Artists and Cultivators from Mérida Reject U.S. Aggression against Venezuela

Published at: 12/01/2026 10:57 AM

Artists and educators from the state of Mérida, along with other cultural sectors in Venezuela and Latin America, have expressed a strong rejection of recent aggressions against the country, condemning the kidnapping of the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and the first lady, Cilia Flores, by US special forces on January 3, 2026.

Cultivators and artists from Merida expressed their repudiation of this serious affront to national sovereignty in a statement addressed to international human rights organizations, governments, social organizations and peoples of the world.

In this regard, they demand the immediate release of President Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who went to a prison in New York to try him on “false arguments”. Likewise, they reaffirm Venezuela's right to build its own destiny without foreign interference, defending the identity and resistance of the people, and so they reject the labels of “dictatorship” and “treason” as attempts to blur the legitimacy of the Bolivarian Revolution and fracture national unity.

For this reason, they called for solidarity and urged the international community and other cultural sectors to join the complaint to stop the aggression and bring back the presidential couple.

Below is the full statement:

The cultivators, artists, intellectuals, researchers, community scholars and creators of the Bolivarian State of Mérida, of Venezuela, raise our strong and firm voice in the face of recent events that violate the peace of our nation. Addressing international human rights entities, governments, social organizations and peoples of the world, we state that:

We categorically repudiate the institutional aggression and kidnapping of the Constitutional President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, and of the First Combatant, Cilia Flores de Maduro, for the aggression carried out by the fascist government of the United States, under the orders of the current President Donald Trump. This act not only represents the kidnapping of our legitimate authorities, but it also constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and of the popular will expressed democratically on July 28, 2024.

We also denounce the invasion and attack on heritage, to justify neocolonialism in Our America. We denounce to the international community the invasion of our territory, which has claimed the lives of Venezuelan patriots, martyrs of this new quest for freedom, and we warn of the destruction of library facilities and research centers, which are the lifeblood of critical thinking; of health centers, violating the fundamental human right to life; and of civil residential spaces, where they sowed terror in working families.

These attacks are not only against a Government, but against sovereignty and the Bolivarian Constitution that governs us. For this reason, we also demand the veracity of the information. In this sense, we reject the imperial media narrative that attempts to impose the stigma of “dictatorship” on our country and we condemn the use of labels of “treason” or “pacts”, designed to blur the legitimacy of our Bolivarian Revolution and fracture national unity.

As heirs to more than 500 years of ancient memory and resistance to the colonial yoke, whose identity was forged with the sword of Simon Bolivar and revitalized with the loving and political legacy of Commander Hugo Chávez Frías, we reaffirm that Venezuelans are a people of peace, creation and art. We believe in humanity and in the right to build our own destiny without foreign guardianship, because our work is for life, not for death.

Today, January 9, 2026, we demand the immediate return of our President, elected by the people to continue the project of Good Living, and we urge the world to advocate for truth and justice.

For the sovereignty of Venezuela, for peace and for our culture!

Let's defend Our America from Monroe politics!

Bolivarian State of Mérida, Venezuela.

MINCULTURA/Mazo News Team