Against the United States government's attacks on immigrants and countries in the region, representatives of Latin America’s trade unions, social movements and progressive parties are set to meet in Mexico City on September 27–28.
The is an initiative that was launched by Mexican unionists, social movement activists, and members of the governing Morena party, such as parliamentarian MarÃa Magdalena Rosales Cruz. It has since taken on a regional character with preparatory meetings held in various countries.
Luis Vázquez Villalobos and Humberto MartÃnez Brizuela are members of the conference organising committee. They spoke to Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s Federico Fuentes about its aims and their assessment of the current situation.
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Why are you organising this conference?
The Donald Trump government is seeking to reshape US dominance over the world. Its strategy is based on imposing tariffs and applying military pressure, two mechanisms it has complemented with racist and xenophobic policies against immigrants inside the US.
There is a direct relationship between the tariffs, which have been used as a tool of coercion in international trade, and the policy of harassing, detaining and mass deporting immigrants. Trump and his officials are attempting to turn immigrants into pariahs and attack the working class, their jobs and their rights, at home and abroad.
Yet while immigrants face brutal repression, capital flows freely across borders. This contradiction reveals the nature of Trump’s policies.
That is why we are organising the Continental Conference for the Right to Migrate, for Migrant Rights and for National Sovereignty. We believe it is urgent to contribute to organising a united mobilisation of the Latin American peoples, together with US and Canadian workers.
Which organisations are participating and what is the conference's main objective?
Participants include trade unions, parliamentarians, human rights defenders and migrant rights’ activists from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, the US, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Peru and , among others. Greetings from Martinique will be given via a digital platform.
have been held in most of these countries to strengthen the continental nature of the meeting.
The objective, as stated in the conference call, is to “analyse the grave nature of the measures the US government intends to implement, and contribute to defending the interests of working peoples’ and the sovereignty of nations.†Within this framework, proposals for mobilisations will be put forward and mechanisms established to continue the work we have started.
The conference will take place amid the recent deployment of US warships in the Caribbean. What is behind this deployment?
The Trump government has stepped up its, while imposing punitive tariffs, as in Brazil where 50% tariffs have been imposed to attempt to influence the court proceedings against former President Jair Bolsonaro. Despite this pressure, Bolsonaro and seven generals were .
Mexico has also been subject to pressure, with the US government declaring criminal groups “terrorists†and deploying troops to the border. All of this has been justified under the pretext of “combating drug traffickingâ€.
On September 1, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro denounced that eight US military vessels and a nuclear submarine, equipped with 1200 missiles and 4500 marines, were operating in Caribbean waters and directly targeting Venezuela. Washington accuses Maduro of leading an alleged cartel, the “Cartel of the Sunsâ€, which no one had previously heard of, and is offering a US$50 million reward for Maduro’s capture.
On September 2, the US Navy destroyed a boat carrying 11 Venezuelans in international waters. Maduro called the incident a “maritime murderâ€, with all evidence destroyed: the boat, the cargo and the bodies. This action has converted imperial military power into judge and executioner.
US officials, including the president, have used phrases such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “we will track and kill them†and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s threat to “find these people and blow them upâ€, evoking the language of Mexican dictator Porfirio DÃaz.
These operations seek to ramp up pressure on the Venezuelan government, which possesses the world’s largest oil reserves (in the Orinoco Belt) and has been considered an “unusual and extraordinary threat to [US] national security†since former president Barack Obama's Executive Order in 2015. What is presented as a fight against drug trafficking is, in reality, a military aggression against Venezuela.
Trump has repeatedly singled out Mexico as a possible target for military strikes. How has this threat been perceived in Mexico? How has the government responded?
The September 2 attack on a Venezuelan boat, in violation of international law, coincided with Rubio’s meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico City. The fact both occurred at the same time suggests a connection between the two events.
The threats against Mexico have been draped in talk of diplomatic recognition, but they are no less serious. Rubio’s demands include expanding US companies’ operations in strategic sectors such as hydrocarbons, electricity and lithium, as well as authorising US law enforcement agencies to intervene inside Mexico’s borders.
The Mexican people have expressed their strong opposition to these measures. However, political and trade union organisations that support national sovereignty have yet to articulate an organised response to these threats.
Sheinbaum has publicly expressed her opposition to foreign law enforcement agencies operating within Mexico. But the presence of these agencies inside the country is evident, as demonstrated by the kidnapping of the drug trafficker known as Ismael “El Mayo†Zambada on July 25, 2024, who was later found in the hands of US authorities in El Paso, Texas.
How do you assess the response by progressive and left-leaning governments in the region to the threat posed by Trump?
We believe that the governments of Sheinbaum, Gustavo Petro (Colombia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Yamandú Orsi (Uruguay) and Xiomara Castro (Honduras), which emerged from the people’s movements, have a historic responsibility to join forces against Trump’s aggressions. No country can withstand the pressures of US imperialism on its own.
The Mexican president has declared she will not allow US military operations on national soil. For his part, the Colombian president has ordered his country’s armed forces to reject any military intervention in Venezuela and convened an urgent meeting of Latin American heads of state and foreign ministers.
However, each government has attempted to confront the threats in isolation. The 9th Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), held on April 9 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, could not come up with a united stance of resistance. Even the serious threats against the Venezuelan people and government have failed to generate a unified response.
It is important to note that right-wing and far-right sectors are trying to take advantage of Trump’s attacks to regain the political initiative. So far, they have failed to resonate with the working masses or the public in general.
We reject and condemn the interventionist actions of the Trump-led US government, which seeks to legitimise military intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean under the pretext of combating drug cartels. Imperialism’s real intentions are to control the vast reserves of oil and other natural resources, as well as international trade in the region, displacing China as part of its global policy.
What kind of response is needed to push Trump back?
As the expressed at their preparatory meeting for the conference, no country can confront imperialism’s pressure alone. It is urgent to build a united mobilisation of the Latin American peoples, in alliance with US and Canadian workers and their organisations, to .
Opposition to imperialist policies and attacks on US labour rights is growing around the world, including in the US. Workers are organising in defence of immigrants, recognising that the fight for their rights is part of a common cause.
Our goal is, as Lula’s Chief of Staff Rui Costa has explained, to contribute to strengthening the struggle, from the social organisations, parliamentary forums and migrant rights’ movements. This struggle includes defending those seeking better living conditions or fleeing war, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, as we see in Palestine due to the genocidal Benjamin Netanyahu government.
All these topics will be addressed at the conference, where proposals for mobilisations and ongoing forms of coordination will be adopted for continental-wide united action, under the fundamental slogan: “Migration is a right, not a crimeâ€.