Filenews 5 January 2026
"Hands off Venezuela" shouted protesters at a protest held earlier, under draconian security measures, outside the US Embassy in Nicosia. The event, which was held in order to express solidarity with the people of Venezuela, was organized by the Pancyprian Peace Council, with the participation of AKEL, the Communist Initiative of Cyprus and PEO.
The participants held banners that read: "We Defend International Law and the Sovereignty of the Peoples Against the Law of the Strong", "Hands off Venezuela", "Peoples of the World United Against Imperialism Resist", which was the main slogan they shouted. They also shouted slogans such as "Imperialism is one enemy", "Long live Cyprus", "Long live Venezuela", "Long live Chávez".
The President of the Pancyprian Peace Council, Tasos Costea, in his speech said that "we are protesting here today, outside the US embassy and we raise our voice against yet another completely unacceptable development, a blatant violation of international law, legality and international security".
"The US military intervention in Venezuela and the kidnapping of the country's incumbent President, Nicolas Maduro, under the pretext of fighting drugs, is an act of international piracy and a dangerous precedent," he said.
As Mr. Costeas said, international law, international conventions and the Charter of the United Nations were conquered through the struggles of the peoples, on the ruins of two world wars, colonialism, social exploitation and fascism.
He noted that they are protesting outside the US Embassy for obvious reasons but also because the role of the US in the case of Cyprus was not much different.
"The US financed the destabilization of our regime before 1974. It is US agents who organized and supported the coup d'état of the Junta in Greece in 1967 and it is beyond obvious that they did the same with the coup and the invasion of Cyprus," he said.
He also said that foreign interventions within sovereign states in Latin America and around the world had and still have their starting point in the US Government and its local diplomatic representations.
Academician George Charalambous, in his own greeting, said that "the abduction of the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, by the US is not just an episode of international tension. It is a direct challenge to the very edifice of international law and the culmination of the insecurity that this directness causes."
"The question is not whether we agree or disagree with Maduro. The question is whether we accept a world where the powerful kidnap, subvert and punish as they see fit. If we accept this world, then tomorrow no state, no people, will be truly safe. Especially small peoples like Cyprus," he noted.
He also said that the defense of international law, sovereignty and peace is not an ideological luxury, it is a condition of survival and in this struggle silence is not neutrality, it is complicity.
The General Secretary of AKEL, Stefanos Stefanou, in his greeting at the event said: "What brings us all here at the protest event against the raw and blatant intervention of the USA in Venezuela and the kidnapping of the country's President-elect Nicolas Maduro? Our commitment to the principles of International Law brings us. We are brought by our dedication to the Charter of the United Nations, which is the main pillar, framework and measure of legitimacy of the international legal order."
"We are driven by our determination to continue to demand and fight for the principles and procedures of International Law to continue to be the compass and criterion of the actions and policies of all states, without any exception. This is the message we are sending from the protest event. This is what we are looking for, this is what we are fighting for and this is what we are claiming. Without half-hearted words and chewed words. We categorically state that no alibi, no claim and no excuse can justify any illegality," he added.
It is for this reason, Mr. Stefanou continued, "that we categorically reject views such as that the American intervention is justified because it was done at the expense of a dictator or to prevent - supposedly - the trafficking of drugs to the USA".
"It is more than obvious that the US Government acted with the aim of exploiting Venezuela's rich oil deposits and not to restore democracy in the country. If this were the goal - which again would not justify intervention - the US would have to intervene in a number of other countries where the regime is authoritarian and tyrannical, but they are close allies for the US," he noted.
It is well known, said Mr. Stefanou, that the US always tries to cover up the illegal interventions and invasions it has carried out all over the world, with fabricated news.
He also said that even the New York Times - which in the case of the US invasion of Iraq played a leading role in spreading the fake news about weapons of mass destruction allegedly owned by Saddam Hussein's regime - in an editorial accuses Trump of actions that undermine international legality.
In this setting, Mr. Stefanou continued, the hypocritical attitude of the European Union cannot go unnoticed.
"The European leadership avoids naming the blatant violation of International Law and the UN Charter. It is limited to generalized and meaningless positions. And on this issue, the EU leadership proves that it is not based on principled positions, but is implementing a policy of double standards. The sensitivities of the European leadership are selective and case-by-case, further undermining the already wounded credibility of the European Union," he added.
He said, at the same time, that in the face of the illegalities and aggression of the USA against Venezuela, the Government of the Republic of Cyprus must take a clear position condemning the actions of the Trump Administration, demanding full respect for the UN Charter and International Law.
"It is the least that the government of a country such as Cyprus can ask for, which is a victim of invasion, occupation and violation of its territorial integrity," he noted.
According to him, "the Cyprus problem is living proof of what it means to violate territorial integrity, sovereignty and UN resolutions. The solution to our problem is based on international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the relevant resolutions of the Security Council. If the logic that power prevails over law is allowed to prevail internationally, then the prospects for a solution to the Cyprus problem are seriously undermined, with the risk of imposing solutions that will be to the detriment of the interests of our people and the prospects of our country. In an environment of international illegality, peace, reunification and justice are being taken away," he noted.
That is why, said Mr. Stefanou, the defense of international law is neither selective nor circumstantial.
"It is a condition of survival for the peoples, and especially for the small and weak. It is a prerequisite for a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem and for a world where the law will prevail over power. This is what we stand for, that is why we will continue to fight by expressing our solidarity with the people of Venezuela against the threats and machinations of the USA. Expressing our solidarity with every struggling people and every country struggling against imperialism, for the dignity and rights of people and peoples," he noted.
After the end of the speech of the General Secretary of AKEL and the peaceful protest, a slight tension arose when a young man, who stated that he is from Venezuela, approached a woman who was taking part in the protest and who was holding a Venezuelan flag and wearing a jacket with the insignia of her country and after initially speaking in a strong style in their language, the young man turned to the participants saying that he was against Maduro. Thanks to the intervention of members and executives of AKEL and the Pancyprian Peace Council, any incidents were avoided.
CNA
