NIGERIAN left organisation, Socialist Labour, has condemned what it describes as the illegal kidnapping of Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, and First Lady, Cilia Flores, by United States special forces.
The group’s statement alleges a multi-faceted military and propaganda operation resulting in dozens of casualties and the transfer of the Venezuelan leader and his wife to the United States to face politically-motivated charges.
In the statement signed by the group’s General Secretary, Comrade Abiodun Olamosu, the event is part of a historical pattern of U.S. intervention, drawing direct parallels to the 1989 invasion of Panama to capture President Manuel Noriega and the 2004 removal of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Socialist Labour asserts that the act is illegal under international law and constitutes holding the couple hostage for geopolitical ransom. “The couple is being held hostage while the US demands sole control over Venezuelan oil and land as ransom,” the statement reads.
The statement, while highlighting Venezuela’s vast oil reserves deemed as crucial for U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, argues that U.S. dependence on this resource, compounded by domestic opposition to pipelines from Canada, drives a desire to seize control of Venezuelan oil production.
According to Socialist Labour, another key economic motive is U.S. intention to dismantle an alternative Chinese financial platform developed under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This platform, which facilitates resource sales in currencies other than the U.S. dollar and uses blockchain technology, allegedly allowed Venezuela to evade U.S. sanctions. Its success, the statement suggests, encouraged other nations to join, posing a threat to dollar dominance, with even Saudi Arabia considering its use.
Socialist Labour also contextualises the attack within a broader U.S. strategy to assert dominance across the Western Hemisphere under a resurrected “Monroe Doctrine” and “America First” policies. The action against Venezuela is therefore a warning to other nations in the region, like Cuba and Colombia, that pursue independent paths defying the “Washington Consensus.”
The statement debunks the legitimacy of U.S. charges, framing them as a continuation of long-standing covert and economic warfare against Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution.
It calls for global solidarity, urging Nigerian and international workers, trade unions, and civil society to support Venezuelan resistance.
Socialist Labour also demands the termination of the “illegal sham trials” and declares Maduro and Flores “Prisoners of War” (POW) entitled to protection under international law.
