Venezuela vs. Hybrid War

“The Monroe Doctrine is a thing of the past; it’s the doctrine of the imperialists. It’s time to bury it forever” - Hugo Chavez
The victory of Hugo Chávez in the 1999 Venezuela elections marked a new phase for the Bolivarian Revolution. Launched onto the world stage, it offered a vision for Latin America—and the world—free from U.S. domination, directly challenging the Monroe Doctrine, which had long declared the region the U.S.'s "backyard”. This revolutionary project emphasized the importance of building democracy from the grassroots, nationalizing resources for the benefit of the Venezuelan people, and fostering regional unity and sovereignty in Latin America. This vision of a united and independent Latin America, grounded in solidarity and collaboration, proved to be a threat to the U.S.-led global order. Since the revolution’s victory in 1999, the U.S. has launched a series of attacks—sanctions, media smears, coups, and economic sabotage—in an attempt to destabilize Venezuela, undermine its sovereignty and prevent its political independence.
Here are some resources to help us better understand the nature of the U.S. government’s attempts to crush the Bolivarian revolution.

What is Hybrid War?

Hybrid war is a complex form of warfare that employs various tactics in covert ways, making it difficult to identify the aggressor. While it can include direct military intervention in some cases, more often it involves a range of non-traditional tactics, include economic sanctions, blockades, disinformation campaigns, bribery, engineered social unrest, and both "soft" and "hard" coups, designed to destabilize or undermine a target without resorting to large-scale warfare. In the case of Venezuela, the U.S. has used hybrid warfare tactics, including sanctions, media manipulation, and support for opposition groups, to undermine the Bolivarian Revolution and weaken the country’s sovereignty.

Why is the U.S. government at war with Venezuela?

Since the victory of the revolution in 1999, the United States and its allies have launched various ploys in order to destabilize the country. In 2002, the U.S. supported a failed coup against Venezuela's democratically elected president, Hugo Chávez, with declassified CIA documents revealing prior knowledge of the plot. The people of Venezuela quickly defeated the U.S.-backed coup, but the event set the stage for ongoing U.S. efforts to destabilize Venezuela, as Chávez’s socialist policies and rejection of U.S. dominance in Latin America were seen as direct threats. Chávez’s outspoken critique of U.S. imperialism and support for revolutionary movements, such as those in Bolivia and Cuba, led the U.S. to isolate Venezuela and impose sanctions on its government officials. In 2015, President Obama declared Venezuela a national security threat and imposed economic sanctions, including freezing assets, restricting oil exports, and limiting financial transactions, all aimed at weakening the already struggling economy due to a stark fall in oil prices. This marked the start of a broader U.S. hybrid war strategy, involving support for opposition movements like Juan Guaidó’s 2019 self-declaration and ongoing regime change efforts, such as the failed coup attempt in the 2024 elections.

Venezuela presents a significant challenge to U.S. imperialism. Venezuela's vast natural resources, especially its oil and gold reserves, are of great strategic interest to the U.S., but under Chávez, these industries were nationalized, with the profits redirected to social programs that benefited the Venezuelan people rather than foreign corporations. The Bolivarian Revolution, focused on sovereignty, anti-imperialism, and regional unity, has inspired leftist movements throughout Latin America, challenging long-standing U.S. domination in the region, evident from the Monroe Doctrine to today. For the U.S., Venezuela's example threatens not only its economic interests but also its political dominance in the region, as it has become a symbol of resistance to U.S. control and a model for democratic struggles against imperialism.

To read more on the U.S. government’s attack on the Bolivarian Revolution, check out the book Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War

Effects of the Sanctions

A report by the Center for Economic Policy and Research, Economic Sanctions as Collective Punishment: The Case of Venezuela, revealed that economic sanctions often have lethal consequences, with evidence showing they cause declines in income and life expectancy similar to armed conflicts, making them one of the deadliest tools used by Western powers.

Since 2019, the U.S. and its allies have imposed a devastating blockade on Venezuela, freezing over $8 billion in assets, including nearly $2 billion in gold at the Bank of England, and blocking $342 million in accounts from Venezuela’s Central Bank. This blockade, which targets key sectors of the economy and includes measures like banning transactions with state entities and seizing national assets, has deprived Venezuela of critical revenue and worsened its ongoing economic crisis. U.S. sanctions on Venezuela have imposed severe human costs, resulting in widespread malnutrition, limited access to medicine and treatment, and triggering an unprecedented migration wave of millions of Venezuelans.

read 'war without bombs’

Creative Resistance (still figuring out layout)

In the face of ongoing social, economic, and climate crises, U.S. imperialism continues its global warpath, organizing coups, invasions, and sanctions aimed at undermining sovereign nations. Yet, Latin America stands as a beacon of hope, with countries like Cuba and Venezuela offering alternative development models rooted in cooperation and mutual aid. The Venezuelan people have overcome the ‘highest waves that the fiery wind of imperialism has generated to destroy them and submit them to their will’. Despite the immense hardships caused by hybrid warfare, the Venezuelan people have responded with creative resistance, launching initiatives like the Great Housing Mission to build millions of homes for working-class and marginalized people and producing over 90% of their own food through local agricultural efforts, including community gardens based on Indigenous knowledge. Even as the U.S. continues its media and legislative assault on Venezuela, global solidarity remains strong, as millions across the world support Venezuela’s self-determination and resist the Monroe Doctrine-like imperialist policies that seek to subjugate the country.

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