By Staff Reporter
The Socialist Labour organisation has condemned what it described as the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, alleging that the action was carried out by United States special forces in the early hours of January 3, 2026.
In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Comrade Abiodun Olamosu, Socialist Labour claimed that U.S. forces launched an overnight operation in Caracas, involving air strikes on what it termed diversionary civilian and military targets, electronic disruption of Venezuela’s power grid, and what it described as psychological warfare and misinformation.
According to the group, more than 80 people were killed during the operation, including Cuban security personnel, and President Maduro and his wife were allegedly handcuffed, flown by helicopter to the USS Iwo Jima, and later transferred to the United States to face criminal charges in New York.
Socialist Labour said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi had announced charges against the Venezuelan leader and First Lady, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and firearms-related offences. The organisation rejected the allegations, describing them as “false imperial charges” and insisting that the action violated international law.
Drawing parallels with past U.S. interventions, Socialist Labour referenced the 1989 invasion of Panama and the arrest of former President Manuel Noriega, as well as the 2004 removal of Haiti’s President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The group argued that the alleged action against Venezuela followed a similar pattern of regime change and coercion.
In its statement, Socialist Labour linked the development to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, estimated at over 300 billion barrels, particularly heavy crude oil used by U.S. refineries along the Gulf Coast. It also alleged that Washington was seeking to counter alternative financial systems promoted by China under the Belt and Road Initiative, which allow energy trade outside the U.S. dollar system.
The organisation further warned that the incident signalled a renewed assertion of U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, referencing the Monroe Doctrine and “America First” policies. It described the alleged action against Venezuela as a warning to other countries pursuing independent political and economic paths.
Socialist Labour also claimed that protests had erupted in Venezuela in response to the alleged kidnapping and said labour movements in several countries had expressed solidarity with the Venezuelan people. It maintained that any attempt to seize or control Venezuelan oil resources would be resisted by Venezuelan workers, militias, and the armed forces.
Turning its focus to Africa, the group urged Nigerian workers, trade unions, and civil society organisations to oppose what it described as U.S. imperial aggression, warning that escalating global power rivalries could lead to widespread conflict and environmental catastrophe.
The statement concluded with a call for the termination of what it described as “illegal sham trials” in the United States and demanded that President Maduro and Cilia Flores be treated as prisoners of war under international law.
The U.S. government has not responded to the claims made in the statement at the time of filing this report.
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Socialist Labour Condemns the Kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores!
USA – Hands off Venezuela!
Socialist Labour condemns the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife ,Cilia Flores, by US
special forces. At 2 am, on January 3, 2026, US Special Forces attacked Venezuela and kidnapped the
Venezuelan President and his wife from Caracas, Venezuela. The attack included the bombing of 6
diversionary civilian and military targets, electronic attack on the electric grid system, physiological
warfare, misinformation and propaganda. More than 80 people were killed including 32 Cubans security
specialists. The Presidential couple were handcuffed and flown to the USS Iwo Jima by helicopter and
transferred to a New York court to face false imperial charges. US Attorney General Pam Bondi charged
President Maduro and Cilia Flores with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy,
Possession of Machine guns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machine guns and
Destructive Devices against the United States.
The US kidnapping of President Maduro and Cilia Flores is illegal under international law. The couple is
being held hostage while the US demands sole control over Venezuelan oil and land as ransom. This is the
same strategy used by USA against Panama. In 1989, US invaded Panama, kidnapped its President, Manuel
Noriega, and jailed him in Miami on charges of racketeering, drug smuggling, and money laundering.
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti was also kidnapped by US special forces in February 2004 and
flown directly to the Central African Republic, and then to exile in South Africa.
Venezuela has the world largest oil reserves of 305 bn. Most of this reserves consist of heavy oil which is
needed as input into US refineries in the Gulf Coast. Although US produces and exports excess light crude
oil from its Gulf Coast States, its national demand outstrips its domestic production by 6.3 million barrels a
day. This demand-production gap was met by import of heavy crude oil from Canada. Other major heavy
oil suppliers included Venezuela. However, the planned Keystone pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to U.S.
refineries at the Gulf Coast has met with protests from communities and environmentalists. This leaves US
dependent on cheap secured Venezuelan heavy oil. Therefore, US seeks control of these Venezuelan
heavy oil resources.
Apart from this, the USA wants to break up the construction of an alternative Chinese financial platform
that promotes crude oil and gas sales in other currencies than the Dollar. Under its Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI), China constructed an alternative financial structure to the dollar based swift/routing number
US/European dominated inter-bank fund flow for crude oil, gas, gold and other resources sales. This
structure allows bilateral/multilateral currency value exchange almost instantaneously using block chain
technology/algorithms. The ability of Venezuela to use this financial platform to evade the US financial
blockage and sanctions encouraged 23 other nations to join. Saudi Arabia is evaluating the benefits of
crude oil sales in its own currency based on the Yuan and this platform.
The USA wants to control the Western Hemisphere, from Greenland(North Pole Arctic) to the Antarctica
(South Pole) under its new Monroe Doctrine and America First policies. The resurrection of the Monroe
Doctrine of 1823, the Roosevelt Corollary of 1904 and the whole question of America First policies
represents an escalation of the inter-imperialist rivalry for control of territory and resources which could
lead to another global conflagration. President Trump is already setting his sights on Greenland, Cuba,
Columbia, Mexico, Canada and Panama. The attack on Venezuela is a warning to nations like Cuba and
Colombia, which have rejected the Washington Consensus and followed an independent path of
development.
The kidnapping of President Maduro and Cilia Flores, the sanctions, economic blockage, missiles strikes on
fishermen boats and bombing of Venezuela have nothing to do with Narco-Terrorism and Cocaine
Importation Conspiracy or Possession of Machine guns. The United State has engaged in covert actions,
economic warfare and political opposition to the Bolivarian revolution since its inception. The US inspired
coup d’etat against President Hugo Chavez in 2002 failed. So also did the US inspired Coup d’etat against
President Nicolas Maduro in 2021. The US economic blockages and sanctions from 2005 to 2026 had
serious negative effects on the Venezuelan working class and increased the poverty of the Venezuelan
people as a whole.
Trump’s plan to seize, produce and sell Venezuelan oil is going to be resisted by the armed might of the
Venezuelan workers and peasants, organized in Bolivarian Collectivos, Bolivarian Militia and the
Venezuelan Armed Forces. There have been massive street protests in Venezuela denouncing the
kidnapping of President Maduro and First Lady Cilia. Numerous labour movements, nationally and
internationally, have expressed solidarity with the Venezuelan people.
Nigeria and Africa as a whole, have a specific role to play in the cross-hairs of inter-imperialist struggle for
global hegemony as a site for resource plunder, re-colonization through elite collaboration with
Imperialism. Another Imperialist global conflagration will result in planetary extinction in a world that is
already suffering from crises due to economic stagnation, environmental destruction etc.
Socialist Labour calls on Nigerian workers, trade unions and Civil Society Organization to support the
resistance of the Venezuelan people against US imperialist aggression and attacks. It is an absolute
necessity for the working and oppressed peoples to unite across national boundaries and resist this
reckless move towards war and planetary destruction. We call for the termination of the illegal sham trials
of President Maduro and Cilia Flores in New York. President Maduro and Cilia Flores are Prisoners of War
(POW) and must be accorded their rights under international law. Venezuela will never be a colony or
protectorate of USA! Workers of all nations unite and resist the slide to war!
In solidarity!
Comrade Abiodun Olamosu,
General Secretary, Socialist Labour
