SAN ANTONIO, Texas — While Venezuelan expatriates across the country cheered the U.S. capture of socialist strongman Nicolas Maduro, a small group of San Antonio socialists took to the streets Saturday to denounce the operation as “illegal” and “a war crime.”
Several dozen members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) gathered in the Alamo City to protest the U.S. military action in Venezuela that led to the capture of Venezuela’s socialist dictator. The predominantly White and Hispanic crowd of protesters voiced their anger at the action taken by President Donald Trump. In contrast, thousands of Venezuelan expatriates across the United States celebrated Maduro’s arrest and removal.
The PSL members and attendees chanted slogans, beat drums, and marched around the intersection of San Pedro and Basse Avenues for several hours late Saturday afternoon. The group chose the exact location where they staged an earlier protest against a law enforcement raid that led to the arrest of 51 members of the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang at an illegal nightclub nearby.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, the San Antonio Party for Socialism and Liberation has shifted the focus of its activities from pro-Hamas protests at the height of the Gaza War to protesting enforcement actions by federal law enforcement agencies targeting the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang and protests that support the now captured socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
In recent weeks, the PSL has also offered statements critical of the U.S. military actions against narco-terrorists in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean, calling the effort to stem the flow of narcotics and cut funding to cartels operating along maritime smuggling routes as acts of “open piracy.”
Shortly after news of Maduro’s arrest began to spread, the small chapter of socialists disseminated a protest flyer on social media that read, “NO WAR ON VENEZUELA STOP THE BOMBINGS!” The social media post described the military action, saying, “The Trump administration has begun an illegal bombing campaign of the capital of Venezuela, Caracas. The reports are showing the bombing is wide-ranging and indiscriminate. This is a war crime.”
As with most of the group’s protests, the event drew few attendees, given that San Antonio, with a population of 1.5 million, is the second-largest city in Texas. Despite the low turnout, the group did manage to receive some moral support from San Antonio’s progressive Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones.
A statement released on Saturday, Ortiz was also critical of the military action that led to Maduro’s swift capture and extradition to the United States. In a social media post late Saturday, Jones issued the statement that read:
The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the declaration that the U.S. is now going to ‘run’ Venezuela, all absent Congressional notification and sufficient justification of vital national security interests at risk, raise serious concerns about how decisions affecting U.S. national security are being made.
As an Iraq War veteran, I know that poorly conceived military campaigns can needlessly place Americans in danger, squander time and resources better suited for strategic efforts, and diminish the credibility of American leadership.
As the Mayor of Military City USA, I’m acutely aware that our community will disproportionately answer when duty calls. I sincerely hope our Commander in Chief and those advising him have thought through the consequences of these monumental actions. The American people simply cannot afford another reckless adventure in regime change.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
