Kamlager-Dove Statement on Trump’s Military Action in Venezuela

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia and member of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, released the following statement on the president’s military action in Venezuela:

“The self-proclaimed president of peace has once again resorted to war. After months of conducting extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean, this rogue president has just escalated his illegal campaign by carrying out military strikes in Venezuela without any declaration of war or authorization of military force from Congress.

President Trump has not offered the American people any clear strategic objective for a U.S. invasion of Venezuela except to take over its oil reserves. Trump has repeatedly lied to Congress about his intentions—an evasion of accountability that has led the U.S. into prolonged military conflicts before. These military operations are a return to the same failed playbook of Cold War-era interventionism and regime change that decades later still hangs over—and will now re-poison—U.S. engagement in the region. And it emboldens autocrats around the world who can argue that invasions are an acceptable tool of foreign policy. 

The American people do not want to be dragged into another war. The Trump Administration must immediately come before Congress to face accountability for the lack of legal authority and articulate their plan—if any—for what comes next.”

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