by Judy Bello, November 2025
During last month’s call for protests and solidarity events around the U.S. threats towards Venezuela, I noticed that many people in our local Palestine protest group did not really see any relationship between the genocide in Gaza and the U.S. attacks on Latin America. It occurred to me that people deeply involved in supporting our neighbors in Latin America did not clearly see the connection either.
While we continue to protest the genocide in Gaza and Israeli determination to steal the land an resources of their neighbors, we need to also look at Venezuela, Cuba and other nations in Latina America, also under attack by a heavily armed neighbor determined to steal their resources and their sovereignty. We must also consider that Israel is currently a project of the United States. Whether the tail is wagging the dog or vice versa, either way, The United States is primarily responsible for arming and funding Israel, and in providing political cover for Israel’s atrocities.
Just as the United States spread across North America, like a wildfire, killing everything in it’s path, so Israel would like to spread across West Asia, or, as we call it here in “the west”, The Middle East. Of course, it isn’t as easy now with global communications and a global press, much of it rising from underground sources. While the mainstream is polluted by diverse monied interests, deep streams are rising from a newly self aware working class.
There are currently intertwined issues including the presence of imperial adversaries like Russia and China, competition for resources including economic rivalry and cultural chauvinism. But, this is not the common root of these wars. The United States is a product of settler colonialism. Only in the context of settler colonialism is there a necessity of genocide. Settler colonialism, and the United States is the most perfect example, is the original sin from which the genocide of indigenous populations must flow. Very few native Americans remain in North America. Israel openly aspires to create a homeland in the Arab region, where Arabs will cease to exist. Settler colonialism is about erasing, and replacing the indigenous population.
The United States has been waging a low grade war on the peoples of Central and South America and the Caribbean, ostensibly for their resources, claiming these lands as their own in the Monroe Doctrine. Trump takes this process further, claiming not only the Southern Americas, but also Canada. Economic coercive measures in place for decades have degraded the economies of countries with abundant natural wealth starving ordinary people, and putting basic human rights like healthcare and education out of their reach.
Israel, while committing genocide in Gaza, is also claiming increasing amounts of land in the Palestinian West Bank, claiming sacred sites in Jerusalem, and most recently claiming land and resources through aggressive military occupations in Syria and Lebanon. The wildfire of settler colonialism in West Asia is spreading as the heat intensifies in its central region. Meanwhile, U.S. fueled terrorism and a wealthy comprador class have created the appearance of civil war where the vast majority of people dream only of peace and prosperity. These existential threats are now accompanied by warships and drones that strike random targets on land and sea, and a fleet of warships off shore.
I made the following flyer for my local Speak Up for Palestine group, and the feedback I got was that many people were unaware of this history and unclear of the relationship between an antiwar stance on Gaza and one Venezuela. I believe that people primarily interested in Latin America and Caribbean sovereignty and well being can also better understand their own issues through the common root of settler colonialism to vividly on display in Palestine right now.
If you find it useful, feel free to distribute. We gave out a large number of these flyers which I found resonated with a surprising number of people. We need to oppose all imperialist wars. We need to remember our history here in the United States and make sure it Never Happens Again!!!!