In response to the United States’ military intervention in Venezuela on January 3, 2026, the Global Forest Coalition (GFC) declares:
1. We strongly condemn the illegal military intervention by the government of the United States of America in the sovereign territory of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and demand respect for international law and the sovereignty and self-determination of the Venezuelan people.
The unprovoked resort to armed force against the sovereign territory of Venezuela constitutes a clear violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State. Such conduct may further amount to the international crime of aggression, as defined in UNGA Resolution 3314, and could be attributable to the individual political and military leaders responsible.
2. We identify and denounce the fact that the primary motive behind this military intervention is the seizure of Venezuelan oil, as part of an imperialist and colonialist project of territorial domination designed to dispossess the Venezuelan people for the benefit of large US oil corporations.
Oil exploration and extraction are among the principal drivers of deforestation, biodiversity loss, and climate change. They also contribute to river contamination, the violation of territorial and collective rights, and gender-based injustices, generating severe and often irreversible impacts on Indigenous Peoples, local communities and fragile ecosystems.
We reject any attempt to perpetuate a development model predicated on fossil fuel extraction at the expense of nature, climate stability, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples and communities who sustain life. We affirm our commitment to social, climate, and gender justice, and to the defense of territories free of all forms of extractivism.
3. We also reject media campaigns spread by extremist sectors, including some mainstream media corporations and social media platforms, to promote destabilization, territorial dispossession, colonialist extractivism, the theft of nature’s common goods, and the destruction of biodiversity.
4. We condemn the imperialist and colonial rhetoric accompanying this criminal act that calls for an even greater US military presence in Venezuela and other countries in the Global South, as well as US President Donald Trump’s intention to “run” Venezuela until there is a “proper transition.”
5. We stand in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women in all their diversity, youth, children, gender diverse people, and peasant communities and defend the territorial integrity, constitutional rights and self-determination of the Venezuelan people in the face of all forms of domination and oppression, whether imperialist or otherwise.
6. We caution that the lack of an effective and coordinated international response, in line with international law, poses a risk to global governance, particularly for Latin America and the Caribbean, with other countries in the region exposed to further military interventions.
We remain alert to any aggression by the Trump administration and will strive to rally the support and solidarity of the peoples of the region and the world.
