By Sue Harris
January 22, 2026

U.S. imperialism and Bolivarian Venezuela have been engaging in what has been called asymmetric warfare. For five months since August 2025, the enormous destructive power of a U.S. Navy warfleet bombed and destroyed more than 25 small boats and killed over 100 people, most civilians. In a world ruled by law, these would be U.S. war crimes.

In the early hours of Jan. 3, if we believe an article in the New York Times, a sneak cyberattack cut off all power in Caracas and prevented the Venezuelans from defending their political leaders. (“Cyberattack in Venezuela Demonstrated Precision of U.S. Capabilities,” Jan. 15)

According to that article, U.S. warmaking is more sophisticated than that of Venezuela, which had no defense against this cyberattacks. And that was the key factor in the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Combatant Cilia Flores.

The White House called this a great victory and announced plans to “run Venezuela.” It was similar to when then-President George W. Bush declared “mission accomplished” about Iraq in 2003 after landing on an aircraft carrier.

The thing about asymmetric warfare is that the other side, while it possesses no death fleet of warships and currently couldn’t counter the cyberattack, has weapons of its own, weapons that U.S. imperialism doesn’t possess.

The weapon that counters the U.S. plans for Venezuela — that stops Trump’s orders to hand over “his” oil and makes it (as the oil CEO’s called it) “uninvestible” — is something the U.S. has no simple answer to: mass solidarity. Although the U.S. corporate media made little effort to cover the response in Venezuela, soon social media on the internet was filled with videos and photographs of masses of Venezuelans marching in the streets and declaring their indignation against their would-be invaders, their loyalty to Maduro and Flores and their determination to go on defending a free and sovereign Venezuela.

Unions, youth organizations, women’s organizations and the ubiquitous local communes were each leading massive contingents through the streets of Caracas, the capital, and other cities. And the communes were mobilized to continue production, while the militias were mobilized to fight, if necessary.

U.S. imperialism has no use for mass solidarity. The word commune is met with scorn. To the U.S. ruling class, it reeks of the ideas of socialism and communism. But it is a mainstay of life in Venezuela. The people write songs and make videos about it, showing how working together is the basis for productivity, well-being and success.

It is this communal solidarity that is growing among people around the world that can resist the bullying of the U.S. and that will eventually win out against it. Eventually, the U.S. occupiers had to leave Iraq and, after 20 years, Afghanistan.

Now that the Times article has boasted of U.S. cyber sophistication, the people in targeted countries know what they must defend against. And there is no doubt that they are capable of developing a counterweapon.