movements

Caracas, July 27, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Hundreds of Venezuelan activists took to the streets on Friday, July 24, to denounce the US and Israeli presence in the Caribbean nation.

The rally “against imperialism and Zionism” took place in Caracas’ Plaza Bolívar and was organized by the Anti-Imperialist Front, a newly-formed coalition of grassroots movements that reject Washington’s growing influence over Venezuelan affairs.

The demonstrators chose July 24, commemorating the 1783 birth of independence hero Simón Bolívar, to emphasize the importance of national independence and sovereignty.

“Popular movements from Caracas and Miranda State, armed with class conscience and anti-imperialism, are going to resist imperialism,” activist Miguel Mora told reporters. “No matter how powerful the US empire is in its technology, we will resist by any means necessary.”

Mora lamented that Venezuelans were “not allowed to fight” during the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro.

“Venezuelans are not cowards. We are going to fight and expel the invading gringo from our homeland!” he vowed.

Since the January incursion, the Acting Delcy Rodríguez government has fast-tracked  diplomatic rapprochement with Washington. Rodríguez has pushed through multiple pro-business reforms that favor Western energy and mining corporations, while the Trump administration presently manages Caracas’ export revenues, particularly from oil sales, deposited in US-based Treasury Department accounts.

Following the June 24 double earthquake, the US military deployed hundreds of troops on the ground to run operations at the Simón Bolívar International Airport and La Guaira port. The Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced on Saturday that its team had departed Venezuela.

Organizer Orlando Vega urged Venezuelan authorities to “put their ear to the ground, because there is a lot of discontent among the Chavista bases.”

“We have to be very vigilant about the US and Zionist presence here,” he continued. “Trump and Netanyahu are war criminals. They cannot pretend to care about the Venezuelan people.”

Speakers roundly condemned the post-earthquake deployment of an Israeli military and diplomatic mission, while others present burned US and Israeli flags.

“We’re here to fight for the Palestinian people,” affirmed Hindu Anderi, coordinator of the International Platform in Solidarity with the Palestinian Cause. “For us, this [Israeli presence] is a setback.”

The Tel Aviv delegation featured multiple IDF officers, including Yossi Pinto and Roni Kaplan, who have taken part in military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon. Acting President Rodríguez met with the Israeli team on multiple occasions, praising its members as “highly trained and professional” and thanking them for their on-the-ground work.

Former President Hugo Chávez severed ties with Israel in 2009, firmly condemning the US ally for committing genocide and voicing solidarity with the Palestinian cause. His stance was maintained by Maduro, who publicly backed South Africa’s activation of the Genocide Convention against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2024.

Anderi emphasized the urgency of defending longstanding ties with the Palestinian cause and stressed that “Venezuela is being occupied.” “In Venezuela there is an occupation project, a blatant plunder of our natural resources,” she said.

The July 24 rally followed on the heels of several public statements from Venezuelan grassroots organizations denouncing the rapprochement with Tel Aviv and broader geopolitical realignment with Washington.

The Coordinadora Simón Bolívar, a historic collective from the working-class barrio 23 de Enero, called the Israeli presence a “silent invasion” and blasted the Trump administration’s “supreme cynicism” in claiming to be a “friend” to Venezuela after imposing a punishing economic blockade and kidnapping Maduro.

For its part, grassroots media outlet Tatuy Tv stated that Tel Aviv is the “enemy of humanity” and rejected “normalization” of Israeli genocide. The organization likewise warned against a growing US military footprint in the South American country that could be used to “project its destructive hegemony in the whole continent.”

Edited by Lucas Koerner in Cali, Colombia.

June 10 (UPI) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum cast doubt whether she will attend the 2026 World Cup Fan Fest on Thursday because of demonstrations by teachers from the National Coordinator of Education Workers.

During her press conference Tuesday, the president said her being there would depend on “how what is happening with the teachers and some other groups develops, because I obviously have to pay attention to that.”

The highly anticipated World Cup opening ceremony in Mexico City and the game between Mexico and South Africa, are scheduled at 1:30 p.n. local time at Banorte Stadium, renamed from Azteca Stadium for the tournament.

The event will be held as social protests seek to capitalize on the tournament’s international attention to publicize demands related to human rights, pensions, public services and labor conditions.

Among the most visible movements those formed by teachers from the National Coordinator of Education Workers, who have maintained a protest camp for weeks in Mexico City’s Zócalo. They have erected blockades at different locations to demand repeal of reforms to the pension system for state employees and salary increases.

The demonstrations have impacted streets, public buildings and areas linked to the operation of the World Cup.

Mexico City’s Secretariat of Citizen Security reported about 6,000 teachers are participating in demonstrations in areas near the stadium. Although the federal government maintains that fully reversing the reform would carry a high fiscal cost, union leaders have warned they will continue protesting until they receive a favorable response.

Political analysts agree that the 2026 FIFA World Cup has become the main battleground for the public narrative in Mexico — a phenomenon in which social tensions are colliding directly with government efforts to project stability abroad.

One example will be the mobilization of groups representing relatives of missing persons, known as “searching mothers.” Thousands of women plan to march on the same day as the opening ceremony under the slogan, “Do not play with our pain,” to denounce a crisis involving more than 134,000 people who are missing or whose whereabouts remain unknown in the country.

The organizations have begun to post photographs and missing-person notices around the stadium and have announced activities aimed at drawing attention to the issue before the millions of viewers who will follow the tournament around the world.

Amnesty International said it will act as an observer of the protest.

“As tens of millions of people around the world prepare to tune in to what FIFA describes as ‘the biggest opening ceremony on the planet,’ in Mexico thousands of brave women will seize the opportunity to take to the streets and remind the world that their loved ones remain missing,” said Edith Olivares Ferreto, executive director of Amnesty International Mexico.

“The Interior Ministry works permanently on the issue of missing persons, is permanently engaged in search efforts in a way that has never been done before and also with prevention at the moment a person finds themselves in this situation,” Sheinbaum said Tuesday.

“Therefore, the issues are being addressed. If they want to demonstrate, then they should do so peacefully.”

Neighborhood organizations have also joined the protests.

With slogans that oppose gentrification and evictions and protest water shortages, anti-World Cup groups contend that projects associated with the tournament have deepened structural problems in different neighborhoods of the capital.

They have been joined by farmers’ organizations, transport workers and retired members of the judiciary, who have called for demonstrations on strategic routes leading to the stadium.

The protests also coincide with questions about infrastructure that must deal with the tournament.

In recent days, users reported water leaks at recently renovated stations on Metro Line 2, one of the main transportation routes for fans attending the opening match. Rainfall also caused delays on the rail network because of speed restrictions implemented for safety reasons.

Against this backdrop, federal and local authorities announced a security operation that involves more than 10,000 personnel to safeguard the opening ceremony, guarantee the movement of teams and fans, and prevent incidents around the stadium and the FIFA Fan Festival in the Zócalo.

Caracas, May 24, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan grassroots organizations took to the streets on Saturday to protest the US holding “rapid response” military drills in Caracas.

Dozens of activists from multiple collectives belonging to the ALBA Movimientos coalition gathered in the morning in front of the Indigenous Resistance monument in Plaza Venezuela and read a statement expressing “outrage” at the US holding an exercise in Caracas less than five months after its January 3 bombings and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

“As Venezuelan popular organizations, 141 days since the brutal US military attack and kidnapping of President Maduro and Deputy Cilia Flores, […] we repudiate yankee militarist imperialism and are outraged that the US is executing military exercises in our country,” the organizations expressed.

Speakers, including National Assembly deputies Rigel Sergent and Oliver Rivas, condemned the US-Israel war against Iran and the growing threats against Cuba while reiterating support for the Venezuelan government led by Acting President Delcy Rodríguez.

Also on Saturday, several leftist organizations held a rally in Chacaíto to protest the violation of the country’s sovereignty and denounce the Venezuelan government’s accommodation of US impositions.

“This exercise is extremely serious because it makes concepts like sovereignty appear hollow for younger generations,” trade unionist Adelmo Becerra told those present. “Our challenge is to maintain the idea of sovereignty alive in collective memory.”

Demonstrators painted posters reading “Yankee go home!” and chanted slogans such as “We refuse to be a US colony!” Participating organizations included the Communist Party (PCV), Corriente Comunes, and the Socialist Workers’ League (LTS).

A third rally, called by members of the ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV), took place in Plaza Bolívar, with participants shouting anti-imperialist slogans and burning posters of US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

On Saturday morning, US forces flew two Osprey MV-22B aircraft over Caracas before landing near the embassy compound in the southeast of the capital. The tiltrotor transport aircraft took off from the USS Iwo Jima, one of the warships that participated in the January 3 attacks and where Maduro and Flores were airlifted to after being kidnapped by US special forces.

“Ensuring the military’s rapid response capability is a key component of mission readiness, both here in Venezuela and around the world,” a social media statement from the US embassy read.

US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Commander General Francis Donovan oversaw the military drills and visited Caracas for a second time. He flew in on an Osprey alongside a marine contingent.

According to US officials, Donovan met with “senior” Venezuelan government leaders at the embassy. At the time of writing, there is no public information on which officials were present. Donovan’s previous visit in February saw him hold talks with Rodríguez, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, and then-Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López.

In a statement, SOUTHCOM reiterated US forces’ commitment to the Trump administration’s “three-phase plan,” which ends with a political “transition.”

For its part, the Venezuelan government did not comment on the US military drills. Caracas issued a statement on Thursday announcing that it had authorized “evacuation exercises” for eventual “medical emergencies and catastrophic events.” Foreign Minister Yván Gil read the communiqué in a video published through official social media channels.

However, amid fierce public backlash, Venezuelan authorities deleted the statement and video from all accounts. A similar incident occurred in late February when the Foreign Ministry published a statement that criticized Iran’s response to the US-Israeli aggression and then withdrew it following outcry from grassroots and solidarity movements.

On Saturday night, the Communications Ministry posted a video stressing the importance of “controlling emotions and waiting for the right moment.” Though making no reference to the US exercises, it stressed that the priority is safeguarding “the existence and the security of the state.”

Since the January strikes, the Trump White House has exacted major concessions from the acting Rodríguez administration, including taking control of Venezuelan oil revenues, auditing its Central Bank, pushing pro-business legislative reforms, and securing the handover of former diplomatic envoy Alex Saab to face money laundering charges in Florida.

Saturday’s military exercises also elicited strong anti-US reactions on social media from Chavista and opposition figures alike. Writer José Roberto Duque, a staunch government supporter, urged people to paint patriotic murals and express their repudiation of “imperialist arrogance.”

Claudio Fermín, a longtime opposition politician, expressed his “outrage” in a social media message, comparing US forces to “cats marking their territory.” Jesús “Chuo” Torrealba, former secretary-general of the opposition MUD coalition, argued that the US actions appeared to be a “demonstration of military prowess.”

Edited by Lucas Koerner in Caracas.