Sinn Fein's stance on Venezuela 'hypocritical and ironic' says MP as republican party denounces US seizure of Maduro
Sinn Fein has been accused of "hypocrisy and irony" over its stance on Venezuela.
North Antrim TUV MP Jim Allister was reacting to the party's condemnation of the US raid on the capital Caracas, saying that Sinn Fein is in no position to “lecture” anyone on violence and abductions.
Sinn Fein figures have denounced Donald Trump's incursion on Saturday which led to the capture of president Nicolas Maduro and the deaths of an estimated 75 people (according to briefings by US officials reported by the Washington Post and others).
Maduro was leader of the United Socialist Party and had been in power in Venezuela since 2013.
He is frequently called a dictator because his re-election in 2018 is widely regarded as fraudulent, as was his re-election again in 2024.
As the News Letter has previously revealed, a number of Sinn Fein figures have visited the country under his rule, including MLA Conor Murphy and general secretary Dawn Doyle who attended his inauguration ceremony in 2019 at Venezuelan public expense.
MPs Mickey Brady and Chris Hazzard had also made trips there in 2017 and 2018, paid for at least in part with Venezuelan money, which they then did not register with parliament.
After the raid, North Belfast MP John Finucane addressed a rally outside Downing Street on Monday night where demonstrators carried signs saying "Hands off Venezuela - stop Trump's attacks, oppose US imperialism" and "no war on Venezuela - no blood for oil".
Party chairman Declan Kearney MLA said: “This US aggression is deeply destabilising for Venezuela and the wider Latin American and Caribbean region."
Ex-MEP Martina Anderson posted the message "I stand with Venezuela" alongside a picture of her with the nation's flag, and foreign affairs spokesman Donnchadh O Laoghaire TD issued a statement saying: "The track record of the United States in attempting to force regime change by violence has been catastrophic for countries and entire regions."
He added: "The flaws of the Venezuelan Government are widely recognised and we share several concerns. But none of those concerns justify the attacks we have seen."
Mr Allister said: "The statements issued by Sinn Fein following the US actions in Venezuela drip with hypocrisy, irony and double standards.
“Sinn Fein are the last people who should presume to lecture others about bombings, forcible removal or detention."
He cited the abduction and murder of Jean McConville by the IRA, as well as the "countless other families devastated by IRA violence - violence which Sinn Fein continues to defend, justify and even celebrate".
He noted that Mr O Laoghaire had pointed to "flaws" in the Venezuelan government, and to his party's "several concerns".
“If that is genuinely their view, a simple question arises: why have several of their elected representatives accepted junkets funded by the Venezuelan state?" he said.
“Why were Sinn Fein figures content to hobnob with a dictatorship, attending events and inaugurations, after Nicolas Maduro clung to office following what was widely condemned internationally as a sham election?
“Sinn Fein’s record shows not principled opposition to violence or injustice, but a selective outrage shaped entirely by far left anti-Western ideology."
Sinn Fein has been invited to comment.
Soon after Maduro took power in 2013 Venezuela was plunged into an economic catastrophe sparked by a drop in oil prices, prompting about eight million people to leave the country (roughly a quarter of the entire population).
Maduro's reaction towards those who have remained has been authoritarian.
A 2018 UN report documented killings carried out by the security forces during protests, “high levels of impunity” for those security forces, the use of “arbitrary detention”, and the use of torture (specifically “electric shocks, severe beatings, rape and other forms of sexual violence, suffocation with plastic bags and chemicals, mock executions and water deprivation”).
Human Rights Watch has said his government has continued to "persecute" opponents and journalists since then, and notes: "The UN Fact-Finding Mission and the International Criminal Court are documenting possible crimes against humanity being committed with the knowledge of high-ranking authorities."