AS reported in the Morning Star (M Star March 11), a US presidential order has declared Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” and declared a “national emergency” to deal with this. 

The seriousness of this situation — and the corresponding need for us to step up our solidarity campaigning — can be shown in the number of analyses in Venezuela arguing that the US designation may herald a military intervention.

“History has shown that declarations like this tend to precede military inventions,” Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez has said, warning that recent sanctions imposed on Venezuelan officials by the US administration could be the prelude to an “economic blockade ... as our brother people [in] Cuba have suffered for over 50 years.”

Rodriguez added that “the power whereby the US State Department and the Treasury impose sanctions on whoever is very broad,” and that “hegemonic interests are attempting to take control of the world’s largest petroleum reserves.”

Historical precedent would suggest that this type of declaration can precede military aggressions, as was the case with the invasion of Panama in 1989, as well as the one issued in relation to south-east Asia that culminated with the Vietnam war.

Ronald Reagan issued a similar declaration with regards to Nicaragua in the 1980s, when the US was ultimately successful in overturning the Sandinista revolution, and the small island of Grenada was also considered a threat to US national security in 1983 and invaded by US marines. 

Another relevant case, according to writer Atilio Bora is “Ukraine, where the much yearned-for “regime change” that Washington pursues ceaselessly to redesign the world — above all in Latin America and the Caribbean — has been achieved thanks to the invaluable co-operation of the European Union and Nato, and whose result has been a bloodbath that continues.”

He adds that “when a ‘rogue state’ like the United States — which it is because of its systematic violations of international law — issues a threat like the one we are commenting on, it must be taken very seriously. Especially if one remembers the persistence of an old US political tradition that consists of carrying out coups that serve as pretext for justifying its immediate military response.”

Taking such warnings and analyses seriously means that we need to add as many voices from Britain as possible to the international call that #ObamaRepealtheExecutiveOrder.

As you will see below, an amazing 114 national politicians have opposed US sanctions on Venezuela thanks to the lobbying of our supporters.

We are now collecting sectoral statements from trade unionists, peace and anti-war campaigners, female campaigners and students. Email info@venezuelasolidarity.co.uk if you’d like to add your name and visit www.venezuelasolidarity.co.uk to sign the international petition.

• Matt Willgress is the national co-ordinator of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign