Left parties condemn US ‘abduction’ of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro

Left parties on Saturday strongly condemned what they described as the United States’ “abduction” of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, calling it a “naked act of aggression” ordered by US President Donald Trump and alleging that the real objective behind the military action was regime change and the seizure of Venezuela’s oil reserves.

Addressing reporters here, M.A. Baby, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said the US had unleashed open aggression against Venezuela after weeks of deploying military forces in the Caribbean Sea under the pretext of acting against a narcotics mafia.

“The US has not produced any evidence to substantiate its claims. This is not the first time such an attempt has been made. In 2002 also, there was a similar intervention in Venezuela, but the people overthrew the puppet government imposed by the US,” Baby said.

In a separate statement, the CPI(M) said it “strongly condemns the blatant act of US aggression on Venezuela by bombing various sites in the country”, alleging that Washington had mobilised military and naval forces around Venezuela for weeks to enforce regime change. Referring to the US National Security Strategy 2025 announced in the first week of December 2025, the party said the concentration of US forces in the Western Hemisphere and the declared intent to bring the entire region under US control amounted to what it termed the “Trump corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.”

The Monroe Doctrine is a US foreign policy principle that declares the Americas off-limits to future European colonisation and interference.

Calling for international action, the CPI(M) said Latin America should be declared a zone of peace and demanded that the United Nations Security Council pass a resolution condemning the US action. It said international pressure must be mounted on Washington to immediately halt its aggression against Venezuela.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation also condemned the attack, describing it as an attempt to impose a US-backed colonial order. Referring to claims by Trump on social media that Maduro and his wife had been captured and flown out of Venezuela, the party said the war was not only against Venezuela but posed an open threat to people across the region and the world seeking to determine their own future free from imperialist dictates.

The CPI(ML) Liberation said the same claims used to justify the invasion of Iraq, the seizure of its oil, and the devastation of its people were now being recycled under the label of “narco-terrorism” to justify a regime-change operation against President Maduro and the plunder of Venezuela, which it described as the country with the largest oil reserves in the world. It alleged that the objective was to crush the Bolivarian Revolution, seize Venezuela’s oil for US multinational corporations and install a puppet government serving imperialist interests.

The Communist Party of India also strongly condemned the US action, calling it a gross violation of the UN Charter, international law and universally accepted principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference. It said the aggression gravely threatened peace and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean and endangered the lives of millions of Venezuelans.

Questioning New Delhi’s position, Baby said India’s stand was important given its long-standing ties with Venezuela and its leadership role in the Non-Aligned Movement.

“India’s stand on this issue is important. India has long-standing ties with Venezuela, and its silence on the matter is doubtful,” he said.

Clarifying the CPI(M)’s position, Baby said the party was not demanding a complete severing of ties with the United States, but asserted that the actions of the American administrative machinery must be unequivocally condemned.

“The attack on Venezuela is an attack on the sovereignty of a third-world nation,” he said.