

They additionally claimed that the United States aims to enforce the Trump corollary of the notorious Monroe Doctrine, which regards the whole Western Hemisphere as its own territory and exerts its influence.

--IANS

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