By Elías Jaua Milano – April 3, 2026“Loving what is most useful, inspired by what is most just, and aspiring to what is most perfect, Venezuela, separating from the Spanish Nation, has regained its Independence, its Freedom, its Equality, its National Sovereignty. Establishing itself as a Democratic Republic, it proscribed the monarchy, distinctions, nobility, privileges; it declared the rights of man, the freedom to act, to think, to speak, and to write.”—Simón Bolívar, Angostura Speech, February 15, 1819The Liberator Simón Bolívar and the generation that selflessly accompanied him in the War of Independence bequeathed to us a republican ideology that has inspired a good part of the nation over the decades following that struggle. Generation after generation, the torch has been passed, the flame that inspires us in the pursuit of a society free from domination, that builds the common good and where popular sovereignty determines our own way of governing ourselves, of conducting ourselves, of developing ourselves, a democratic republic. That has been, is, and will continue to be our inspiration. Not all attempts have been successful, but in each of them, even in failures, we have covered some path and gathered strength to keep trying.On January 3, 2026, exactly three months ago, at around two in the morning, Venezuela was militarily attacked by the United States armed forces, under orders from the current US government, in an undeclared, unprovoked, unjustified, disproportionate act of war, in open violation of Article 2, paragraph 4, of the United Nations Charter: “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”The foundations of the civilized world that were attempted to be built after the Second World War rest on this principle, violated that dawn. Thus confirms the report of the United Nations experts in Geneva, dated January 7, 20261, on the military attack on our nation: “These actions represent a serious, manifest, and deliberate violation of the most fundamental principles of international law, set a dangerous precedent, and risk destabilizing the entire region and the world … this unprecedented attack on Venezuela should not be seen as an isolated incident, but as part of a broader and deeply concerning pattern of systematic disregard for peace, international law, and multilateral institutions.”This military aggression, which resulted in a regrettable toll of injured and dead, entire populations terrorized, as well as the illegal capture of the head of state and his wife, irrespective of the political assessment one may have, we must agree that it also constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law, as also stated in the aforementioned United Nations report.The planes, drones, helicopters, and state-of-the-art electronic systems that violated our airspace, the missiles and other projectiles fired upon Venezuelan soil, in addition to the invasion by dozens of special forces, inflicted a historical grievance on a nation that has a tradition of peace, of fighting for freedom and independence, and opened the doors to more serious consequences for our sovereignty and for international law. Immediately, the current president of the United States and his principal associates announced a plan of tutelage over a sovereign state, under threat of new military attacks, which includes, according to their statements and actions, control over the commercialization of oil, gold, and other strategic minerals as well as the revenues generated; the administration of those resources; investment plans in various sectors, for which they have influenced legislative reforms favorable to their interests. Similarly, they have assumed the right to generate political and institutional processes that are exclusively the domain of Venezuelan popular sovereignty and to condition the foreign policy of peace and integration.This tutelage openly violates Resolution 2131 (XX) of the United Nations General Assembly, “Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty,” from 1965:1. No State has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State. Consequently, armed intervention and all other forms of interference or attempted threats against the personality of the State or against its political, economic and cultural elements, are condemned.2. No State may use or encourage the use of economic, political or any other type of measures to coerce another State in order to obtain from it the subordination of the exercise of its sovereign rights or to secure from it advantages of any kind.The violation of these principles is also confirmed by the United Nations experts in the report referenced in previous paragraphs: “The vast natural resources of Venezuela, including the world’s largest proven oil reserves, should not be cynically exploited through disguised pretexts to legitimize military aggression, foreign occupation, or regime change strategies.”Unfortunately, this is what is happening every day since January 3, 2026. In this situation that threatens the sovereign rights that we have as a Nation, as a State, as a Republic, we who feel and love this Homeland, the land where our ancestors are buried, are obliged not to normalize or disguise this condition of tutelage and to promote through politics, diplomacy, and international solidarity, the awareness and public opinion necessary about the duty we have to recover the full exercise of the sovereign rights of Venezuela.We must ensure that divisions, fears, calculations, and political ambitions, even the hatred entrenched in sectors, fortunately minority ones, do not overshadow the love that we owe our homeland, Venezuela.Only a national agreement that includes all sectors, currents, political and social organizations can present us as a cohesive and legitimate state that raises awareness among the international community and the democratic currents of the United States itself about the inadmissibility of this situation, which not only offends Venezuela but also the international civilization that we have laboriously built among all human beings.This national agreement must demand the rights and duties of the Venezuelan state:To govern within the framework of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela of 1999.To recover sovereignty over the commercialization and the revenues generated by the export of its main natural resources.To administer those national revenues based on the most pressing needs of the Venezuelan population: salaries, education, health, services, and others, as well as to promote economic development, under strict compliance with the fiscal control systems established in the Constitution and national laws.To promote and facilitate the reconstitution of the democratic political space that allows for a peaceful, democratic, and electoral regulation of the internal conflict, without foreign interference and with full guarantees for the exercise and enjoyment of human rights.To develop a foreign policy in favor of international peace and the recovery of good relations with all the nations of the world, including the United States, without coercion, without threats, under the principle of mutual respect.We must become aware that the only possible stabilization and recovery for Venezuela today lies in the full exercise of its sovereignty, based on these basic issues for the functioning of the country, which also facilitates broader strategic agreements among Venezuelans to advance toward a society where we can all live with equality, justice, dignity, and freedom, where all of us would feel sheltered under our tricolor flag.President Maduro’s Trial Will Not Bring Justice, but It Can Weaken US ImperialismThe greatest mistake made by our political generation was our inability or lack of will to manage the political conflict in a national and democratic manner. That grave error opened the doors to foreign interference that has put the security and dignity of the entire Nation at risk. That foreign interference has never pursued the well-being of our Nation, but rather the control of our energy and mining resources, and it took advantage of our irreconcilable disagreements to achieve it. We hope that is clear today for both friends and foes.This is not about avoiding responsibility: each person should assume their share, to a greater or lesser degree, for actions or omissions, in the context of this fratricidal struggle. This is about confronting that error that has harmed our sovereignty, and embarking on a path of amendment that would meet the demands of the Venezuelan family for peace, reconciliation, economic development, social welfare, political pluralism, recognition of our cultural diversity, and, above all, the preservation of our dignity as a Nation.We must show the world that the vast majority of Venezuelans do not accept being a tutelary state or a colony. To declare that we will never renounce our condition as a Republic to merge with any other State. We must declare that we reaffirm our Independence proclaimed on July 5, 1811, in which it was stated that we are a free state and as a free state, we have the right to establish our own form of organization and government. We must proclaim with our heads held high and with the voice of a free people that we want and have the inalienable right to continue being a state free from all domination.We still have time, compatriots, to recover the Republic. International law, our history, our republican foundations, and the understanding of the majority of the international community that shares with us the values of human civilization support us. It depends on us. Venezuela is first! (Horizonte en disputa)Translation: Orinoco TribuneOT/SC/