By Mumia Abu-Jamal
February 13, 2026

On Feb. 3 — at a demonstration outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, marking one month since President Nicolás Maduro and First Combatant Cilia Flores were kidnapped and held hostage by the U.S. — protesters received a live call-in from political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Mumia cut through the propaganda and named this for what it is — an act of imperial robbery, not law. From one political prisoner to a people under siege, this was a call for internationalist solidarity to defend the Bolivarian Revolution.

From Mumia:

Hey Venezuela, this is a stickup! It is time for all of us to say what we see, right before us. When an empire attacks a poor workers’ state and demands the lion’s share of its richest raw material, oil, why is this not a stickup?

Remember that old corny line from the movies: “Your money or your life.” Anybody old enough to remember that? It’s “give me your oil or else,” or even worse. Perhaps, “This oil is ours and we want most of it.” Really? Honestly?

Doesn’t that sound just like a straight up stickup? A robbery? That’s right, and as if that were not enough, the seizure of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and First Combatant Cilia Flores was and is a kidnapping.

Think of this okay? When have you heard of U.S. presidents taken prisoner? Who has waged unfair and unjust wars on false and specious pretext and claims? We need think no further than the hellish wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan, where tens of thousands of people died under grotesque U.S. bombing campaigns.

Remember “weapons of mass destruction?” Who got busted for that disaster? Maduro and Flores are not subject to U.S. law. They should be returned home, period. And the natural resources of Venezuela should remain in the hands of the people of Venezuela. Certainly not politicians, not the U.S. So let’s make it happen. Love, not Phear, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.

 Free Mumia!
Free Nicolás Maduro!
Free Cilia Flores!
Free them all!