We are writing to express our alarm at the repeated extrajudicial killings of unidentified civilians in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean by U.S. military forces and the escalating risk of war against Venezuela. This is particularly alarming after the Senate failed to pass a War Powers Resolution that would have required congressional approval for military action in or against Venezuela (US Constitution, Article I, Sec. 8, Clause 11). We demand that journalists report the facts truthfully and do not feed into the government’s campaign of warmongering.

Since the beginning of September, the U.S. military has carried out strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in over 70 civilian deaths. These strikes include “double-tap” strikes like the one on the 2nd of September, which violate the laws of war by targeting personnel after they are already incapacitated. The Trump administration has not provided any valid legal justification for these strikes nor any evidence to substantiate its claims that the victims were an imminent threat to the security of the United States. This extrajudicial killing is a violation of both international law (Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention of 1949) and U.S. domestic law (The War Crimes Act of 1996).

The Trump administration appears to be preparing for a war against Venezuela with the goal of overthrowing the current government as the President has sent a massive fleet of warships and war planes to waters off Venezuela. The U.S. has justified its dangerous military escalation by claiming that Venezuela is involved in the regional drug trade. The narrative that the Venezuelan drug trade is a threat that justifies invasion is unfounded. The majority of cocaine in the U.S. comes from other sources, which once notably included the Nicaraguan Contras who the U.S. government was revealed to have funded during the Iran-Contra Scandal during the Reagan Administration. Feeding into the narrative that this war is being started to defend Americans from state-backed Venezuelan drug gangs is just as much a boogeyman as the supposed weapons of mass destruction that imperialists in the U.S. government conjured up as an excuse to start the Iraq War. This war is about control, not drugs. Journalists should not participate in this aggressive and false rhetoric. The United States should cease its bellicose actions against Venezuela immediately. The last thing the world and the people of America need is another war!

We are tired of losing our people to endless wars for oil and greed. The media must push back against the President’s false claims. Venezuela is not the aggressor in this conflict – the Trump administration is. The people of the world need to know that Atlantans oppose war against Venezuela. Today we march to demand: Hands off Venezuela!