Black Agenda Report Special Issue on Venezuela.
The tagline “News, commentary, and analysis from the Black left” was chosen with great intent when Black Agenda Report (BAR) was founded in 2006. BAR strives to uphold the highest principles of independent Black journalism, internationalism, and anti-imperialism, which define the Black radical tradition.
As the world learned that the United States military illegally kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in the early morning of January 3, 2026, the Black Agenda Report editorial team committed itself to presenting the kind of analysis that our readers have come to expect surrounding events such as this attack on a sovereign nation. This U.S. violation of domestic and international law exemplifies the dangers that a rogue state presents to every country in the world, and as always, Black Agenda Report will be in the forefront of reporting.
In this week’s issue, we explain why the attack on Venezuela presents an existential threat to humanity, which requires those who refer to themselves as the “left” to live up to that name rather than succumb to the liberalism that is as destructive as any plot invented by the Donald Trump administration. We report that the Bolivarian Revolution still lives and reject any idea that the U.S. has triumphed over a defiant Venezuelan population. The idea that there was no opposition to the military attack is untrue, and Cubans and Venezuelans together sought to thwart the U.S. kidnapping. BAR rejects the lie that there is no revolutionary opposition to imperialism. We also present a long list of articles and interviews that have appeared in this publication over the years. While not exhaustive, it is a resource for anyone who wants information beyond what passes for news, but that is actually the work of state-sponsored corporate media scribes.
Beyond Trump’s screeching about oil, there is also a plan to rob Venezuela of its assets and resources, which must be exposed. Organizations such as the Black Alliance for Peace have expressed their solidarity with the Venezuelan people and called for the maintenance of a Zone of Peace in Our Americas. And, the political education project of BAR, Black Agenda Review, which draws on the long textual history of global Black resistance, published a 1982 essay by Manuel Maldonado-Denis on the continuing history of struggle for national sovereignty in the Americas and the people’s fight against capitalism, colonialism, and neocolonialism.
Of course, in this issue, we also continue to report on Palestine, Sudan, and the recent zionist effort to destabilize Somalia by recognizing a rogue breakaway region. Our effort is to emphasize Venezuela while continuing to provide internationalist news coverage.
Thank you for your support of our work and for giving attention to this special issue of Black Agenda Report.
Shannon Jones is a member of the Spirit of Mandela’s Peoples' Senate Coordinating Committee.
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