Americans turn out for protests in Chicago, Washington over US military intervention in Venezuela
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Demonstrators gather outside the White House to protest the US military intervention in Venezuela, on Jan 3.
PHOTO: ERIC LEE/NYTIMES
Robert Chiarito and Adam Sella
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WASHINGTON – Americans took to the streets in Chicago and Washington on Jan 3 to protest against the US military intervention in Venezuela
Holding signs that read “No Blood for Oil”, “No US War on Venezuela” and “Hands Off Latin America”, a crowd of several hundred people gathered in Federal Plaza in Chicago as night fell, calling the operation to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro an act of imperialism that Americans did not vote for, carried out without required congressional approval.
“I’m 37 and grew up with the Iraq wars,” said Ms Katrina Denny. “This morning, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, we’re doing it again.’”
She said she thought that protests would grow if the Trump administration continued to use military force in Venezuela. “They filled half the plaza tonight on short notice, but this is only the beginning,” she said. “If this continues, I’m sure there will be many more events and larger ones.”
Many protesters voiced suspicion of the White House’s motives. “If Maduro wasn’t legally elected, that’s not for us to say,” said Ms Adela Cruz, 51. “It just seems like a ploy to get oil
Mr Jonny Bishop, 28, said he was worried for the men and women in the military. “As someone who teaches high school, my kids are the ones who may have to go to war,” he said, adding that with all of the other problems facing Americans, “going to war is the last thing we need”.
Following the rally in Federal Plaza, Chicago police allowed the protesters to march up Dearborn Street to Wacker Drive, near Trump Tower Chicago.
In Washington, people on both sides of the issue gathered for separate afternoon rallies near the White House.
At one of them, dozens of opponents of the intervention chanted anti-Trump slogans. One of the organisers of the protest, Ms Morgan Artyukhina, 38, said their message was “that this is a war that is being waged by the Trump administration, not just in contravention of US law and international law, but also, falsely in the name of the American people”.
A few blocks away, a smaller group celebrated the capture of Mr Maduro by US troops.
Draped in a Venezuelan flag, Mr Leonardo Angulo, 35, danced near a statue of Simon Bolivar, who helped free Venezuela from Spanish imperial rule. Mr Angulo, who has lived in the United States for eight years, said he and his family came out “to celebrate, and gather with my people, because we share this feeling, this feeling of joy, of happiness, of hope most of all”.
Still, there was an undercurrent of anxiety, which one person in the crowd attributed to concerns that federal agents would appear and detain the Venezuelans present at the rally. NYTIMES
