Harare, January 5, 2026 - The African Youth Congress (AYC) today strongly condemned the United States' aggression against Venezuela and the criminal kidnapping of constitutional president Nicolás Maduro.
This act did not occur in isolation. It followed a sustained and deliberate campaign of aggression against Venezuela, which included the blocking of its oil shipments and pirate confiscations by the United States.
The hostile actions escalated into a full-scale military assault on Caracas, which included the bombing of strategic installations and the illegal kidnapping of a sitting head of state, according to the statement signed by Taurai Kandishaya from the AYC Presidential Office.
The justification presented by Washington, it added, that President Maduro heads an alleged "narco-state" and has been indicted under US law, must be unequivocally rejected.
The magnitude of the force deployed, the use of military aircraft, and the flagrant violation of Venezuelan sovereignty clearly classify this operation as an act of war. Washington shamelessly declared that the objective of this operation was to seize control of the South American country's oil resources.
This admission, the AYC emphasized, exposes the true motive for the aggression. The oil belongs to the Venezuelan people, and it is their sovereign right to decide how these resources are managed and with whom to cooperate.
In a multilateral world, unilateralism is unacceptable, and the White House, it added, has no authority to act as global judge, jury, and executioner, nor does it have the right to prosecute foreign leaders or citizens under U.S. law, much less invade sovereign states.
The African Youth Congress demands the immediate and unconditional release of President Maduro and rejects the idea that Venezuela can or should be governed by external powers.
The declaration concludes with a call to the International Community to exert diplomatic, political and moral pressure on Washington as a deterrent against the criminal violation of international norms and the destabilizing threat to the world order.