AKEL stands in solidarity with the people of Venezuela against US imperialist aggression
- The Left Chapter
- 7 hours ago
- 6 min read
Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) of Cyprus statement and speech by General Secretary Stefanos Stefanou.
Screenshot image from the January 5 protest in Nicosia
Monday, 5 January 2026, Outside US Embassy, Nicosia
What brings us all here to this protest against the shameless and blatant US intervention in Venezuela and the abduction of the country’s elected President, Nicolás Maduro?
It is our commitment to the principles of international law.
It is our dedication to the Charter of the United Nations, which is the cornerstone, framework, and measure of legitimacy of the international legal order.
It is our determination to continue to demand and fight for the principles and procedures of international law to remain the compass and criterion for the actions and policies of all states, without any exception whatsoever.
This is the message we are sending through this protest. This is what we want, this is what we are fighting for, and this is what we are demanding. Without any mincing of words and vague statements.
We categorically state that no excuse, no claim, and no justification can justify any illegality. That is precisely why we categorically reject views such as those expressed in the press that the US intervention is justified because it was carried out against a dictator or to prevent – allegedly – the trafficking of drugs to the US. It is more than obvious that the US government acted with the aim of exploiting Venezuela’s rich oil reserves and not to restore democracy in the country.
If that had been the goal — which still wouldn’t justify the intervention — the US would have had to intervene in a number of other countries where the regime is authoritarian and tyrannical, but which are close allies of the US.
Everyone knowns that the US always attempts to cover up its illegal interventions and invasions around the world with fabricated news stories. Every US invasion and intervention is always accompanied by an all-powerful propaganda machine. And now the same thing is happening with the US intervention in Venezuela. This time, of course, the US intervention in Venezuela has provoked strong reactions even within the country itself. Members of the US Congress, including Republicans, are accusing the Trump administration of violating not only international law but also US law.
Even the New York Times — which, in the case of the US invasion of Iraq, played a leading role in spreading false news and talk about weapons of mass destruction allegedly possessed by Saddam Hussein’s regime — is accusing Trump in an editorial of actions that undermine international law. The newspaper points out that the intervention in Venezuela is a direct application of the Monroe Doctrine for the restoration of US supremacy in the Western Hemisphere and concludes that this “represents a dangerous and illegal approach to America’s position in the world.”
So when Trump is accused and criticized within America itself, one wonders what purpose all those who have already rushed to justify the US president are serving and what their motives are. As, for example, the far-right ELAM party has done here in Cyprus, providing full cover for the illegal actions of the American administration.
Against this backdrop, the hypocritical stance of the European Union cannot go unnoticed. European leaders are avoiding naming the flagrant violation of international law and the UN Charter. It limits itself to issuing vague and meaningless statements. On this issue, too, the EU leadership is demonstrating that it is not guided by principles, but applies a policy of double standards. The sensitivities of EU leaders are selective and ad hoc, further undermining the already damaged credibility of the European Union itself.
In the face of the US’s illegal actions and aggression against Venezuela, the government of the Republic of Cyprus must take a clear stand, it must denounce the Trump administration’s actions and demand the full respect for the UN Charter and international law.
This is the least that the government of a country like Cyprus, which is itself a victim of invasion, occupation, and violation of its territorial integrity, can ask for.
Dear friends,
Faced with the situation created by the US intervention, we refuse to engage in the logic of seeking excuses to legitimize a dangerous international illegality. We have never followed this logic and we will not do so now. We will remain focused on the big picture, on the great challenge that the new, shameless illegal action of American imperialism presents us with: the defence of international law.
The principles of international law are very specific. They are the principles of the sovereign equality of states, non-interference in their internal affairs of states, the preservation of their territorial integrity, and the right of every people to decide their own fate.
These principles cannot be applied selectively. Such approaches only serve to undermine, disregard, marginalize, and ultimately abolish international law. And what remains after that? All that remains is the imposition of the will of the mighty. That is where peoples are drowned in blood. That is where entire countries are destroyed.
When powerful states act outside the framework of international law and the United Nations Charter, replacing international law with the interests of the mighty, it is not just one state or one people that is affected. The entire collective security system is undermined, paving the way for arbitrariness, destabilization, and the imposition of faits accomplis.
For us here in Cyprus, such practices are not some distant theoretical discussion. The Cyprus problem is living proof of what it means to violate territorial integrity, sovereignty, and UN resolutions. The solution to our problem is based on international law, the United Nations Constitutional Charter, and the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
If the logic that might prevails over law is allowed to prevail internationally, then the prospects for resolving the Cyprus problem are seriously undermined, with the danger that solutions will be imposed that are detrimental to the interests of our people and the prospects of our homeland. In an environment of international lawlessness, peace, reunification, and justice become increasingly distant.
That is precisely why the defence of international law is neither selective, nor circumstantial. It is a condition for the very survival for the peoples, especially the small and weak. It is a prerequisite for a just and lasting solution to the Cyprus problem and for a world where justice prevails over might.
This is what we stand for, and this is why we will continue to struggle, expressing our solidarity with the people of Venezuela against the threats and machinations of the US.
3 January 2026, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia
The imperialist intervention of the United States against Venezuela, as well as the abduction of the country’s elected President Nicolás Maduro and members of his family, on the orders of Donald Trump’s far-right government, constitute a flagrant violation of international law and a gross intervention in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.
These actions are not isolated. They are part of the new US National Security Strategy, which revives and upgrades the Monroe Doctrine, seeking to impose political, military, and economic control over Latin America and the Caribbean.
It is no coincidence that Venezuela, the country with the largest oil reserves in the world, is being targeted, nor that the same strategy is also being extended to critical natural resources in the region. Geopolitical and geo-economic rivalries are being attempted to be resolved through violence, destabilization, and violations of state sovereignty.
The military attack and the abduction of a sitting head of state, without any authorization from the United Nations or an international judicial body, directly violate the United Nations Charter, the principle of sovereign equality of states, the prohibition of the use of force, and the fundamental rule of non-intervention.
The international community must unequivocally denounce this new intervention and defend international law in practice, peace, and the right of peoples to decide their own future, without any threats or interventions.
AKEL expresses its unreserved solidarity with the people of Venezuela, who are facing the aggression and brutality of the US.