Venezuela and Colombia in the Eye of the Storm: A Conversation with Laura Capote

The US has ramped up its pressure on Venezuela and the region through an unprecedented military buildup and overt threats. In response, Latin American nations are reaffirming their commitment to sovereignty and solidarity and are organizing against imperialist intervention. This includes Colombia, which was a platform for US operations but is now governed by left-leaning president Gustavo Petro. 

Colombian activist Laura Capote is co-coordinator of the Nuestra América Office at the Tricontinental Office Institute and a member of the Secretariat of ALBA Movimientos, which is dedicated to strengthening ties between grassroots organizations defending their territories. In this conversation, she reflects on Venezuela’s enduring example, the historic kinship that binds the peoples of Colombia and Venezuela, and the strategic role of popular movements in defending peace across the region.

In ALBA Movimentos, there has been a discussion about a reactivation of the Monroe Doctrine as part of the current imperialist offensive across the continent. Some call it “Monroe Doctrine 2.0,” and in its current iteration, it resembles the US “gunboat diplomacy” of the early 20th century. How do you understand this historical moment from a continental perspective?

At ALBA Movimientos, we’ve been emphasizing that what’s happening in Latin America today is, in fact, a reactivation of the Monroe Doctrine—and indeed we call it the “Monroe Doctrine 2.0.” It’s the revival of a US strategy that has evolved over the past century. During most of the 20th century, the logic of domination took the form of coups d’état, political persecution, stigmatization of the left, etc. In the 21st century, the logic of domination remains, but now it operates through new mechanisms of control that have been, perhaps, less overtly imperialist than the CIA-backed coup against Salvador Allende in 1973. 

This current moment marks a renewed attempt to treat our continent as a vast reservoir of natural resources, at the expense of the rights of the peoples who defend their territories, or what we call our “common goods.” This new version of the Monroe Doctrine has mostly operated through the manipulation of concepts such as democracy, using destabilization strategies within the very frameworks of the liberal system that the United States once claimed to defend. We’ve seen this expressed in “soft coups,” impeachments against Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s proscription, the persecution of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and the judicial attacks on Rafael Correa. All of these represent updated forms of imperialist interference.

There’s also the dimension of “foreign assistance,” including the presence of NGOs funded through agencies like USAID. Despite Trump’s anti-USAID rhetoric, those mechanisms have not been dismantled, and they continue to legitimize forms of domination by so-called civil means.

And, of course, the most direct and enduring example is Colombia, where subordination to US interests has historically taken the form not of coups, but of war financing: support for the national army and paramilitary structures that displace entire communities. Today, in Colombia, although we have a progressive government, that pattern continues under new guises, maintaining to a great degree a system of dependence and control.

In this context, we are alarmed by an imperialist military buildup that has no precedents in the 21st century in our continent. That should be of great concern to everyone. 

Imperialism’s main target in the region at present is the Bolivarian Revolution. Beyond Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, why do you think there is such a particular obsession with destroying the Bolivarian Process?

There are several key elements here. Cuba remains the great symbol of anti-imperialist resistance, but the island’s economic and productive potential has been severely limited by a criminal, genocidal blockade. While Cuba continues to export doctors and solidarity, it faces immense economic constraints. Imperialism knows this, and it knows that Venezuela, unlike Cuba, has both a strategic geographic position and important economic resources, particularly oil.

However, beyond resources, Venezuela represents something that directly threatens US hegemony: a popular, deeply rooted revolutionary process that has survived and even grown after more than two decades. The United States misunderstood this process from the beginning, assuming that Chavismo was synonymous with Chávez himself. Yet more than a decade after his passing, the Bolivarian Revolution remains alive and is radicalizing through the Comandante’s “Commune or Nothing” legacy. This demonstrates that Chavismo is not simply about a leader; it’s about the will of a pueblo.

That’s why all the talk about the Revolution’s “final hours” reflects more wishful thinking than reality. The imperialist power fails to grasp who they’re dealing with. They underestimate a people who have consciously chosen to defend their sovereignty. 

The recent voluntary enlistment of Venezuelans—men and women alike—to defend the Revolution speaks volumes. Chávez used to say, “We are children of Bolívar, children of Guaicaipuro,” and that’s not just a slogan. It expresses a deep historical and emotional force that he helped awaken: a love for the homeland that continues to fortify the Bolivarian Process, against those who aim to reduce our continent to a territory for resource extraction.

Donald Trump has openly attacked Gustavo Petro for refusing to allow Colombia to serve as a platform for aggression against Venezuela. Yet the Colombian military continues to operate under a US-imposed doctrine, and the country hosts several US military bases. How do you understand this situation? 

Colombia is going through a fascinating moment with our first-ever progressive government. Additionally, the situation has evolved significantly since Petro took office. Just last year, when President Maduro was reelected, Petro’s government did not immediately recognize the election results… It even cast doubt on them! It was very problematic that Colombia demanded proof of an internal democratic process in a sovereign nation. It was actually a dangerous step.

Since then, much has changed. Today, faced with the escalation of US military aggression in the Caribbean and the Pacific, Colombia has experienced firsthand what it means to live under direct imperialist threat.

The US bombings have killed more than 60 people in the Caribbean and Pacific, which is in itself very painful, but it also illustrates that the US is willing to violate the sovereignty not only of Venezuela, but also of Colombia. Petro is witnessing this reality firsthand.

Trump’s recent threats against Petro—the attempts to rescind his visa so he could not speak at the UN, the brutal talk of “decertifying” Colombia in the so-called war on drugs, and other developments—are all part of a strategy to delegitimize a government that has dared to say: We will not submit to the United States.

President Petro has been clear: There are no kings or emperors here. 

Overall, this confrontation with imperialism has fostered a better understanding of what Venezuela represents around the continent. Additionally, many Colombians are realizing that defending Venezuela means defending our own independence. Our sovereignty is being tested along the Caribbean shores that are shared by both countries.

There’s a historic kinship between the pueblos of Venezuela and Colombia, and people know that conflicts on one side of the border always affect the other. How would an attack against Venezuela impact both peoples? Also, what can we learn from the Colombian oligarchy’s longstanding war against its own people?

We are, historically, one people. The Liberator Simón Bolivar dreamed of the “Gran Colombia” [Great Colombia], which is not an abstract idea but a reflection of a real cultural, historical, and social unity. We share language, music, food, and family ties—our identities are deeply intertwined. Half of Venezuelan families have relatives in Colombia, and it’s the same for Colombians (including me). That’s why it’s horrible to imagine a US invasion of Venezuela using Colombian forces, because it would be brothers spilling each other’s blood.

Fortunately, today that scenario is unthinkable with Gustavo Petro at the helm. Had this happened under Iván Duque, Juan Manuel Santos, or Álvaro Uribe, Colombia’s territory would already have been converted into a US aircraft carrier! 

The Colombian people know very well what war means. We are a pueblo marked by conflict, by bombings, assassinations, and displacement. That longstanding experience shapes how we see war: not as an abstract geopolitical move, but as suffering and the destruction of life. And we don’t want that!

That’s why the recent elections in Colombia [the presidential primaries, on October 26] were so significant. Despite Trump’s attacks and the escalation of threats, millions went out to vote for the continuation of Petro’s project. It was a massive show of popular support and a reaffirmation of sovereignty. 

People said clearly: we won’t be intimidated, not by Trump, not by imperialism. The Colombian people understand that defending peace in Venezuela is defending peace in Colombia.

In the face of this new military offensive, what kinds of alliances—new or restructured, such as CARICOM or CELAC—do you see as necessary to defend Venezuela and Nuestra América more generally?

For us in ALBA Movimientos, building and strengthening alliances is essential. From below—from the campesino, student, women, and youth movements and from the urban struggles—we work to organize the people’s response to imperialism. However, at the same time, we need strong, cohesive mechanisms of regional coordination at the state level to defend our sovereignty.

A key opportunity is coming up with the upcoming CELAC Summit [November 9-10], which will bring together 33 Latin American and Caribbean heads of state right here in the Colombian Caribbean, precisely where US forces are committing human rights violations. This could be a decisive moment for the region.

Of course, CELAC brings together governments with various political orientations. It includes those of Javier Milei [Argentina], Najib Bukele [El Salvador], and Daniel Noboa [Ecuador], who are all right-wing and aligned with imperialist interests. That’s the challenge: to build a regional mechanism of unity beyond the ideology of specific governments, and independent of the US orbit. That’s why CELAC, unlike the OAS, is so important: it’s our community of Latin American and Caribbean states.

Parallel to the official summit, social movements are organizing what we call the “People’s Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean.” It’s the continuation of what in previous summits was called the “Social CELAC.” In that space, we’ll demand that our voices be heard—that this not be merely a dialogue among governments, NGOs, and elites, but also an encounter of the organized people. That’s where the real proposals for integration and defense of sovereignty can emerge!

ALBA Movimientos has been promoting active solidarity in the face of this new imperialist offensive against Venezuela. What concrete actions is the organization taking to strengthen Latin American unity and the defense of peace?

For us, the key is to deepen concrete, people-to-people internationalism. ALBA was founded on principles of solidarity, complementarity, and cooperation, and we add to those the defense of sovereignty, land rights, indigenous and Afro-descendant struggles, women’s and LGBTQ+ rights. These are all parts of a broader anti-imperialist agenda.

Declarations are important, of course, but we also need real, practical solidarity: brigades, exchanges, and collective work in territories. Internationalism isn’t just the domain of an organization’s “foreign relations” department or a handful of aging leaders who meet periodically. It has to be rooted in the daily life of our people. In Colombia, this has to happen in the communities of Cauca, Guaviare, and Caquetá, not just in Bogotá or Medellín, and the same goes for all other countries of our continent.

Defending sovereignty isn’t only about armies or borders. It begins with defending our commons: the campesino woman protecting a water source from a mining company, the community saving native seeds, the people resisting dispossession. All of that is part of the defense of sovereignty.Of course, we also recognize the importance of organized defense. Petro’s idea of building a continental security system for peace, which is linked to CELAC’s 2014 proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, is a crucial step. But sovereignty must also be defended in everyday life by the organized, conscious action of our pueblos. That’s the kind of internationalism we strive to build from ALBA Movimientos.