Lots of of protesters rallied in Instances Sq. Saturday afternoon decrying the U.S. navy buildup within the Caribbean amid boat strikes which have blown up suspected drug-carrying vessels off Venezuela’s coast as tensions between the 2 international locations escalate.
Demonstrators held indicators saying, “U.S. out of the Caribbean,” and toted the Venezuelan flag as they chanted, “No war on Venezuela!” “Fight back!” and “Biggest threat in the world today? Donald Trump and the USA!” whereas marching by means of the Midtown crossroads round 2 p.m.
The ANSWER Coalition helped arrange the protest, dubbed “No War On Venezuela, national day of action.”
Carmela Medina and Alejandro Carranza, dad and mom of Alejandro Carranza, a Colombian man who allegedly died when the U.S. bombed a ship in Colombian waters allegedly carrying medicine, at their home in Santa Marta on Oct. 21, 2025. (Picture by Marco Perdomo / AFP) (Picture by MARCO PERDOMO/AFP through Getty Pictures)
“No country the US has invaded has ever been left better. It has only left destruction in it’s wake. And now, 22 years after the US went to war in Iraq based on lies, we’re seeing the same script unfold again, this time, against Venezuela,” Manolo De Los Santos, the manager director of the Folks’s Discussion board stated on X.
There have been no arrests on the protest, cops stated.
President Trump and the Pentagon have defended the boat strikes, saying they’re battling narcoterrorism by taking out drug smugglers who’re serving to gas the overdose scourge within the U.S. Strikes on a minimum of 23 vessels have killed round 90 folks since early September.
Federal officers say a ship blasted out of the water on Sept. 2 was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang and smuggling medicine to the U.S., and thus offered a menace to Individuals. However, in accordance with CNN, the boat’s crew deliberate to switch contraband to a bigger ship headed southeast alongside the Atlantic coast to the South American nation of Suriname.
The boat strikes got here underneath new scrutiny final week, with critics saying the Sept. 2 assault — throughout which two survivors of the preliminary strike have been then killed in an alleged “double-tap,” or second strike — might violate the regulation of armed battle, which forbids concentrating on an enemy combatant who’s out of the battle as a consequence of damage or give up.
Below socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela — regardless of having extra oil reserves than any nation on the earth — suffers from excessive corruption and grinding poverty. The Trump administration has described Maduro as an “illegitimate” chief.
