A coalition of grassroots organizations are protesting at Philadelphia’s City Hall on Saturday afternoon, condemning the strikes and deposition of Maduro as an unconstitutional act of war.
“It’s clear we have a lawless president. Regardless of what you think of the Maduro regime, this is not the way we handle these things,” said David Gibson, co-director of Peace, Justice, Sustainability NOW! and one of the protest organizers. “This is gunboat diplomacy. It’s wrong. It risks war. Who knows how many people may have been hurt or killed who are innocent bystanders in Caracas.”
The attacks are “an illegal action, according to international law,” Gibson said.
“They’re calling it an arrest. We’re calling it a kidnapping,” he added.
Gibson said his group and others that have protested recent U.S. strikes on Venezuelan boats accused of trafficking narcotics are supporting legislation introduced in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate that would limit war powers.
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pennsylvania, applauded Trump and the U.S. military for a “flawlessly executed mission to remove the illegitimate dictator Nicolas Maduro” in a post on X.
“For years Maduro’s regime killed our children by flooding America’s streets with poison, threatened our borders, and undermined U.S. national security,” he said. “I urge what’s left of the Maduro regime to honor the will of the Venezuelan people and transition peacefully to rightfully elected leadership.”
However, Democratic politicians from the Delaware Valley region criticized the attacks in social media posts Saturday.
U.S. Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Delaware County, and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Chester County, shared a post on X with a statement from Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, that called on the Trump administration to “immediately brief Congress on its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.”
U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, D-New Jersey, said in a post on X that “Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict.”
“This strike doesn’t represent strength,” Kim said. “It’s not sound foreign policy. It puts Americans at risk in Venezuela and the region, and it sends a horrible and disturbing signal to other powerful leaders across the globe that targeting a head of state is an acceptable policy for the U.S. government.”