Organizers of last year’s “No Kings” protest, are planning to demonstrate in Miami and nationwide Saturday night in opposition to President Donald Trump's attack on Venezuela.
They are demanding Congress block Trump from “continuing military action in Venezuela.” They also want Congress to impeach the impeachment the president and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth “for waging an unjustified war against the people of Venezuela, orchestrating a coup, and engaging in an illegal occupation.”
The protest is being organized by the 50501 movement. The name stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement.
READ MORE: Jubilation. Joy. Hope. Venezuelans in South Florida celebrate Maduro's ouster with guarded optimism
Miami’s protest will take place at the Torch of Friendship on Biscayne Boulevard. It is one of seven being held in Florida and among dozens across the country.
Protest organizers called Trump’s “invasion” of Venezuela “a transparent attempt to distract from the cover-up of his personal involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex trafficking ring and from his disastrous economic policies.”
“This is not a monarchy, and Donald Trump is not a king,” Sarah Parker, 50501 national spokesperson and Voices of Florida Executive Director, said in a statement. “We have seen Trump bulldoze checks and balances since his inauguration, and we demand his removal from office, along with those cabinet members who carry out his illegal agenda.”
The protest comes the same day the Trump administration successfully carried out a dramatic military operation that ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power and removed him from the country. Trump said the United States would “run” Venezuela at least temporarily and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.
U.S. operations on Saturday represented America’s most assertive action to achieve regime change in a country since the nation’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. The actions raise stark new questions about the legality of the U.S. moves under a broader campaign against the South American nation.
The middle-of-the-night seizure of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were being transported on a U.S. warship to face narco-terrorism conspiracy charges in New York, is beyond even the most high-profile historical examples of aggressive American actions toward autocratic governments in Panama, Iraq and beyond, legal experts said.
The attack came after a surprise U.S. incursion into the Venezuelan capital, rocked with overnight explosions early Saturday.
The Trump administration described the operation — and earlier deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea — as necessary to stem the flow of dangerous drugs.
“There is a profound human cost when the US carries out regime change,” said Logan Keith, 50501 national spokesperson and Iraq war veteran. “Donald Trump is killing civilians in a desperate attempt to prevent himself from facing the consequences of his own actions.”
