Editor’s Note: This article contains content relating to ongoing war and violence.
Less than 24 hours after the Trump administration’s bombing of Caracas, Venezuela, over 300 of Santa Cruz residents gathered at the intersection of Ocean and Water Streets in dissent. News of the bombing and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro broke earlier in the day, resulting in the organization of the Jan. 3 protest at 4 p.m. Demonstrations like this were held worldwide, expressing outrage and calling for intervention.
“I’m here today because I woke up and just felt sick to my stomach,” said Judit Moschkovich, a mathematics education professor at UC Santa Cruz. “This is not about the quality of any particular Latin American government, it’s about the sovereign right of the countries in Latin America to decide what they do.”
Various Santa Cruz community members gather at the intersection of Ocean and Water Streets. Carrying banners, homemade signs and American flags, they gathered to protest the Trump administration’s Jan. 3 bombing of Venezuela and subsequent capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro was captured by the United States Army Special Forces on Jan. 3, following U.S. airstrikes in Caracas, and is currently awaiting trial at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. President Donald Trump justifies the operation under claims that Maduro committed drug-related crimes, notably following a recent executive order published on Dec. 15 which designated fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction.”
Trump has also claimed that Venezuela stole and sold American oil assets. In a recent press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump announced that the U.S. will “run the country” and take control of the Venezuelan oil industry, calling it “a total bust.”
“Part of what’s so chilling about Trump and his fascist agenda is the way he’s talked about this,” said Dana Frank, former research professor and professor emerita of history at UCSC. “So you can see this imperial capitalist corporate agenda and who’s going to benefit from it.”
Jamie Cunin, a third-year UCSC student and member of the Woodstock Employee Alliance, echoed Frank’s sentiments and expressed a need for public outcry.
“I really want to be a part of this movement because we have to be a voice of solidarity in this moment,” Cunin said, in reference to the protest. “There are people in Venezuela whose lives are basically being torn apart because of this.”
For Cunin, hearing the news of the bombing and capture of Maduro was a wake-up call.
“I hope more students get involved with things like this because, living as a student, you’re very separated from local efforts,” Cunin said. “I want students to realize that their voice matters just as much as any other Santa Cruz local.”
By about 4:45 p.m., the crowd maintained over 300 participants, all of which gathered on short notice to voice their outrage against the invasion. Regardless of how the consequences of Trump’s actions unfold, it can be expected that members of the Santa Cruz community will continue to take to the streets.
