FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 20, 2025
Media Contact: Melissa Garriga | [email protected]
CODEPINK Strongly Condemns the Latest Threats and Military Provocations by the United States Government Against Venezuela
In recent days, the White House has authorized the deployment of three Aegis-guided missile destroyers off Venezuela’s coast, alongside an attack submarine, surveillance aircraft, and thousands of Marines stationed throughout the wider southern Caribbean. This reckless escalation, framed as a so-called “counter-narcotics” operation, dangerously militarizes the Caribbean and brings our region closer to war. This militarization violates international law and the sovereignty of nations in the region.
The U.S. government has gone even further by designating Venezuelan entities as “narco-terrorists” and doubling the bounty on President Nicolás Maduro’s head from $15 million to $50 million. This move is nothing more than an open invitation to lawlessness and violence. By criminalizing a foreign government and offering cash rewards for its leadership, Washington undermines international law and signals that regime change by force is its real objective.
The U.S. justifies these actions using the so-called “narco-terrorism” label, but its own data undermines that framing. According to U.S. government monitoring , Venezuela is not a primary transit route for cocaine heading to the United States. United Nations data similarly fail to spotlight Venezuela as a major node, instead showing regional trafficking reinforcing traditional corridors. And yet, dubious claims about the “Cartel de los Soles” and other alleged Venezuelan criminal structures are amplified through a media–intelligence echo chamber to justify escalation.
These aggressive policies seek to extend U.S. dominance in Latin America, no matter the human cost. They squander public resources that should be used for healthcare, housing, climate action, and education, not warships, bounties, and militarization.
We demand a total withdraw of all U.S. warships and military assets from the Caribbean; rescind the bounty system and end the practice of criminalizing foreign leaders as an excuse for intervention; end the failed “war on drugs” framework, which has only fueled violence and justified militarization across Latin America; and invest in peace, not provocation, by prioritizing diplomacy, dialogue, and people-to-people cooperation.
The people of Venezuela, like the people of the United States, deserve peace, dignity, and sovereignty, not threats, blockades, and warships. We demand that our government stop using military force and economic warfare to dictate the future of another nation.
CODEPINK is calling on Rep. Greg Casar, Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to lead the fight in Congress to stop this escalation. We call on him to introduce legislation to block unauthorized military force, hold hearings to expose the dangers of border militarization, insist on transparency of all relevant directives, and rally Congress to cut off funding for these reckless operations.
Peace, not provocation. Cooperation, not confrontation. Hands off Venezuela!
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