National Nurses United, the largest U.S. union of registered nurses, strongly condemning the Trump administration’s illegal invasion of and regime change operation in Venezuela, issued the following statement: 

Nurses across the country are outraged that the Trump administration has ignored the Constitution and committed an imperialist act of war over the weekend without approval from Congress and without backing from our patients, working class people across the United States who are already struggling here at home to afford basic necessities such as health care, food, and housing.

Trump and the Republicans have spent the past year openly waging war on working class people here at home, gutting Medicaid, refusing to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that keep our patients’ premiums from skyrocketing, and proving that they “run” the United States to benefit only billionaires and corporations, all while they have prioritized spending on war abroad. Now, they want to “run” Venezuela. It couldn’t be more clear that, regardless of how one feels about Nicolás Maduro, this mission is an extension of Trump’s fascist allegiance to the billionaire class, as he brazenly declares that U.S. oil companies will now go in and control Venezuelan oil. 

The U.S. has a long history of interventions in Latin America, but voters have been clear that they do not want to continue on in the direction of imperialism and forever wars. After illegally invading Venezuela, the Trump administration has also threatened to go after Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, and Greenland. Our patients demand investment in building a healthy society here at home, so people do not have to choose between paying for medication or keeping a roof over their family’s heads, not investment in sending troops to invade other countries. 

In any military conflict, nurses are deeply aware that working-class people suffer the most. That’s true for the working people of Venezuela, who now may have to endure imperialist rule. It’s also true for workers and families in the United States, who are already stretched thin, as we are on the brink of a possible government shutdown at the end of this month. Nurses call for international solidarity among working people and demand the following: 

• A call for peace, starting with an immediate end to the war in Venezuela and an end to all military violence.
• Prioritization from the U.S. government on domestic policy and improving the lives of millions of working-class people here at home, who are suffering from lack of health care, inability to afford food, and housing insecurity.
• Restoration and extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies.
• A complete reversal of the over $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and other critical public programs passed via H.R. 1. These disastrous cuts threaten vulnerable hospitals with care cuts or closure, and threaten patients with inability to afford care, putting tens of thousands of lives unnecessarily at risk.
• A healthy society, with Medicare for All and more, defined by care, compassion, and justice, not by wars on behalf of billionaires and oil companies. 

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.