Drop the sanctions, Return the gold!

by New Worker correspondent

Venezuela was struck by two back-to-back earthquakes last week. La Guaira – a densely populated coastal strip just north of Caracas has been declared a disaster zone. The death toll stands at over 2,250, with 40,000 feared missing. In the face of this catastrophe protesters called for the return of Venezuela’s gold at a picket outside the Bank of England last week. They were demanding that the British government return the 31 tonnes of gold stolen from the Venezuelan people and hoarded in the coffers of the Bank of England.
The Venezuelans were frozen out of their own gold deposits when the British government refused to recognise the legitimacy of the elections that returned Nicolas Maduro to the president’s office in Caracas in 2018. Today this is valued at three billion pounds.

Hands Off Cuba!

by New Worker correspondent

London comrades joined other protesters  outside the American embassy on Saturday calling for an end to the imperialist blockade of Cuba. The Hands Off Cuba demo was organised by  the British Chapter of the Venezuela-based Anti-Fascist International which the NCP joined last month. New groups and parties are joining the Chapter at the present time like IJAN, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, whose supporters came along with their banner for this protest. 
Venezuela has been at the forefront of the construction of an International Anti-Fascist movement which began in 2024. In its resolution of January 2025, the Congress of the Anti-Fascist International expressed its recognition of this effort and stated that, “Venezuela has been a beacon in the global struggle against fascism, imperialism, colonialism, Zionism and all forms of human exploitation and domination, playing a central role in the coordination of international initiatives aimed at building a new world based on justice, unity, peace, solidarity and mutual respect between nations”.

End the blockade now!

by New Worker correspondent
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Good turnout at last weekend’s rally outside the Cuban Embassy in London calling for an end to the US blockade which Cuba has been subject to since gaining its freedom. Also an end to Western aggression and attacks against Venezuela, where it is nearly two months since President Maduro and his wife were kidnapped in a terrorist attack. All these actions were and are illegal – where is the outrage from the so-called international community?
There’s been nothing, except from the Axis of Resistance countries. But when you consider that most Western politicians have no problem with the ongoing genocide and crimes in Palestine, a couple of regime change operations won’t make them lose a moment’s sleep. 
Nor will Ukraine where, sadly, Britain plays a more prominent role as a driver for more war and losses and a force against a peace settlement. The Russian intervention was reluctantly undertaken in February 2022 because of the immediate threats against the people of the Donbas and the longer term threat of Ukraine becoming the forward line of NATO and the whole country turned into an imperialist military base.
The conflict could have ended in April 2022 but for Johnson’s visit to Ukraine to personally persuade Zelensky to continue an unwinnable conflict, in line with NATO’s goal of weakening Russia at the cost of Ukrainian lives. The longer this goes on, more Ukrainian lives and the conditions for the final settlement will be worse for Ukraine. Sadly all these people are dying for nothing except Western shareholders, corrupt Ukrainian politicians desperate to keep the money flowing, and the geo-strategic aims of NATO and American imperialism.

Stop Trump’s Wars!

by New Worker correspondent

Protesters gathered  outside Downing Street in London, condemning the US strikes on Venezuela on Saturday. This marked the fourth such action in London after the American raid on Caracas on 3rd January. One of the supporters of the mass picket in Whitehall, the British Chapter of the Anti Fascist International, said it stands in firm solidarity with Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution and totally condemns “the complicity of imperialist Britain.The Labour government is an accomplice in this war. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has refused to condemn the US bombing and abduction, stating  he will ‘shed no tears’ and that ‘the UK has long supported a transition in Venezuela’.The former human rights lawyer was unable to answer whether or not Trump had broken international law. The Bank of England continues to hoard 31 tonnes of stolen Venezuelan gold in its coffers. The RAF, British bases and Ministry of Defence intelligence have aided in the seizure of Venezuelan linked oil tankers – this is imperialist piracy!
“This is not only a war on Venezuela, this is a war on Cuba, on Nicaragua, on Colombia, on Mexico on all progressive movements in Latin America and beyond. It is an attack on solidarity with Palestine, targeting the nations who have defied the Zionist genocide in Gaza. Labour’s refusal to condemn the US illegal action is not out of cowardice, but because they represent the interests of the British multinationals; Britain, like the USA, treats the whole of Latin America as a place to be robbed of its natural resources. This is also an attack on the ordinary people of the USA and Britain, who have far more in common with Venezuelan workers than they do with the ruling class of their nations. This is an attack on all who struggle to put people before profit, who fight for socialism, who fight to build a better world”.