Vermont’s Congressional delegation wasted no time in condemning President Donald Trump’s decision — made without consulting Congress — to attack Venezuela and apprehend its president.
Americans awoke on Saturday to the news that overnight, U.S. troops had hit several sites in the South American country and apprehended President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. They are to face drug and weapons charges in the U.S., the Trump administration announced. In an address to the nation, Trump said that the U.S. will now “run” Venezuela.
The military action prompted protesters in Burlington to amass on Church Street to denounce the strikes. Dozens of people outside of city hall chanted “Money for jobs and education, not for war and deportation” as they held signs aloft, some of which read, “No blood for oil.”
“Nicolás Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator, and Venezuelans have suffered greatly under his regime,” U.S. Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said in a statement. “That does not diminish the fact that President Trump has zero authority to use military force to remove the leader of another sovereign country. This unilateral military action was reckless, illegal and taken without any congressional briefing, approval or oversight.”
“Americans do not want another war, another regime change, or another occupation of a foreign nation,” she added. “We have made these horrible mistakes before, and American soldiers and their families have paid the price.”
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called the action “illegal and unconstitutional” and urged Congress to “immediately pass a War Powers resolution to end the operation.”
“Trump’s attack on Venezuela will make the United States and the world less safe,” Sanders asserted. “This brazen violation of international law gives a green light to any nation on earth that may wish to attack another country to seize their resources or change their governments. This is the horrific logic of force that Putin used to justify his brutal attack on Ukraine.”
“Trump and his administration … have spoken openly about controlling Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world,” Sanders added. “This is rank imperialism. It recalls the darkest chapters of U.S. interventions in Latin America, which have left a terrible legacy.”
Sanders also said the action was not consistent with Trump’s “America First” platform or his claim to support peace.
“At a time when 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, when our healthcare system is collapsing, when people cannot afford housing and when AI threatens millions of jobs, it is time for the president to focus on the crises facing this country and end this military adventurism abroad. Trump is failing in his job to ‘run’ the United States. He should not be trying to ‘run’ Venezuela.”
U.S. Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) noted that members of the Vermont Air National Guard had been deployed just weeks ago to Puerto Rico as part of a military buildup in the region.
“Today, my thoughts are first and foremost on the safety and wellbeing of America’s armed forces, especially the brave Vermonters serving in the Vermont Air National Guard deployed as part of Operation Southern Spear,” he said.
He called the attack “illegal, unconstitutional and reckless.”
“Has [Trump] learned nothing from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya?” Welch asked. “This could lead us into another forever war, risking the lives of U.S. service members and hurting the economy.”
Welch said bringing Maduro to federal court in New York City to face drug charges was a “Trumpian hypocrisy.”
“It will be the same court where the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was convicted last year of trafficking more than 400 tons of cocaine to the United States and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison — only to be pardoned and freed by President Trump,” he noted.
