Afrasianet - Since the era of Hugo Chávez, and then with Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela has been a living example of challenging the American project and its hegemony in the world, as Caracas has stood in direct confrontation with Washington, declaring its side with the line of independence.
Since the beginning of the millennium, Venezuela's name has been closely associated with the global resistance camp against American and Israeli domination, which has made it one of the most important Latin countries that openly and officially support the Palestinian cause, since Hugo Chavez ascended to the presidency in February 1999, until today under the leadership of Nicolás Maduro, a labor activist, who was trusted by the Venezuelan people for the third time in the elections held in the summer of 2024, in which more than 59% of those registered in the lists participated. Elections.
Maduro, who has led Venezuela since 2013, says that "his country has the most transparent electoral system in the world, and that the Venezuelan people choose peace and renounce chaos and violence," and he is right, because he is a governor who was chosen based on a voting process with the participation of large segments of the people, and it took place under the supervision of the National Electoral Council (CNE), an independent constitutional body, and under judicial oversight, where voting can be challenged before the Supreme Court, and voting is also done through electronic machines, which makes the process unviable In addition to the above, there are international bodies that monitor the electoral process, but they are certainly not the kind of entities that receive funding from Washington and the European Union, and are infiltrated by Western intelligence agents.
But on the other hand, the United States of America can only consider the elections "fair" if the winner is committed to serving its economic and political interests, and follows the line drawn by the White House, so with every presidential or parliamentary election held in Venezuela, and the result is the victory of the Chavis movement (after Hugo Chavez), the shouts are loud in Washington, and loud parties begin in the Western media, with the aim of inciting the Venezuelan regime, and accusing it of " Manipulating the will of the voters," to sum up the American message: "Either whoever we please comes to power or we accuse you of tyranny and fraud," which is an American policy that has become repetitive and boring, and ultimately aims to dominate, terrorize, and subjugate the world's governments.
Why is Venezuela important to us as Arabs?
Since the era of Hugo Chávez, and then continuing with Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela has been a living example of challenging the American project and its hegemony in the world, as Caracas has stood in direct confrontation with Washington, declaring its alignment with the line of political and economic independence, and its refusal to submit to the unipolar policy.
The importance here is not only theoretical but also practical, as Casas is facing the same forms of pressure that any Arab or Islamic country that has decided to break out of the American cloak, from a suffocating economic blockade, to attempts at diplomatic isolation, to military threats and attempts to overthrow regimes from within.
In the case of Venezuela, the American interventionism has reached the level that Donald Trump announced a new reward of up to $50 million for information leading to the "arrest of Maduro", in a precedent that resembles the practices of the mafia more than international relations, and a few days ago Washington sent a naval fleet that included warships, destroyers and a nuclear submarine to the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela, under the pretext of "fighting drug trafficking".
On the economic front, oil export licenses issued under Biden have been revoked, and the operations of major companies such as Chevron have been banned, with a 25% tariff imposed on countries that buy Venezuelan oil, and on the political level, America is flouting the will of the Venezuelan people and recognizing the losing presidential candidate, Edmundo González Uretta, as the country's "legitimate president!.
These coercive American policies are only an extended version of what the Palestinians are living under occupation: the Israeli government is practicing a suffocating siege on the Palestinian people, systematic starvation, and the highest levels of military repression, in an attempt to break their will and dissuade them from the option of resistance.
Just as Israel's criminal practices against Arabs are not new, the arrogant American approach does not surprise Venezuelans, even Trump's recent actions have happened during his previous presidency, when extensive sanctions were imposed on the Venezuelan oil sector (PDVSA), which deprived Caracas of its main source of hard currency, and Venezuelan assets in the United States were frozen, led by CITGO Washington has also supported media platforms to promote the narrative of the "Maduro dictatorship" and amplified the image of the opposition, led by the American puppet: Juan Guaidó, as he was presented in the American and European media during 2019 as the "legitimate president", after Washington had similarly rejected the results of the 2018 presidential elections.
Guaidó disappeared from the scene, and today he lives in exile in the United States, a life of silence, with little appreciation, after the Venezuelan opposition voted to abolish the parallel government formed by Guaidó, and he was removed from his position as interim president, and today he is wanted before the Venezuelan judiciary, and Interpol is supposed to prosecute him, for crimes including treason, money laundering, and association with terrorism; on the other hand, the Venezuelan people are still rallying around Maduro, defending the Bolivarian Revolution Despite all the difficulties.
It is true that Donald Trump feels that he is in a good position today, especially since his return to power last January almost coincided with the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, and the entire Trump administration is convinced that Assad has left power due to the harsh economic sanctions imposed on Syria between 2019 and 2020, under the name of the "Caesar Act", which caused economic paralysis for the country, which led to its internal disintegration, and eventually Damascus fell after four years in the The grip of the "Al-Nusra Front".
Under the influence of this idea, Trump wants to repeat the same scenario with Venezuela, while maintaining the military option, just as was the case with Syria, but as the Chinese proverb goes, "He who stumbles with a stone once, learns to look at the road," and the global axis of resistance has learned the lesson well, and neither Trump nor any of America's future presidents will achieve their goals in Venezuela.
Venezuela and Palestine
It is not surprising that the capitals of the world that refuse to obey Washington, from Pyongyang to Caracas, are the same ones that have historically supported the rights of the Palestinian people. Israel is an advanced base of American influence, the same one that rejected the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 and later denounced the imperialist attack that came from Libya and Syria in the context of the so-called "Arab Spring."
Upon a deeper look at Venezuela's relationship with the Palestinian cause, it can be seen that the historic shift in support for Palestine came with Chavez, as before he came to power, the relations between Caracas and Tel Aviv were normal, and even relatively warm, as Venezuela voted in favor of the partition of Palestine in 1947, and established diplomatic and trade relations with Israel, and there was an active Jewish community in Caracas, which strengthened the ties, but with Chavez, Venezuelan politics turned 180 degrees, as the man, influenced by the experience of Fidel Castro, and the leaders of national liberation All of them, down to Gamal Abdel Nasser, adopted an anti-imperialist rhetoric, established close ties with the Iranian revolution and Assad's Syria, and considered Israel to be Washington's tail in the Middle East.
So came Chavez's condemnation of Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War, the Venezuelan ambassador was withdrawn from Tel Aviv, and then in 2009, after the Gaza war (Cast Lead), diplomatic relations with Israel were severed permanently and its ambassador expelled, a situation that continues to this day.
Maduro continued the same approach that Chavez started, diplomatic relations with Israel were not resumed, and Venezuela remained a strong supporter of Palestine and resistance in international forums, and "Israel" was repeatedly described in the Venezuelan media as a "colonial entity" and a "Zionist tool", and when the war broke out between Iran and Israel, last June, Maduro declared his full support for Tehran, and described Netanyahu as "the Hitler of the 21st century", and supported the Iranian response through media platforms, stressing that Iranian missiles proved that " Israel is nothing but a paper tiger."
On the other hand, all Venezuelan opposition leaders sponsored by Washington declare their support for Israel, starting with Juan Guaidó, who announced in February 2019 that he would work to restore relations with Israel, and that he might recognize Jerusalem as its capital, to the currently active opposition, Maria Corina Machado, who receives declared political support from the White House. Its alignment with the Iran/Palestine axis, and is also attacked, along with the losing candidate Edmundo González, due to its alliance with Moscow and Beijing.
Netanyahu, when he was prime minister of Israel in 2019, officially recognized Juan Guaidó as the "interim president" of Venezuela, and incited the overthrow of Maduro, and this year 2025 the same scene is repeated, in conjunction with the war on the Gaza Strip, the occupation government announces its support for the two opposition leaders in Venezuela, Edmundo González and Maria Corin, and the Hebrew media repeats the same American claims regarding the lack of "the integrity of the Venezuelan elections", and González is invited to visit Israel, and the Venezuelan president is described Maduro has been called an "ally of Iran's criminal regime"!.
Perhaps these declared Israeli positions, and the sharp language that Israeli leaders and politicians regularly use, are enough to guide the Arab citizen to the right camp to which he should side.