Evo Morales

‘This Is State Terrorism’: Global Outrage as Trump Launches Illegal Assault on Venezuela

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Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

A woman watches a public television broadcast by Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino in Caracas, Venezuela on January 03, 2026. (Photo by Boris Vergara/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“It is brutal imperialist aggression,” said former Bolivian President Evo Morales.

The Trump administration’s military assault on Venezuela and apparent abduction of the country’s president in the early hours of Saturday morning sparked immediate backlash from leaders in Latin America and across the globe, with lawmakers, activists, and experts accusing the US of launching yet another illegal war of aggression.

Latin American leaders portrayed the assault as a continuation of the long, bloody history of US intervention in the region, which has included vicious military coups and material support for genocidal right-wing forces.

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“This is state terrorism against the brave Venezuelan people and against Our America,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote in a social media post, demanding urgent action from the international community in response to the “criminal attack.”

Evo Morales, the leftist former president of Bolivia, said that “we strongly and unequivocally repudiate” the US attack on Venezuela.

“It is brutal imperialist aggression that violates its sovereignty,” Morales added. “All our solidarity with the Venezuelan people in resistance.”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, one of the first world leaders to respond to Saturday’s developments, decried US “aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America.” Petro said Colombian forces “are being deployed” to the nation’s border with Venezuela and that “all available support forces will be deployed in the event of a massive influx of refugees.”

“Without sovereignty, there is no nation,” said Petro. “Peace is the way, and dialogue between peoples is fundamental for national unity. Dialogue and more dialogue is our proposal.”

The presidents of Chile and Mexico similarly condemned the assault as a violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty and international law.

“Based on its foreign policy principles and pacifist vocation, Mexico urgently calls for respect for international law, as well as the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, and to cease any act of aggression against the Venezuelan government and people,” the Mexican government said in a statement. “Latin America and the Caribbean is a zone of peace, built on mutual respect, the peaceful settlement of disputes, and the prohibition of the use and threat of force, and therefore any military action puts regional stability at serious risk.”

One Latin American leader, far-right Argentine president and Trump ally Javier Milei, openly celebrated the alleged US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, declaring on social media, “FREEDOM ADVANCES.”

Leaders and lawmakers in Europe also reacted to the US bombings. Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, issued a cautious statement calling for “deescalation and responsibility.”

British MP Zarah Sultana was far more forceful, writing on social media that “Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves—and that’s no coincidence.”

“This is naked US imperialism: an illegal assault on Caracas aimed at overthrowing a sovereign government and plundering its resources,” Sultana added.

This story has been updated to include statements from the presidents of Chile and Mexico.

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Continue Reading‘This Is State Terrorism’: Global Outrage as Trump Launches Illegal Assault on Venezuela

Latin American leaders condemn assassination attempt against former Bolivian president Evo Morales

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Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Screenshot

The car which the former president was traveling in was hit with over a dozen bullets in suspicious circumstances

On the morning of Sunday, October 27, former Bolivian president Evo Morales was targeted in an assassination attempt while driving between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. A group of men without uniforms opened fire at two cars, injured one of the drivers, and nearly hit the former president.

The incident was met with international outcry, with political leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean condemning the violent act against the former president. Honduran President Xiomara Castro, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, expressed their solidarity with Morales and condemned the act of violence that he suffered on Sunday. Former heads of state Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, who suffered an assassination attempt in 2022, and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, also condemned the violence faced by the Bolivian leader. Trade union leaders and social leaders from across the region also voiced their support to Morales, who himself came out of the trade union movement.

The sequence of events in the assassination attempt remains contested, with different and sometimes contradictory versions of events emerging. Notably, the violent act takes place in a context of high political tension in the country and within the left in Bolivia which has seen deep divisions form amid the internal struggle between political sectors represented by Morales and current President Luis Arce.

According to a statement released by the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS-IPSP), when Evo Morales was traveling to Lauca Ñ at around 6:30 am on Sunday to record his radio program, the cars he was traveling with were ambushed by two vehicles with heavily armed men. “The incident took place at the entrance of the military barracks of the Ninth Division of the Armed Forces. The armed men were armed with long weapons, dressed completely in black and shot at the vehicles in which Evo Morales was traveling,” MAS-IPSP declared in the statement.

They added, “According to witnesses of the events, the cars that transported the troops who perpetrated the attack against Evo Morales, subsequently entered the military barracks and then a helicopter that was waiting for them at the airstrip. We hold Luis Arce Catacora, Eduardo del Castillo, Minister of Government, and Edmundo Novillo, Minister of Defense, directly responsible for this attempt on the life of Evo Morales and the comrades who were with him.”

On Sunday, in the wake of the assassination attempt, Bolivian President Luis Arce stated: “The exercise of any violent practice in politics must be condemned and clarified. It is not with the search for dead people that problems are solved, nor with tendentious speculations. For this reason, in view of the denunciation by former President Evo Morales of an alleged attempt on his life, I have ordered an immediate and thorough investigation to clarify this fact.”

Morales has called on ALBA-TCP or CELAC to carry out an independent investigation.

Meanwhile the Minister of Government, Eduardo del Castillo, has attempted to present a different version of the events. According to statements made by del Castillo in a press conference, it was not an assassination attempt but the response of police to Evo’s vehicles not stopping at a police checkpoint. Further, del Castillo accused Morales and his team of firing on the troops and officers at the checkpoint and not stopping when told to. This version of the events has been met with a certain degree of skepticism.

While much uncertainty hangs over the situation, what is clear is that the incident has brought tensions in the country to an all-time high and the series of strikes and road blockades organized by parts of the peasant movement against the government have intensified. The high level of conflict between the two sectors which had initially been united to defeat the right in the 2020 elections which brought an end to the coup regime, has sparked deep concern amongst progressives in Bolivia and across the region. With elections approaching in August 2025, many hope that the divisions between these sectors can be overcome in order to achieve the unity necessary to defeat the right once again.

Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingLatin American leaders condemn assassination attempt against former Bolivian president Evo Morales

The Bolivian people defeated another coup

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Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Bolivian President Luis Arce addresses the crowd in Plaza Murillo. Photo: Ivan Bellot

“No one can take away our democracy!”

Bolivian President Luis Arce addressed the people of Bolivia on the afternoon of Wednesday June 26 to declare that the attempted military coup had been defeated.

On the afternoon of June 26, hundreds of military personnel had mobilized under the order of General Juan Zúñiga in the center of La Paz and surrounded the Quemado Palace (the government palace) ahead of a ministerial meeting. They proceeded to break down the main door to the palace with a tank and attempted to enter by force.

Zúñiga then announced that the military personnel would mobilize to the prison and free Bolivia’s “political prisoners” including Jeanine Áñez and Luis Fernando Camacho who are imprisoned over their involvement in the 2019 coup against Evo Morales. Áñez later wrote on X that she rejected the attempt by the military to destroy constitutional order and that “MAS with Arce and Evo should leave through the ballot box in 2025. Bolivians will defend democracy.”

Former Bolivian president Evo Morales immediately alerted to the development and called on the Bolivian people to mobilize in defense of democracy.

Bolivia’s foreign minister Celinda Sosa said in a video message, “The Plurinational State of Bolivia denounces to the international community the irregular mobilizations of some units of the Bolivian Army that attack democracy, peace, and security of the country. We call on the international community, on the Bolivian population to make sure that democratic values are respected.”

While the army attempted to storm the palace, hundreds of Bolivian people began to mobilize to demand that democracy be respected and the army stand down. These protests with members of mass organizations, trade unions, and the general population were met with heavy repression by the military police officers who shot tear gas indiscriminately and blocked off access to the Plaza Murillo.

The Bolivian Workers’ Central (COB) representing over 2 million workers, declared an indefinite general strike and “the mobilization of all social and union organizations to the city La Paz to defend and restore the constitutional order and our legally established government in Bolivia.”

After an hour of the military encirclement of the Palace, Bolivian President Luis Arce held a press conference to name José Sánchez as the new military command to replace Zúñiga. Sánchez ordered the military personnel that had mobilized to the center to return to their stations to avoid any bloodshed of the Bolivian people and affirmed that he supported the legal and constitutional government of Luis Arce.

A video also emerged of Arce confronting Zúñiga in the palace and firmly telling him to stand down and respect democracy. Shortly after the pronouncement by Arce and Sánchez, the tanks that had initially blocked off the plaza and surrounded the palace began to withdraw, and thousands of people flooded the area to affirm their rejection of the attempted coup and support to Arce. “Arce you’re not alone! Long live democracy!” they declared.

The attempted coup in Bolivia had international repercussions. Political leaders across Latin America and the Caribbean vehemently rejected the attempt by a fraction of the Army to subvert Bolivian democracy and celebrated the swift defeat of the attempt. Many highlighted that this took place just five years after the coup d’état which took Evo Morales out of office and installed the de facto leader Jeanine Áñez. After a year of resistance and violent repression to anti-coup protests, the Bolivian people restored democracy and elected Luis Arce.

Xiomara Castro, the president of Honduras and the pro-tempore president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), called on all the presidents of CELAC member countries to “condemn the fascism that today threatens democracy in Bolivia and demand the respect of civil power and the Constitution.”

The International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA) wrote in a statement, “The heroic people of Bolivia have successfully defeated the coup! The people’s movements mobilized to defend the democratic government of President Luis Arce. We will always stand with democracy and sovereignty—today we saw the Bolivian people rise up against the Bolivian elites and their US masters’ attempts to destabilize the country.”

COB and other organizations in Bolivia have celebrated the people’s victory but also called on the Bolivian people and the international community to continue their vigil and state of alert against any further coup attempts.

Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingThe Bolivian people defeated another coup