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Pro-government armed civilians patrol in La Guaira, Venezuela,on January 3, after US President Donald Trump announced that President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. - AP PHOTOCIVIL Society groups will assemble outside the US Embassy in Port of Spain on January 4 to protest the US attack on Venezuela and the arrest of that country's president, Nicolas Maduro, by US forces.
In a statement issued by Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) political leader David Abdulah, the group said, "We unreservedly condemn the actions by the US."
They added, "The bombing of a country by another where there is no war is an illegal action and contravenes every aspect of international law and the UN Charter. This was a gross violation of the sovereignty of a nation."
The groups said the attack and Maduro's capture by US forces is "an act of imperialism – the use of military force to effect the agenda of maintaining hegemony – of power and control by the US over the region."
They claimed, "What Trump has done is to say to the entire Latin America and the Caribbean that whatever he wants he will get by force if necessary."
The group said, "It is not just the act of a bully, it is thuggery. It was an international crime."
In a social media post, US President Donald Trump successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and the capture of its leader, President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, early on January 3.
Trump added that the operation was done in conjunction with law enforcement. CBS News reported the US Army's elite counter-terrorism unit, Delta Force, was involved in the operation.
The group said Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar must be held accountable for the role her government played with respect to events which preceded the attack and Maduro's capture. These include Persad-Bissessar's support of the US military deployment in the Southern Caribbean, which began last August, the establishment of a US military radar system at the ANR Robinson International Airport in Tobago, and giving the US military unlimited permission to use the Piarco and ANR Robinson International Airports for transit flights.
"We must be told whether these were used in the attacks against Venezuela. The government has become a lackey of US imperialism, and no amount of ole talk about our being a friend of the Venezuelan people or denials about being involved in today’s actions by the US can erase that fact.
"We, the people, must now demonstrate that we stand for Peace; that we will defend our sovereignty even if the government does not; and that we oppose the US military attacks on Venezuela."
In a post on January 3, Persad-Bissessar repeated Trump's statements about US military action inside Venezuela.
"Trinidad and Tobago is not a participant in any of these ongoing military operations."
Persad-Bissessar, who has previously declined to acknowledge Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate president, repeated her position, "TT continues to maintain peaceful relations with the people of Venezuela."
Caricom leaders, with the exception of TT, have petition for the Caribbean to maintain a zone of peace and opposed the US military action against narco-traffickers.
Persad-Bissessar recently questioned Caricom's reliability as a partner to TT and said the US is the only nation in the world that can protect TT from any external security threat.
English (US) ·