On November 15th, internationalist activists, members of the Latino diaspora, and solidarity campaigners, will gather at Bolivar Hall on Grafton Way in London to build a united front against US imperialist aggression targeting Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama. Organized by various allied anti-imperialist groups, including Plataforma 12 de Octubre, Red Wiphalas, Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and the Black Liberation Alliance, the meeting aims to mobilise resistance against Washington’s renewed colonial ambitions in Latin America.
The Tightening Imperial Vice
The Trump administration has dramatically escalated tensions across Latin America, reviving the most aggressive elements of Monroe Doctrine imperialism. Three nations in particular face intensified US hostility – Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama. Each represents a different facet of Washington’s determination to maintain hemispheric dominance in an era of declining American hegemony.
Venezuela: Demonisation as Pretext for Resource Theft
Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves and possesses vast lithium deposits crucial for the global energy transition. This resource wealth makes it an irresistible target for US corporations and the imperial planners who serve their interests. The Venezuelan government’s refusal to surrender these resources to foreign control – and maintain its national sovereignty – has made it a target for US-sponsored regime change.
Washington has weaponised the narrative of the ‘Cartel of the Suns,’ portraying Venezuela as a narco-state to justify intervention. Yet Venezuela is primarily a transit route rather than a major drug producer, and coca production has actually increased in Colombia despite decades of US military involvement there. The real crime is Venezuela’s resistance to neoliberal privatisation and its defiance of US diktat.
The CIA’s destabilisation playbook is in full effect – backing opposition militias, imposing crushing sanctions that amount to collective punishment of civilians, and engineering migration crises that are then exploited to justify further intervention. Former UN Special Rapporteur Alfred de Zayas characterized US sanctions as ‘economic warfare’ – a humanitarian catastrophe deliberately created to soften the target for regime change.
Colombia: When Client States Seek Independence
Colombia has long served as Washington’s most reliable proxy in South America, hosting US military bases and serving as a platform for regional intervention. However, President Gustavo Petro’s recent diplomatic overtures toward Venezuela represent an unacceptable deviation from the imperial script. Any movement toward regional cooperation and peaceful resolution threatens the isolation strategy central to US regime change efforts.
The billions invested in Plan Colombia and subsequent militarisation programmes were never truly about combating drug trafficking – as evidenced by the steady increase in coca production throughout decades of US involvement. The actual purpose was establishing permanent military infrastructure, ensuring favourable conditions for US multinationals, and maintaining a forward operating base for projecting power throughout the continent.
Panama: The Canal as Imperial Chokepoint
Trump’s rhetoric about ‘reclaiming’ the Panama Canal exposes the colonial mentality that still drives US foreign policy. The canal was constructed with Caribbean labour – thousands of workers died in the process – on land seized through manufactured revolution. After a century of US control, the canal was finally returned to Panama through treaties that Washington spent decades attempting to undermine.
Current US anxiety over Chinese investment in Panama reveals a fundamental imperial assumption – strategic infrastructure anywhere in the world must ultimately serve American interests. That Panama might exercise sovereign control over its own territory, or engage in economic relations with China, is treated as an intolerable challenge to US pre-eminence.
The Project for the New American Century: Blueprint for Endless Domination
Understanding the current aggression requires examination of the ideological framework established by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). This neoconservative think tank’s 2000 report Rebuilding America’s Defenses articulated a post-Cold War vision of permanent US military and economic supremacy, justifying pre-emptive action to prevent the emergence of any competitor and asserting American entitlement to control strategic resources globally.
Though PNAC officially dissolved in 2006, its core doctrines have been thoroughly absorbed into the bipartisan foreign policy establishment. Its architects and ideological descendants populate both Republican and Democratic administrations. What we witness in Latin America today is PNAC doctrine applied to the hemisphere—the reassertion that the Americas remain proprietary US territory, despite the obvious contradiction with international law and basic principles of sovereignty.
Corporate Exploitation and Resource Extraction
Behind the geopolitical manoeuvring lie the concrete interests of US corporations hungry for profit. Energy giants covet Venezuela’s oil and lithium. Defence contractors anticipate lucrative military contracts. Agribusiness eyes Colombia’s fertile lands. Financial institutions envision privatised assets sold at fire-sale prices. The rhetoric of democracy and human rights serves to obscure what is fundamentally about corporate access to resources and markets.
This is the pattern repeated throughout the hemisphere’s history – economic pressure and military intervention to force open economies, install compliant regimes, and ensure that natural resources flow northward while profits accumulate in corporate coffers. The peoples of Latin America have experienced this cycle for over a century—from the United Fruit Company’s banana republics to contemporary mineral extraction and agribusiness expansion.
Building the Movement: November 15th at Bolivar Hall
The London meeting on November 15th represents a crucial moment for building international solidarity against imperialism. As Yonatan Mosquera of Plataforma 12 de Octubre explains, the gathering seeks to achieve multiple interconnected goals: “Our goals are to build a solidarity network in the UK that engages actively in the defence of Venezuela’s sovereignty, and to join the common experiences of all struggles from around the world today that resist imperialist aggression.”
Mosquera emphasizes the particular role of the Latino diaspora in this struggle: “The Latino community in London, which includes many political exiles, has a long history of mobilising support against imperialist domination. It is widely recognised, among the diaspora, that the imperialist super-exploitation of our countries has contributed to the conditions that forced many of us into political or economic exile.”
This understanding – that forced migration results from imperial exploitation – connects the struggles of those in diaspora with movements for sovereignty in their homelands. The meeting will bring together diverse voices united by opposition to US domination.
Internationalism Against Imperialism
Crucially, the solidarity movement being built extends beyond Latin America alone. As Mosquera notes: “Over the years, we have also built connections with people from around the world living in London, joining together in a common struggle. We are internationalists above all things.”
This internationalist perspective recognises that struggles against imperialism are interconnected globally. Whether in Palestine, Yemen, Sudan, the Congo or elsewhere, the pattern is consistent – imperial powers seek to dominate, extract resources, and punish resistance. Building effective solidarity means understanding these connections and coordinating resistance across borders.
The Republican Tradition and Sovereignty
Mosquera also invokes the deep historical memory of Latin American independence – “There is a long republican tradition among the Latino people. We fought and won a war against the Spanish crown over 200 years ago, and since then, we have had no king, no foreign ruler.”
This appeal to the wars of independence reminds us that Latin American nations achieved sovereignty through struggle against colonial powers. The current US aggression represents a neo-colonial attempt to reassert foreign domination. The resistance draws legitimacy from the same anti-colonial principles that animated the independence movements of the 19th century.
Stopping the Drive Toward War
The stakes could not be higher. Military intervention remains a real possibility, with Trump administration figures openly discussing invasion scenarios. Destabilisation campaigns are already underway, and the propaganda apparatus works overtime to manufacture consent for aggression.
Yet there is also hope in resistance. Latin American nations retain vivid memories of coups, death squads, and economic shock therapy imposed by Washington. Regional integration initiatives like CELAC represent attempts to build cooperation independent of US domination. Social movements throughout the hemisphere understand that the fight against imperialism transcends national borders.
The task for anti-imperialists, particularly those in the imperial core, is clear – expose the lies, oppose sanctions and intervention, and build material solidarity with movements for sovereignty and self-determination. As Mosquera declares: “We ask everyone who defends Venezuela’s sovereignty to join us on November 15th so we can build the movement necessary to stop the imperialist drive towards fascism and war.”
From London to Latin America
The November 15th meeting at Bolivar Hall represents more than a single event—it is part of constructing the international solidarity network necessary to confront empire. The Latino diaspora in London, with its history of anti-imperialist organising and its direct connection to struggles in the homeland, plays a vital role in this resistance.
Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama face intensified US aggression driven by corporate greed, ideological commitment to dominance, and desperation to maintain a crumbling unipolar order. The Project for the New American Century’s vision of permanent US supremacy collides with a multipolar reality that refuses to submit to Washington’s demands.
The peoples of Latin America do not need American saviours – they need the American empire to remove its boot from their necks. They need international solidarity from those of us in the imperial core who refuse to allow crimes to be committed in our names. They need a movement that can expose propaganda, resist war, and build connections across borders.
The empire is desperate, and desperate empires are dangerous. But they are also brittle. Every act of imperial overreach hastens decline. Every expression of international solidarity strengthens resistance. The century of US dominance over Latin America is ending. Our responsibility is to ensure that it ends through popular struggle rather than through more bloodshed and suffering.
— © 2025 Sul Nowroz – Real Media staff writer – Insta: @TheAfghanWriter
