Lisbon, Feb. 25, 2026 (Lusa) - Around forty Portuguese civil society organisations on Wednesday demanded that US President Donald Trump immediately release Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cília Flores, and end US interference in Venezuela.
In an open letter sent to newsrooms and addressed to Trump, the 39 associations maintain that the US military aggression against Venezuela on 3 January and the kidnapping of Maduro and his wife "deserve the strongest condemnation" and "constitute a clear violation of the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law".
"We demand an end to the threats, interference and aggression by the United States against Venezuela, as well as other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and we demand the release of [...] Maduro and MP Cília Flores, and we urge compliance with the principles of international law," reads the document, which will be delivered on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. to the US Embassy in Lisbon.
The 39 non-governmental organisations, including the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC) and almost two dozen trade union organisations, affirm their "solidarity with the struggle of the workers and people of Venezuela and other peoples for their sovereignty and rights, in particular the right to live in peace".
"The threats of military aggression or pressure on other countries, such as Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua or Brazil, are [also] reprehensible, revealing the United States' intentions to impose its dominance over all of Latin America and the Caribbean and to exploit and plunder their resources," the signatories add.
For the 39 civil society associations and organisations in Portugal, for several years now, regardless of changes in its administration, the United States "has pursued a policy of interference and aggression - including the imposition of an economic blockade and the theft of assets - against Bolivarian Venezuela because of what it represents in terms of defending sovereignty and rights for the Venezuelan people, but also for the peoples of the whole world".
"What the US wants is to install a puppet government in Venezuela so that it can once again take control of the country's immense natural resources. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world and is rich in natural gas, gold, fresh water and various rare minerals of great industrial use, thereby undermining its social and labour rights, its development and its sovereignty," they explain.
In their view, these are the underlying reasons for the US attack on Venezuela, "and not any false and hypocritical" allegations of “democracy” or "drug trafficking" that motivate the United States with regard to Venezuela and other Latin American countries.
"Denouncing the attempt to whitewash and trivialise these unacceptable acts of interference and aggression in international relations, we demand respect for the principles of international law enshrined in the United Nations Charter and reject interference, aggression and war, including through the imposition of unilateral coercive measures and the theft of resources," the signatories conclude.
Among the 39 organisations are the Portugal-Cuba Friendship Association, the CGTP-Intersindical trade union confederation, Portugal's national teachers' federation, and the Union of Portuguese Anti-Fascist Resistants, who state that "solidarity with Venezuela, Cuba and all peoples targeted by US aggression" will be present at the demonstration scheduled for 14 March, which will take place in Lisbon and Porto at 3 p.m.
JSD/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
