All Eyes on Venezuela

Venezuela sits at the intersection of Trump’s expansion of power, Palestine, immigration, and anti-imperialism. The recent awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado is not just symbolic, it marks a dangerous escalation toward war with Venezuela.

Machado has a long and bloody history of U.S.-backed efforts to destabilize the country. She participated in the 2002 coup that briefly kidnapped Hugo Chávez who was ultimately freed due to public protest, helped lead the violent guarimba protests in 2014, and supported Juan Guaidó’s failed 2016 coup attempt. Upon receiving the Nobel Prize, she immediately called Trump to thank him, dedicated the award to him, and renewed her calls for the U.S. to invade Venezuela. By celebrating her, the Nobel Committee provides moral cover for imperial aggression, legitimizing regime change as “peacebuilding.”

The rise of BRICS, which began as a coalition of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) in 2009 and expanded with the inclusion of South Africa in 2010, represents more than just a threat to Western hegemony. It emerges as a response to systemic inequities perpetuated by the dominance of the United States and its allies in global governance. The group's focus on fostering multi-polarity and equitable global governance contrasts sharply with the perceived imperialism of Western-led systems.

In response to BRICS' growing influence, former U.S. President Donald Trump employed aggressive economic tactics that appeared aimed at undermining the coalition's power. Through tariffs and expansionist rhetoric, Trump created economic strain on key BRICS members like China while attempting to assert U.S. dominance in geopolitically significant regions. His attempt to annex Greenland, with its strategic Arctic positioning and valuable mineral wealth, coupled with rhetoric about incorporating Canada, signaled an aggressive strategy to reinforce American economic supremacy. This confrontational approach sought to challenge BRICS' efforts to promote de-dollarization and reduce reliance on Western financial institutions.

However, Trump's tactics risks alienating traditional U.S. allies and destabilizing global economic networks, ultimately undermining the stability required for sustained American economic dominance. By pushing other nations toward stronger alliances with BRICS countries, this strategy may have inadvertently accelerated the coalition's efforts to reshape global economic power structures

In 2024, BRICS nations were officially joined by 4 new members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. In October 2024, at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, 9 new countries, including Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan, joined hands as partners with this alternative block to counter the U.S. and EU’s hegemony. Indonesia officially joined the south-led block in January this year as a full member. These developments have increasingly challenged the United States’ hegemony in global affairs. BRICS has also invited Saudi Arabia, but KSA is still considering this invitation. This inclusion hICS represent 45 percent of the world’s population, 28 percent of the world’s economic output, and 47 percent of global crude oil. This article explores how the BRICS countries undermine U.S. influence through de-dollarization, strengthening geopolitical alliances, and promoting alternative economic models while examining how the USA and the EU’s counter strategies are proving counterproductive.

For decades, the United States has enjoyed unparalleled dominance in global politics, economics, and military power. This hegemony has been bolstered by the Bretton Woods system, the ubiquity of the U.S. dollar, and the country’s leadership in multilateral institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and NATO. However, the rise of BRICS signals a tectonic shift toward multi-polarity challenging this entrenched dominance. BRICS, representing a significant portion of the world’s population and 41% of global GDP, aligns closely with the broader Global South’s aspirations for self-determination and equitable participation in global affairs. With a combined population of 3.25 billion people—over 45% of the worldwide population—BRICS has become a platform for advocating for a more balanced distribution of global power. Through institutions like the New Development Bank (NDB), BRICS challenges the neo-colonial tendencies often associated with Western financial systems by offering alternative models for trade, infrastructure investment, and development. Rather than merely opposing U.S. dominance, BRICS positions itself as a coalition that prioritizes equitable trade agreements, infrastructure development, and sustainable growth—addressing the systemic inequities that have long marginalized nations in the Global South.

For leaders in these regions, multi-polarity represents a geopolitical shift and a pathway to greater self-determination, enabling flexible alignments and selective partnerships that empower diverse centers of influence. This emerging multi-polar framework signifies a broader rejection of systems perpetuating dependency and inequality. While the global order remains in flux, BRICS’ role in fostering inclusive development and economic sovereignty offers a compelling vision for the future that resonates deeply with nations seeking to assert their agency in an interconnected world.

Trump’s war with Venezuela is the crisis no one is warning about. The administration is on the brink of open conflict, yet the media remains silent, despite constant hand-wringing about Trump’s authoritarian ambitions. If war breaks out, it will cement those ambitions permanently.

The silence isn’t accidental. The media establishment, propped up by corporations like Amazon, Lockheed Martin, and BlackRock, has a vested interest in a Venezuelan invasion due to the country’s staggering natural wealth. Venezuela sits on an estimated $14.3 trillion in natural resources that could be siphoned to further enrich these same corporate powers.

Trump has already notified Congress that the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with alleged Venezuelan traffickers. This maneuver aligns with his broader goal of using war to expand executive power and resurrect his most depraved ICE policies (i.e. deporting people to a gulag in El Salvador without due process), which were previously struck down by the Supreme Court when it ruled his use of the Alien Enemies Act unconstitutional since the U.S. was not actually at war with Venezuela.

If war is declared, it would give Trump the authority to invoke martial law, just as Netanyahu did after October 7 to consolidate power while facing corruption charges and mass public discontent.

Venezuelans have long been central to the racist rhetoric driving Trump’s ethnic cleansing capaign. During the mid-2010s, the U.S. imposed inhumane sanctions designed to push Venezuelans to turn against their socialist government. These sanctions devastated the economy, collapsing oil revenues and producing a contraction three times deeper than the Great Depression.

What followed was a wave of mass migration. As Venezuela’s economy was strangled, people sought survival in the very country responsible for their suffering. This may seem counterintuitive, but Venezuela’s elites control nearly 70% of the nation’s media, and numerous NGOs operating within the country have long promoted regime change—portraying the United States as Venezuela’s savior. Although they claim they are limited in what they can broadcast due to fear of defamation lawsuits from the government, the very fact that they are able to exist and operate at all directly contradicts Washington’s most egregious claims that the Maduro government functions as a brutal dictatorship.

Furthermore, this has not prevented these media outlets from being effective; they have managed to shift public opinion on Maduro, socialism, and the United States—not a majority shift, but a dramatic one nonetheless. By manipulating public perception, Washington and its allies have paved the way for open aggression under the guise of “democracy promotion.” A U.S. military intervention now would only deepen the instability and trigger another mass migration crisis, which Trump would then exploit to justify further repression and border militarization.

Israel has long played a quiet but central role in U.S. operations to destabilize Latin American nations that challenge Western hegemony. As Hugo Chávez once said in the documentary The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,

“Now look, the Venezuelan opposition hasn’t said anything against Israel. Nothing. Because Israel finances the Venezuelan opposition and the counter-revolution! There are Mossad terrorists trying to assassinate me.”

Israel’s involvement is not new. It has armed and trained far-right regimes across Latin America, including Colombia’s military, infamous for its atrocities against protestors and civilians. During the anti-austerity protests of 2021, then-President Iván Duque, under whose tenure Colombia-Israel relations reached “the highest point in their bilateral relationship,” sent the army to suppress demonstrators, many of whom were trained in “counterterrorism” by the IDF.

Israel was among the first to recognize Juan Guaidó’s self-proclaimed presidency and was the only country besides the United States to support the economic blockade of Cuba at the United Nations in 2021.

These actions reflect a long pattern: Israel aligning with far-right, anti-democratic forces in the Western Hemisphere. From Stroessner’s Paraguay to Argentina’s military dictatorship, Tel Aviv has found common cause with regimes hostile to leftist movements and liberation struggles. Internationalist solidarity and anti-colonial politics are existential threats to Israel’s apartheid project, so it works to crush them abroad.

Trump’s regime-change agenda in Venezuela thus serves multiple interests: to consolidate U.S. control over natural resources, to expand authoritarian power at home, and to assist Netanyahu in restoring Israel’s regional legitimacy as global condemnation grows.

Venezuela’s growing trade ties with BRICS nations—particularly China—represent another major threat to U.S. dominance. The expanded BRICS bloc now accounts for over 55% of the world’s population and nearly 44% of the global economy.

While BRICS countries have been cautious about openly integrating Venezuela to avoid provoking Washington, it’s clear the U.S. is moving offensively regardless. A Venezuela able to freely trade its 14.3 trillion dollars worth of resources with China and others would undermine the Western neoliberal order and accelerate the already declining of the U.S. dollar. This push for regime change is, in essence, the last gasp of a dying empire desperate to maintain total control instead of accepting a multipolar world that could benefit everyone.

Venezuela’s growing trade ties with BRICS nations, particularly China, represent another major threat to U.S. dominance. The expanded BRICS bloc now accounts for over 55% of the world’s population and nearly 44% of the global economy. While BRICS countries have been cautious about openly integrating Venezuela to avoid provoking Washington, it is clear the U.S. is moving offensively regardless. A Venezuela able to freely trade its 14.3 trillion dollars worth of resources with China and others would undermine the Western neoliberal order and accelerate the already declining value of the U.S. dollar. This push for regime change is, in essence, the last gasp of a dying empire desperate to maintain total control instead of accepting a multipolar world that could benefit everyone..

Venezuela needs our solidarity more than ever. Defending Venezuela is not separate from defending ourselves. The struggle against Trump’s authoritarianism, against U.S. militarism abroad, and against repression at home are one and the same fight. Our fates are intertwined. What happens in Caracas echoes in Gaza, in Atlanta, in the borderlands. Venezuela, Palestine, and the war at home are not isolated events—they are fronts in the same global battle against empire. It’s time we begin organizing like that’s the case.

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