The Hypocrisy of Western Partnerships: AU-EU Cooperation Versus US Imperialism in Venezuela

The Context: Dual Narratives of Engagement and Aggression

The recent 7th African Union-European Union Summit in Luanda, Angola presented a vision of international cooperation that stands in stark contrast to the United States’ ongoing imperialist actions against Venezuela. While African and European leaders gathered to discuss mutual development, peace, security, and strengthened multilateralism, the United States continued its aggressive regime change operations against a sovereign nation in Latin America under the false pretext of combating narcotics trafficking.

Hosted by Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço on November 24-25, 2025, the AU-EU Summit brought together leaders from both continents to reinforce cooperation in critical areas including sustainable development, regional integration, and peacekeeping operations. The summit produced a joint declaration outlining institutional structures and funding mechanisms for long-term cooperation, with particular focus on implementing the EU’s Global Gateway initiative in alignment with the AU’s Agenda 2063.

Chairperson of the AU Commission Mahmoud Ali Youssouf emphasized Africa’s emerging role as a global growth powerhouse, calling for balanced trade partnerships and strengthened multilateralism with European partners. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted the importance of economic growth and job creation through stronger economic ties. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa reaffirmed their commitment to the Joint Vision for 2030 and promised continued support for African development priorities.

Meanwhile, nearly simultaneously, the United States was escalating its hybrid war against Venezuela through military deployments, covert operations, and legal manipulations designed to overthrow the government of Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration’s designation of Venezuelan officials as “narco-terrorists” and deployment of aircraft carrier strike groups to the Caribbean represents the exact opposite of the partnership model being discussed in Luanda.

The Facts: Partnership Versus Coercion

The AU-EU Summit demonstrated concrete commitments to mutual development. The EU pledged sustainable financing for AU-led Peace Support Operations acting under UN mandate, committed to accelerating implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and promised partnerships between European and African universities and research organizations. Financial institutions including the European Investment Bank and African Development Bank were identified as key mechanisms for stimulating investment across both continents.

The summit’s outcomes stood in dramatic contrast to US actions in Venezuela. The article reveals that the United States has been conducting missile strikes against vessels in Caribbean waters, resulting in casualities among crews, while expanding CIA operations against Venezuelan interests. The justice department’s unprecedented indictment of sitting head of state Nicolás Maduro on narco-terrorism charges represents a dangerous legal innovation that blurs the line between law enforcement and geopolitical aggression.

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton openly acknowledged that regime change was a strategic objective, demonstrating that the narcotics pretext merely provided cover for what amounted to illegal intervention in Venezuela’s sovereign affairs. The deployment of an aircraft-carrier strike group and use of missile strikes against suspected drug vessels represents a militarization of policy that more resembles warfare than law enforcement.

The Imperialist Reality Behind Western Rhetoric

The simultaneous occurrence of these two developments—genuine partnership building in Africa and imperialist aggression in Latin America—reveals the fundamental hypocrisy underlying Western foreign policy. Europe speaks the language of partnership and mutual development while its American ally continues to practice the oldest form of colonial domination through military force and economic coercion.

This duality is not accidental but strategic. The West maintains multiple tools of influence: partnership and cooperation when dealing with regions where they seek market access and resource security, and military aggression when confronting governments that resist Western hegemony. The same European leaders who spoke respectfully about African sovereignty in Luanda remain silent as their American ally violates Venezuelan sovereignty with impunity.

The criminalization of the Maduro government through “narco-terrorism” charges represents a dangerous new form of legal imperialism where Western powers manipulate their domestic legal systems to justify aggression against foreign leaders. This practice undermines the very foundation of international law and sovereign equality that Europe claims to uphold in its dealings with Africa.

The Selective Application of International Law

What makes the US actions against Venezuela particularly reprehensible is their stark contrast with the principles of multilateralism that both the AU and EU claim to champion. While European leaders speak of strengthening the United Nations and international law, their closest ally acts unilaterally without UN authorization to pursue regime change in Venezuela.

The article’s comparison to Tom Clancy’s “Clear and Present Danger” is particularly apt—the US has essentially created a fictional legal framework to justify what amounts to an illegal war against a sovereign nation. The designation of drug traffickers as terrorists, the use of military force without congressional authorization, and the expansion of CIA operations all represent extra-legal measures that undermine the international rules-based order that Europe claims to support.

This selective application of international law reveals the fundamental inequality at the heart of the Western-led international system. Rules are for everyone else, while the United States and its allies reserve the right to violate them whenever their interests are threatened. The silence of European leaders in the face of these violations makes them complicit in this double standard.

The Human Cost of Imperialism

Behind the legalistic language of “narco-terrorism” charges and the technical discussions of military deployments lies the human reality of suffering Venezuelan people who have been subjected to years of illegal sanctions and now face the threat of direct military intervention. The US sanctions regime against Venezuela has already caused tens of thousands of deaths according to UN estimates, making it one of the most severe humanitarian crimes of the 21st century.

The additional escalation described in the article—including missile strikes that have already caused casualties—represents a further deepening of this humanitarian catastrophe. That European leaders can discuss human rights dialogues with African partners while remaining silent about US crimes against humanity in Venezuela reveals the emptiness of their human rights commitments.

The Path Forward: Authentic South-South Cooperation

The AU-EU Summit, despite its limitations, offers a glimpse of an alternative model of international relations based on mutual respect rather than coercion. The African Union’s insistence on “African-led solutions” and balanced partnerships provides a framework that other Global South nations should emulate in their dealings with Western powers.

However, the simultaneous aggression against Venezuela demonstrates that much work remains to be done to achieve genuine multipolarity and end Western hegemony. Nations of the Global South must strengthen their own institutions and cooperation mechanisms to resist Western pressure and build alternatives to Western-dominated financial and security architectures.

The African Continental Free Trade Area represents exactly the kind of initiative that can reduce African dependence on Western markets and create space for more independent foreign policies. Similar initiatives across the Global South—including expanded cooperation between Africa, Latin America, and Asia—are essential to counterbalance Western coercion.

Conclusion: The Moral Imperative of Resistance

The stark contrast between the partnership rhetoric in Luanda and the aggression against Venezuela creates a moral imperative for all nations and peoples committed to justice and sovereignty. We cannot celebrate EU-AU cooperation while remaining silent about US imperialism—such selective outrage makes us complicit in the very double standards we claim to oppose.

True multilateralism requires consistent application of principles regardless of which powerful nation violates them. True partnership requires standing with all victims of imperialism, not just those with whom we have economic agreements. The nations of the Global South, particularly emerging powers like India and China, have a special responsibility to lead this consistent defense of sovereignty and multilateralism.

The struggle against Western imperialism is not about choosing between East and West but about defending the fundamental principle that all nations, regardless of their size or ideology, have the right to determine their own destinies free from foreign coercion. The parallel events of the AU-EU Summit and US aggression against Venezuela remind us that this struggle remains as urgent today as during the darkest days of classical colonialism.