Detroit, MI – As part of the Week of Action called by the United National Antiwar Coalition and the Anti War Action Network, Detroit Anti-War Committee organized a march and rally, November 22, to demand “Hands Off Venezuela.” Over 20 community members showed up.
The action was organized alongside Detroit Community Action Committee, the DROP Trump Coalition, CodePink – Detroit, 50501 Detroit, We The People Dissent – Detroit, Detroit Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Wayne State Students for a Democratic Society, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
The rally started in Clark Park in Southwest Detroit, which saw an influx of Venezuelan immigrants in 2024. Since Trump has taken office, the Southwest community has been hit hard by ICE’s presence. For example, this past summer, at least four Venezuelan immigrants were detained outside of the courthouse after a judge dismissed their asylum cases. The effects of the United States’ interventions and cruel sanctions on Venezuela are seen firsthand in Detroit, and instead of finding peace, Venezuelan Detroiters are being met with ICE’s terror.
Rue Rodriguez of Detroit Community Action Committee spoke on this issue, saying that war on Venezuela “means mass displacement, being forced from their homes due to bombing and destruction, never knowing if they can ever return to their homeland.” More than the war abroad, Trump clearly wants a war at home on immigrants. Rodriguez went on to explain that the Trump administration has revoked Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, “putting post 270,000 people at risk and drastically changing their lives and making thousands of ordinary people live in fear.”
Detroit Anti-War Committee’s speaker, Rose Boaz, told the crowd, “An attack on Venezuela is an attack on us too. Not a single soul wants this war, except Trump, the war profiteers, and the people looking to exploit Venezuela for its oil and gold. Just like how the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq were never about fighting terrorism, the war on Venezuela is not about preventing drug trafficking. Trump and his allies are not defending the Venezuelan people by waging war or placing the country under harsh sanctions — they are murdering them.”
Boaz continued, “Every time another weapon is bought or another war profiteer is invested in by our government, we are being robbed of our ability to choose our community over the destruction of someone else’s.”
A member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization stated, “Every time there is a people’s government, anytime a country wants to control their own resources, anytime they stand in the way of U.S. imperialism, what do we hear about these countries? They’re authoritarians, they’re dictators, and we have to bomb them in order to give them freedom.” He went on to say, “They were wrong about Vietnam, Korea, Cuba, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Do we think they’re right with Venezuela?” The crowd yelled back, “Hell no!”
After speeches, the crowd took to the streets, chanting “No war with Venezuela!” They marched past businesses on Vernor and then through the neighborhoods.
Detroit made it clear that more people are seeing through Trump’s lies, which for so long have been used to justify the sanctions and interventions against Venezuela and Trump’s racist immigration policies. Despite Trump’s attempts to manufacture consent for this war, the people of Detroit demands something different – money for the city, not for Trump’s endless wars.