The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) unequivocally condemns the United States’ illegal military assault and intervention in Venezuela under U.S. President Donald J. Trump. Reports from multiple international media indicate that the U.S. has launched strikes in Venezuela and that Trump has announced the capture and removal of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, while Venezuelan authorities have stated they have lost contact and are demanding proof of life.
This is not diplomacy. This is not law enforcement. This is not “democracy promotion”.
It is naked aggression, regime-change warfare, and the criminal logic of empire.
We fear the worst — because history is written in blood
SAFTU expresses profound alarm for the lives and safety of President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, and condemns the dangerous precedent of powerful states abducting leaders of sovereign countries.
We do so with the bitter memory of what imperialist wars produced elsewhere:
• In Libya, the NATO war culminated in the violent collapse of the state and the killing of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
• In Iraq, the invasion and occupation led to catastrophic destruction and the eventual execution of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
The lesson is simple: imperialism does not “remove leaders” — it destroys societies.
Trump’s “America First” is Billionaires First: oligarchy + imperialism
This assault confirms what SAFTU has repeatedly said: Trump’s project is oligarchic imperialism — a fusion of state power with the agenda of billionaires, weapons dealers, and corporate predators.
Trump has openly promoted a world where might makes right:
• He has spoken of the U.S. “taking over” Gaza.
• He vowed the U.S. would “take back” the Panama Canal, invoking expansionist doctrine.
• He has pushed threats and coercion against Canada in the context of tariffs and even annexation rhetoric.
• He has escalated talk of U.S. strikes in Mexico.
• In Africa, his administration has intensified security operations and threats in Nigeria, including U.S.-backed strikes with Nigeria’s cooperation.
• He has spread discredited “genocide” claims about South Africa, recycled by far-right networks, and rejected by South Africa’s leadership as misinformation.
• He has even boasted that the people of the DRC and Rwanda supposedly asked him to “come take our minerals,” while hosting DRC President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Washington under a “minerals” frame.
This is a rampage: threats, seizures, intimidation, propaganda, and militarism — all in service of extracting wealth and imposing obedience on the Global South.
SAFTU calls for:
1. Immediate cessation of U.S. military operations in Venezuela and withdrawal of all forces.
2. Immediate proof of life and full disclosure of the location, legal status, and safety of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores.
3. An urgent UN process to condemn this aggression, defend sovereignty, and stop escalation in Latin America.
4. Mobilisation by trade unions and progressive forces internationally to isolate regime-change wars, reject sanctions warfare, and defend the right of peoples to determine their future free of imperial diktat.
A statement was issued on behalf of the SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For media inquiries, contact the National Spokesperson at:
Newton Masuku
newtonm@saftu.org.za
0661682157
