The drums of war are beating in the Caribbean, and they are getting louder and louder. The United States has set its sights firmly on Venezuela, using the lie that Venezuela is a drug-running hub as an excuse to do a military intervention. What should be plain to everyone that Venezuela, according to the latest DEA and UN statements, is not a hub for drug trafficking, seems to be lost in a media maelstrom busy regurgitating the lie with the caveat of allegedly.
It cannot be stressed enough that the US-Venezuela standoff is not about drugs and has never been about drugs. It is a standoff dating back to at least 2002, when the US attempted to overthrow Hugo Chavez in a military coup, and one which is built around the age-old conflict, a nation wanting to chart its own destiny and a hegemon intent on keeping all nations in its sphere as supplicants.
The US, as the hegemon, is intent on seeing nations, especially in this region, bow down and kiss the metaphorical ring. This is why Colombia, long a US ally, is now in the US crosshairs with its leftist president labelled a drug runner, because the Colombian president correctly labels the issue as one of naked and lawless imperialism seeking to regain a foothold in a part of the world from which it has been either excluded or participating on terms set out by Venezuela.
Some in the region are confused; some who would naturally be allies of Venezuela find themselves questioning the situation, as it has been mixed in with the Essequibo dispute with Guyana. To put it bluntly, the Essequibo issue was a dormant one, the hatchet buried by both sides to the point that the Venezuelan Opposition campaigned on the premise that the Government had given up the territories. It was the US who, following Exxon’s decision to leave Venezuela, cajoled, lobbied and pressured the Guyanese Government to re-activate the issue. It was the US which made the once dormant issue a live one, and we now find ourselves where we are.
This is not the first time the US has used the issue to attempt to destabilise leftist governments in the region. Those of a certain vintage will remember the fact that the Venezuelan Government, under pressure from the US, reactivated the dormant border dispute to use as a cudgel against the leftist Government of Forbes Burnham in Guyana. Imperialism has a playbook which it follows, and although the players may look different, it is important to understand that they all follow the same rulebook.
The US, if they go after Venezuela, will not leave it there, and any conflict will destabilise the region. An attack on Venezuela will be opposed by the Colombian Government, but it is highly likely that the military, which for all intents and purposes is a proxy of the US, will want in on the fight. We can expect at best paralysis from Colombia as a president now labelled a drug dealer has to fight against a military which wants to contravene his rule, or at worst a military coup which overthrows the president and paves the way for participation in Venezuela militarily.
Brazil also finds itself in a similar situation with a military that is closely aligned with the US and has large right-wing elements itching to fight anything that looks like it represents the left. A US intervention in Venezuela could see Brazil, a country which only a few years ago dodged a coup, become a victim of a right-wing coup, leading to its participation.
CARICOM, for some reason, has not found it fit to come out and condemn the military buildup and killing of people in regional waters by the US, instead issuing a mealy-mouthed statement which was notable only in that it didn’t state who the aggressor was and left the reader feeling as if issues were happening in a vacuum and won’t affect us.
It is important for us to know that any conflict in the region will directly impact us in ways we can’t even begin to imagine. If Trinidad thinks it has a migrant issue now, a US conflict with Venezuela will make it look like a joke. If Guyana thinks that it can be used as a base of operations and escape unscathed, then it is sorely mistaken. If the ABC islands, Grenada, St Vincent and the other small islands in CARICOM think they are overpopulated now, just wait for the Venezuelan war refugees.
We seemingly believe that if we offer up Venezuela to the US it will then end there, and we can all rest easy. That, however, is far from the truth. To remain silent, to do nothing as Venezuela is attacked by the US and its proxies, will only grease the wheel and make it easier for the inevitable next time.
The region is supposedly a zone of peace, something agreed upon by all regional governments, and currently there is only one country which is making the region into a theatre of war. If we are unable to name the country which is doing this, call it out and state that what it is doing in militarizing the region and extrajudicially killing people is something we are not only opposed to but will openly challenge, come what may.
Next time, if the US is allowed to attack, will mean attacking Nicaragua; next time, following this will mean attacking Cuba; and next time, from this will mean destroying the economies of any country which has the temerity to make deals with China. This is a horror movie, and we are faced with a monster; to appease it is to slit our throats, to invite it in is to sign our death warrant.
The right wing, specifically the far right, has been emboldened in the region; it is, at the moment, on the front foot and is looking to take down what remains of the, once lauded in the media, pink tide countries. As the US loses ground internationally, it is becoming more openly fascistic and is empowering like-minded groups across the region as it seeks to hold on to supremacy in at least this hemisphere.
Progressives and nationalists alike must unite and oppose this; the region can have no positive development if there is a conflict. Venezuela must be defended in all spheres, the lies must be called out, and the mad rush to war by the US must end. If we are honest, such an attack cannot easily be done without regional assistance, and that is where civil society and the ordinary citizen must come into play.
Everyone, be they fisherfolk, hotel magnates, or simple hustlers on the street, stands to lose if there is a conflict, and they must lobby their governments and take to the streets to demand that there is no participation in and direct condemnation of any US aggression against Venezuela. It is one of those classic situations of hang together or get shot apart; the options are bleak, but the course is obvious if independence and international law mean anything. We must oppose this, demand a zone of peace and an end to hostilities by the US, even if it means risking their anger. We are, after all, at risk from them anyway.
