The invasion of Venezuela by United States troops in the early hours of Saturday, January 3, has crossed the imaginary line of sovereignty in South America.

While Central America and the Caribbean have seen numerous direct invasions, until now South America had suffered Yankee “interventionism” but never an “outright invasion”.

This is not the time for historical recaps, nor for heated arguments over what is and what is not a democracy. Now is the time to band together to defend the sovereignty and self-determination of the people and to condemn in the strongest and most emphatic terms the old and well-known imperial violence.

The early hours of this January 3 marked a turning point in our regional history: as Caracas shook with explosions and planes flew over the city, the Venezuelan government denounced a brutal military aggression perpetrated by the United States against its territory and population, calling it a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter and a direct threat to peace in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This is not a “surgical operation”, but rather an invasion that tramples the sovereignty of a people. Attacks on civilian and military bases, bombs dropped in several states around the country, and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro by foreign forces are actions that exceed any excuses claiming they were done for “security” reasons or to “combat drug trafficking”.

It has now become crystal clear where the real tyranny is and who exerts it. The “dictators” of the world sit in the Oval Office of the White House, in the corporate skyscrapers of New York, and in the military-industrial complex. They are all in the United States.

Donald Trump’s intention is not to put an end to drug trafficking, but to plunder by force all the oil and wealth that the empire and its cohort of extractive multinational corporations decide belong to them.

We at the IUF Latin American Regional Office express our utmost solidarity with and commitment to the Venezuelan people.