By Adolfo Pérez Esquivel on October 14, 2025
Adolfo Esquivel, foto: Bill Hackwell
I send you greetings of peace and goodwill, which humanity and the peoples living in poverty, conflict, war, and hunger so desperately need. This open letter is to express and share some thoughts with you.
I was surprised by your nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize by the Nobel Committee. It brought to mind the struggles against dictatorships on the continent and in my country Argentina under military dictatorships that we endured from 1976 to 1983, resisting prisons, torture, and exile with thousands of disappeared people, kidnapped and disappeared children, and death flights, of which I am a survivor.
In 1980, the Nobel Committee awarded me the Nobel Peace Prize. Forty-five years have passed, and we continue to work in the service of the poorest and alongside the Latin American peoples. On behalf of all of them, I accepted that high distinction, not for the prize itself, but for the commitment to the peoples, sharing their struggles and hopes to build a new dawn. Peace is built day by day, and we must be consistent in what we say and do.
At 94 years of age, I continue to be a student of life, and I am concerned about your stance and social and political decisions. Therefore, I am sending you these reflections.
The Venezuelan government is a democracy with its ups and downs. Hugo Chávez paved the way for the freedom and sovereignty of the people and fought for continental unity. It was an awakening of the Patria Grande. The United States attacked him constantly; because it cannot allow any country on the continent to leave its orbit and colonial dependence. It continues to maintain that Latin America is its “backyard.” The US blockade of Cuba for more than 60 years is an attack on the freedom and rights of peoples. The resistance of the Cuban people is an example of dignity and strength.
I am surprised at how you cling to the United States. You should know that it has no allies, no friends, only interests. The dictatorships imposed in Latin America were orchestrated by its interests of domination, destroying the lives and social, cultural, and political organization of the peoples fighting for their freedom and self-determination. We, the peoples, resist and fight for the right to be free and sovereign and not a colony of the US.
The government of Nicolás Maduro lives under threat from the United States, the blockade – just consider the naval forces in the Caribbean and the danger of invasion of your country. You have not said a word, or do you support the interference of the great power against Venezuela? The Venezuelan people are ready to face the threat.
Iraq, pediatric hospital in Baghdad, 1996 foto: Bill Hackwell
Corina, I ask you: Why did you call on the US to invade Venezuela? When you received the announcement that you had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, you dedicated it to Trump. The aggressor against your country, lying and accusing Venezuela of being a drug trafficker, a lie similar to that of George Bush who accused Saddam Hussein of having “weapons of mass destruction.” A pretext to invade Iraq and plunder it, causing thousands of victims, women, and children. I was in Baghdad at the end of the war, in the pediatric hospital, and I could see the destruction and deaths caused by those who proclaim themselves defenders of freedom. The worst form of violence is lying.
Don’t forget, Corina, that Panama was invaded by the US, causing death and destruction to capture a former ally, General Noriega. The invasion left 1,200 dead in Los Chorrillos. Today, the US is trying to take over the Panama Canal again. There is a long list of interventions and pain in Latin America and the world caused by the US. The veins of Latin America are still open, as Eduardo Galiano said.
I am concerned that you have not dedicated the Nobel Prize to your people, but to the aggressor of Venezuela. I believe, Corina, that you have to analyze and know where you stand, whether you are just another piece of the US colonial empire, subject to its interests of domination, which can never be for the good of your people. As an opponent of Maduro’s government, your positions and choices generate a lot of uncertainty. You resort to the worst when you ask the US to invade Venezuela.
It is important to keep in mind that building peace requires a lot of strength and courage for the good of your people, whom I know and love deeply. Where once there were shacks in the hills, surviving in poverty and destitution, today there are decent homes, health, education, and culture. The dignity of the people cannot be bought or sold.
Corina, as the poet says: Walker, there is no path, the path is made by walking. Now you have the opportunity to work for your people and build peace, not provoke more violence. One evil cannot be solved with another greater evil; we will only have two evils and never a solution to the conflict.
Open your mind and heart to dialogue, to meeting with your people, empty the jug of violence and build peace and unity among your people so that the light of freedom and equality may shine.
Source: Atilio Boron website, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English