A new war on the South American continent appears imminent.

In recent weeks, the United States has launched at least seven attacks against small boats in the Caribbean, killing dozens of Venezuelan, Colombian and Trinidadian citizens in a spate of extrajudicial killings justified by the enduring pretext of a “war on drugs”. The bodies of several victims washed up on Trinidad’s shores at Cumana earlier this week.

These assaults come amid a major mobilization of military forces around Venezuela, including the recent deployment of B-52 bombers on sorties towards the country’s shores. Among other things, Donald Trump has absurdly accused Venezuela of being a hub for the transport of “fentanyl from China” to the US — an unconvincing pretext for a war that seeks to dismantle the Bolivarian Revolution and gain access to Venezuela’s vast mineral wealth.

The US has broadened its confrontation to neighbouring Colombia. On 24 October, Washington announced sanctions against Colombia’s President - and Progressive International Council Member - Gustavo Petro, his family and Colombia’s Interior Minister — a dramatic escalation in what Petro called a campaign of “neocolonial intimidation.”

The measures came after Colombia denounced the illegal airstrikes and mounting aggression against its neighbour and after Petro and Colombia have led both the world’s denunciations of and concrete action against the US-Israeli genocide in Gaza. In response, Petro vowed not to yield to imperialist pressure, declaring “not one step back and never on my knees.”

The previous day, 23 October, Trump announced that the US would soon commence ground operations within Venezuelan territory.

The moves are met with growing protest around the region. In Cuba, mass demonstrations in Havana and other cities drew tens of thousands into the streets in solidarity with Venezuela, with protesters comparing the US’s hybrid war against the Bolivarian Republic to their own experiences under blockade.

Cuban officials have condemned the military buildup, with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez declaring that “the peoples of Latin America will not permit a return to the era of gunboat diplomacy and military intervention.” Cuba has also intensified diplomatic efforts within the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to coordinate a unified regional response to US belligerence.

CELAC is a central battleground in the struggle to preserve peace in the region. In 2014, CELAC declared the region as a "Zone of Peace" — a collective commitment to resolving conflicts through dialogue rather than force, to respect sovereignty and non-intervention, and to construct an alternative regional order based on cooperation rather than domination.

On 23 October 2025, the Progressive International announced the formation of a new hemispheric coalition to defend that "Zone of Peace" from US aggression, bringing together dozens of parliamentarians and political leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean, joining initiatives like the Black Alliance for Peace Campaign for a Zone of Peace in Our Americas.

"We have lived this nightmare before," a joint statement issued by the coalition said. "US military interventions of the 20th century brought dictatorships, disappearances, and decades of trauma to our nations. We know the terrible cost of allowing foreign powers to wage war on our continent. We cannot — we will not — allow history to repeat itself."

A war on Venezuela would reverberate far beyond the country’s borders. The US operates dozens of forward bases and other military installations across Latin America and the Caribbean. These include several key facilities in Colombia — expanded following its integration into NATO partnership structures under the country’s previous administration — that could serve as platforms for a war on Venezuela, and further regime change efforts across the region.

President Gustavo Petro has been clear that Colombia would not be drawn into any attack on its neighbor — and faces mounting pressure from Washington for his stance.

“Mr. Trump is furious that I don’t support the Americans, with the Colombian army, to invade Venezuela,” President Petro said in an interview. “What stupid Colombians would think of helping to invade his cousins… so they can be killed like in Gaza?”

Petro mentions Gaza for good reason. Like the blockade of Cuba and the genocide in Palestine, the war on Venezuela has a clear aim: to entrench the US empire by any means necessary. That is why the defense of Venezuela's sovereignty — and the principles agreed by the nations of CELAC — is critical to the defence of our collective humanity.

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