Washington, D.C. – The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) strongly condemns the U.S. government’s attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. This is a deeply immoral and unjust escalation of President Trump’s campaign of violence against Venezuela. It is an unauthorized act of war in violation of both domestic and international law. President Trump’s claim that the United States will “run the country” following this attack is deeply concerning and a clear violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty.
President Trump has chosen war, not peace.
“President Trump has chosen war, not peace,” said FCNL’s general secretary Bridget Moix. “This illegal attack and takeover of Venezuela is a shocking expansion of the administration’s militarized approach to the world and will likely spark more violence in return.”
Over the past several weeks the United States has bombed people in Nigeria and threatened attacks in Iran. The administration has continued to destroy boats and kill people in the Caribbean Sea, with more than 115 individuals now summarily executed without charge.
“The administration’s claim that U.S. airstrikes in Venezuela were defensive in nature is utterly nonsensical and lacks any basis in fact. These actions are a categorical violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty and a breach of both U.S. and international law,” said FCNL’s legislative director of foreign policy Heather Brandon-Smith. “Not only has Congress has not declared war but also several congressional resolutions, which specifically condemn attacks on Venezuela, have only narrowly failed. Congress doesn’t want war, the people of the United States don’t want war, the people of Venezuela don’t want war.”
Congress doesn’t want war, the people of the United States don’t want war, the people of Venezuela don’t want war.
FCNL urges Congress to exercise its constitutional war powers to halt further military action and violations of Venezuela’s independence. It must reject the Trump administration’s militarized approach in the region and globally. The US has a disastrous history of military interventions for regime change, especially in Latin America, and this only threatens to pull us deeper into endless war.
Regional and global stability are built on mutual cooperation, peaceful diplomacy, and collective problem-solving – not on military might and relentless violence. Peace is only possible through peaceful means.
“Congress must reassert its war authority and restrain the Trump administration’s reckless war-making and military takeover of another country,” Moix urged. “One thing we know: War is not the answer.”