The Trump fascist, gangster regime's preparations to attack Venezuela have headlined the news in the U.S. and internationally day after day. The murder of people in small boats continues. The U.S. has amassed the largest troop buildup in the Caribbean since the Cuban Missile Crisis¹ in 1962. The largest aircraft carrier in the world is stationed right offshore from Venezuela, threatening that country. Trump has closed the skies above and surrounding Venezuela, and labeled its president, Nicolás Maduro, a narco-terrorist.

At the same time, the conflict within the ruling class over the blatant lawlessness of this regime's actions, without Congressional approval, has come out into the open. But the Trump regime has doubled down on their determination to force Maduro out of power, ready to open fire if he doesn't step down, or isn't toppled by his own officials or generals. 

There has been mounting political “blowback” over the regime's criminal strikes on so-called narco-terrorist boats. Nevertheless, on Monday, December 1, the U.S. Southern Command announced that it had conducted another strike against a small boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean near Colombia the previous Thursday, after an almost three week pause. This is the 22nd U.S. military strike on boats in the waters near Venezuela and Colombia since September 2. There were apparently four more casualties in this latest strike, bringing the total number murdered by the U.S. to at least 87 people. 

Divisions Sharpen but Fascist Regime Doubles Down

Sharpening divisions within the ruling class came to the surface last week. On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a war powers resolution seeking to halt what they called Trump's unauthorized (U.S. military) hostilities, and directed Trump to withdraw U.S. forces unless Congress explicitly authorizes the mission. 

This came amidst sharp conflict in and beyond Congress over exposure of the hideous, wanton, and criminal murder of two survivors clinging to a boat that had already been destroyed by a U.S. strike on September 2. The vote on the Senate resolution is supposed to take place within 10 days. This followed similar legislation in the House introduced on Tuesday by three Democratic Congresspeople. 

Whether this will trigger an attack on Venezuela before a vote, or the Republi-fascists can block the vote, remains to be seen. But remember: Trump has repeatedly insisted that he will not go to Congress for legal authorization and does not need its approval to launch an attack. 

Hegseth Cheerleads for War

On December 5, fascist “War” Secretary Hegseth made clear the military will continue bombing alleged “narco” boats in the Caribbean, regardless of being accused of committing a war crime. When his pal Andrew Kilvet, the new head of the fascist group Turning Point USA, wrote on X, “Every new attack aimed at Pete Hegseth makes me want another narco drug boat blown up and sent to the bottom of the ocean.” Hegseth responded on X, “Your wish is our command, Andrew. Just sunk another narco boat.”

And on December 6, speaking at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Hegseth said, “President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nation’s interests. Let no country on earth doubt that for a moment.” Coming as it did in the midst of the current controversy, the message was very pointed.

The Larger Strategy at Work

On December 4, the Trump regime released its 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS). The document is supposed to present to Congress the President's strategic vision for foreign policy and defense planning. The strategy puts great stress on consolidating Latin America into an economic, political, and military fascist bloc with the U.S. at the head. This is seen as a strategic necessity for U.S. imperialism in their contention with China, their top global imperialist rival. China is now South America’s top trading partner and a major source of both foreign direct investment and energy and infrastructure lending. China is a significant and growing rival in Latin America, and the strategy puts a high priority on quashing that.

Venezuela has become increasingly dependent on China. In the face of the U.S.'s punishing sanctions against Venezuela, nearly half of all Chinese loans to Latin America and the Caribbean have gone to Venezuela. And China buys 90 percent of Venezuela's vast oil production. The core of Trump's regime sees forcing Venezuela's president out of power as the first step toward toppling Cuba and Nicaragua, the two other regimes they see as obstacles to their strategy for the region. 

The NSS says the regime's strategy is to “restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region.” In the words of the NSS document: “We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere.” They don’t mention China (or anyone else) in this context, but in a document that clearly sees China as the main strategic rival, the intent is clear.

The NSS calls this strategy for Latin America the “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine. Under the Monroe Doctrine, originated in the 1820s, Latin America was to be considered America's “back yard,” for the U.S. to dominate and exploit and to keep other foreign powers out. This has in fact been U.S. imperialism's treatment of Latin America ever since.

What is new here is NOT U.S. military domination of and aggression against Latin America. The U.S. has made major invasions of other countries in the hemisphere at least 41 times, as well as pulling off brutal coups and—as they have done with Venezuela and Cuba—using economic warfare and CIA financing of opposition. That’s imperialism, and this IS an imperialist system.

What is new is the shift away from even the barest pretense of legality—congressional oversight? NO. Revealing the findings on which these murders are supposedly based? NO. Totally ignoring any international bodies organizations, treaties or laws? YES. Crowing about murder and cultivating bloodlust? YES. 

Bob Avakian captured it this way, in his social media message @BobAvakianOfficial REVOLUTION #114: Defeating Trump/MAGA fascism: Looking to some future elections... or working now to mobilize millions around this powerful unifying demand: The Trump fascist regime must go!:

Trump fascism is a regime that openly and aggressively strips away basic rights and blatantly declares that there is no rule of law and due process of law other than what it dictates, and that raw destructive power is what must rule in the international arena, without even the pretense of adherence to international law or concern about the sovereignty, or even the right to exist, of less powerful peoples and countries.

The point is this: Trump's bloody serial murders on the seas—and threats of even bigger war crimes against Venezuela and other countries in the region—are completely lawless and illegitimate. They are part of a larger strategy to bring Latin America even more thoroughly under U.S. domination. These moves pose extreme danger to the people of Venezuela, Colombia, to all of Latin America, and the whole world. Any war launched by the Trump fascist regime would be a criminal outrage.

AND… People in this country have a huge responsibility to oppose any such aggression—nonviolently in the streets and in the arenas of public opinion—as an imperialist predatory war waged by a fascist regime.