At least 500 Portland residents joined "emergency" nationwide protests on Saturday against the Trump administration’s airstrikes on Venezuela and the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. 

Early Saturday morning, January 3, the US bombed multiple locations across Venezuela, particularly in the capital of Caracas. Social media videos show missiles raining down and helicopters flying over the city. US forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Maduro has since been brought to New York to face charges of alleged drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. 

While some argue Maduro’s ousting is a relief to Venezuelans who suffered under Maduro’s corrupt and authoritarian leadership, US regime change operations have commonly resulted in declining democratic and economic conditions, as well as civilian deaths. 

This extreme escalation by the Trump administration was not approved by Congress. Many Democrats, including those representing Oregon, have condemned the attack as blatantly illegal. Experts and world leaders have also called the attack a violation of the UN Charter, i.e. a breach of international law. 

On Saturday, protesters gathered on SW 10th and Burnside, waving signs such as “No Blood for Oil” and “US Hands Off Venezuela.” Many, including Portland City Councilor Mitch Green, highlighted frustration over the US’s willingness to spend money on foreign wars rather than on domestic services like health care and education. 

“Some people will say ‘why are you focusing on national and international issues when you should be focusing on the potholes that need to be filled in this city?’” Councilor Green, a US Army veteran, said in a speech to the crowd. “And my response to that is because we cannot afford to fill the potholes in this city because we’re spending money, sending poor kids overseas to die for oil.” 

A coalition of organizations, including the Portland Democratic Socialists of America, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Jewish Voice for Peace, and About Face PDX—a veteran anti-war group—mobilized for the event. Many veterans of previous US wars attended and condemned the US attack, drawing parallels to the Iraq War and the Bush administration’s lies about weapons of mass destruction. 

“We’re seeing the same buildup of lies about Venezuela that we saw in the ramp-up of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan... the same, tired old lies being bandied about like we’ve never heard them before,” a member of About Face PDX said to the crowd. 

Nearby, at Pioneer Courthouse Square, peace organizations like Code Pink held a similar protest against the unauthorized actions in Venezuela.

The current death toll of the US attack is at least 80 civilians and military personnel, but this number will likely continue to rise. Trump claims the US will run Venezuela until there can be a transition of power, but no clear plan has been laid out for how to do so.