By Ted Kelly
March 19, 2019

Over a thousand activists converged on Lafayette Park in front of the White House March 16 in a show of solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela and the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Coming just days after the U.S. sabotage of Venezuela’s electrical grid, which left the country without power for over 48 hours, the protest, called by Answer, was a rebuke to the ongoing coup attempt orchestrated by the Trump administration.

Representing Workers World and the International Action Center, Loan Tran and Taryn Fivek spoke from the stage to the rally.

“We remember Vietnam, we remember Libya, we remember Syria, we remember Yemen. We know what is happening in Venezuela right now,” said Tran, from Durham, N.C. “Democracy under capitalism is democracy for the rich, it is democracy for killer cops, it is democracy for Jeff Bezos and for Donald Trump. It is not democracy for working people!”

Leading the crowd in a chant of “No sanctions, no coup! Venezuela, we stand with you!” Fivek, from New York City, linked the struggle against U.S. militarism and occupation abroad to the successful fight waged against the plan to build the second Amazon headquarters in New York. Issuing a challenge to the crowd, Fivek asked, “What are people here willing to do to stop this war on Venezuela? What are people here willing to unite around in order to end U.S. imperialism?”

Undeterred by a hundred or so pro-coup Venezuelans who had gathered to disrupt the rally, the strong column of Venezuela supporters marched past the White House and down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Trump International Hotel. Members of Workers World Party marched alongside activists from Veterans For Peace, Code Pink and the Party for Socialism and Liberation in a united front against the racism and aggression of the Trump administration.

An upcoming D.C. mobilization scheduled for March 30 will unite the struggle to defend Venezuela with the global fight against NATO, from Colombia to Ukraine. NATO will be meeting in D.C. to mark the 70th anniversary of this global capitalist military alliance.