Portuguese Communist Party on the international situation

The PCP on US imperialism, NATO warmongering, Palestine and the Middle East, Venezuela, the Nobel Peace Prize, and the blockade of Cuba.

A PCP flag at the 2025 Avante! Festival -- image via the PCP

From the Communiqué of the Central Committee of the Portuguese Communist Party of October 14, 2025

(For the full communique looking at the results of the local elections, addressing various aspects of the Portuguese national situation and the elections for President of the Republic and lines of action for the intervention and strengthening of the Party see: Portuguese CP, Communiqué of the Central Committee of the PCP of October 14, 2025)

On the International Situation:

1. The escalation of confrontation and aggression promoted by imperialism, inseparable from the structural crisis of capitalism and the difficulties and contradictions faced by the major capitalist powers, represents the most serious threat to the peoples of the world.

The US, accompanied by the other G7 powers, is using all kinds of pressure and blackmail to impose its dominance and prevent countries that assert their sovereignty and rights from pursuing options for development and international cooperation.

Particularly serious is the escalation of warmongering by the US and its allies in NATO and the European Union, they exacerbate war propaganda, resorting to all kinds of manoeuvres and stirring up false external threats to sustain the dizzying increase in arms expenditure and their efforts to prolong the war in Ukraine, undermining any possibility of dialogue that could pave the way for a political solution to the conflict and for security and peace in Europe.

A warmongering escalation that diverts billions of euros to the military-industrial complex – mainly from the US – and is accompanied by attacks on labour and social rights, democratic freedoms and rights, and the promotion of anti-democratic, reactionary and fascist concepts, forces and projects.

Warning of NATO's intentions of confrontation and war, which pose the threat of a major conflict, the Central Committee of the PCP calls for the development of the struggle for Peace and disarmament, for the dissolution of NATO and the rejection of the militarisation of the EU, and for the establishment of a collective security system.

2. Reaffirming its condemnation of the genocide of the Palestinian people carried out by Israel, with the support and complicity of the US and the NATO and EU powers, the Central Committee of the PCP considers that the understanding now reached should constitute a step towards ensuring a permanent ceasefire, unconditional access to humanitarian aid, the total withdrawal of Israeli military forces from the Gaza Strip and an end to their attacks in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the reconstruction of infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

Given the need to ensure that Israel does not violate the terms of this understanding – as it has done in all previous agreements – the Central Committee of the PCP warns against manoeuvres and pressures which, in disregard of the rights and sovereignty of the Palestinian people, seek to undermine or even continue to prevent the existence of the State of Palestine, with the 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of return of Palestinian refugees, as determined by United Nations resolutions, the implementation of which cannot continue to be delayed, distorted or subverted. It is up to the Palestinian people to decide sovereignly their own path, free from external and neocolonial tutelage.

It is necessary to ensure that Israel ends its aggression against Lebanon and Syria and withdraws from the territories it illegally occupies in these countries, as well as ceasing its threats against Iran and Yemen.

The Central Committee of the PCP stresses that the Portuguese government's belated recognition of the State of Palestine must be accompanied by an end to its complicity with Israel's policy of occupation and aggression – an example of which is the use of the Lajes Base by the US to supply weapons to Israel – the whitewashing of the crimes of the Israeli regime and the demand for the immediate establishment of the State of Palestine as determined by UN resolutions.

Saluting the courageous resistance of the Palestinian people and the broad international movement of solidarity with Palestine and opposition to Israel's genocidal policy of occupation and colonisation, the Central Committee of the PCP calls for continued solidarity with the Palestinian people's struggle for the materialisation of their national rights.

3. The Central Committee of the PCP condemns the actions of interference and aggression by US imperialism against various countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and warns of the danger they pose to the sovereignty and rights of peoples, to peace and security in the region.

Condemning the provocations and warmongering threats by the US against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela – which are not unrelated to the awarding of the long-discredited Nobel Peace Prize to a figure from the extreme right-wing coup faction who advocates foreign intervention against the Venezuelan people – the Central Committee of the PCP expresses its solidarity with Bolivarian Venezuela and the struggle of the Venezuelan people in defence of the sovereignty and independence of their homeland, in the face of the US's intention to seize its vast natural resources.

The Central Committee of the PCP calls for an end to US interference and threats against Latin American and Caribbean States, and reiterates its demand for an end to the criminal and illegal blockade imposed on Cuba, as well as the coercive measures imposed on Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Brazil and other countries in the region.

4. The Central Committee of the PCP calls for the continuation and expansion of the struggle for peace and solidarity with the peoples who resist imperialist interference and aggression, particularly the Palestinian people and other peoples in the Middle East.

It is through the development of the resistance and struggle of peoples in defence of their rights and sovereignty, including the strengthening of ties of solidarity and cooperation within a broad anti-imperialist front, that it will be possible to halt the attempts of imperialism and pave the way for a new international order of peace and social progress.

The international situation lays bare the nature of capitalism and imperialist action and the topicality and necessity of the communist ideal and project as a perspective for a fairer society and world.

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Developments in the national and international situation place great demands on the Party. Demands of resistance, accumulation of forces, initiative, affirmation and progress. With confidence in the workers and the people, with courage, firmness and determination, it is imperative to continue the struggle, in the collective construction of a patriotic and left-wing political alternative, for an advanced democracy with the values of April in the future of Portugal, for socialism and communism.