In the first days of 2026, the US government not only launched a war of aggression against the sovereign Caribbean state of Venezuela, but also kidnapped the elected president Nicolás Maduro and his wife in the form of state kidnapping. It borders on a “Wild West” mentality when the US government under Trump believes it can resolve political conflicts with such forms of vigilante justice.

Governments around the world—including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres—are outraged by this high-handed action by the US government. However, the messages from Europe are ambivalent. EU Foreign Affairs Representative Ms. Kallas feels compelled to point out that the election of the Venezuelan president was controversial. In doing so, she legitimizes this action by the US government, which violates international law. The US government cites “drug terrorism” as its “justification.” However, such an “offense” exists neither in international criminal law nor in American law. Nevertheless, the Venezuelan president is to be charged in a Washington district court.

While democratic governments express their criticism of the US’s actions, the “vultures” are already swooping down on their supposed “prey.” María Corina Machado, winner of the “Peace” prize, who called on US President Trump to intervene militarily, declares who should be the future president of Venezuela. Trump announced that the US intends to exercise governmental authority in Venezuela in the near future by them-self. It is clear that this is not about democracy and freedom for the people.

The FIR and its member associations strongly condemn this state terrorism by the US government. It calls on governments and civil society forces in Europe and beyond to speak out with clear political signals against this action by the US government, which violates international law. A solution to the conflict can only be achieved by non-military means and on the basis of negotiations involving the Venezuelan people.

On Sunday, two Australians, believed to be supporters of Islamic State (IS), shot and killed at least 15 people who had gathered on Sydney beach for a Hanukkah celebration. Among the victims were a ten-year-old child and a Holocaust survivor. The 50-year-old attacker was shot dead at the scene by police, and his son was taken to hospital with gunshot wounds. The two perpetrators appear to have been prepared for this terrorist attack at a training camp for IS supporters in the Philippines. It is remarkable that a refugee from Syria living in Australia intervened courageously, overpowering and disarming one of the perpetrators and thus preventing further bloodshed. We owe him our thanks.
We condemn this bloody act as an anti-Semitic terrorist attack. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.
However, contrary to some loud demands in the media, we also declare that this crime must not be used as a basis for blanket condemnation of Muslim people who have nothing to do with such IS terrorism.

With deep sorrow we learned of Delfina Tomás’ death in early May 2025, after she had dedicated her entire life to fighting for freedom and preserving the memory of those who had fought for it.
At the age of seven, she went into exile with her family and lived in very harsh conditions until she was able to stabilize her situation, which enabled her to pursue an academic education. In the 1950s, she came into contact with the International Federation of Resistance Fighters (FIR) and settled near Vienna with her husband Joan Lipp, a Mauthausen survivor. As a member of the Communist Party of Austria, she participated in its youth activities and began working as a secretary and translator for the FIR in 1959. Later, she worked as a translator for the World Peace Council. She met survivors of the Mauthausen camp, translated the inscription on the memorial to the Spanish Republicans of Mauthausen into German, and, after her return to Barcelona in 1977, maintained a long-standing connection with the Amical de Mauthausen y otros campos y de todas las víctimas del nazismo de España.
In October 2021 and at the FIR Congress in October 2023 in Barcelona, she was honored for her work and commitment with the Michel Vanderborght Award and as a member of the Honorary Presidency of the FIR.

We express our condolence to her family and her comrades in arms.

Oath of Buchenwald

Comrades!

We, the Buchenwald anti-fascists, are reporting today in honor of those murdered by the Nazi beast and its helpers’ helpers at Buchenwald and its outside details.

51,000 captured!

51,000 shot, hung, trampled upon, beaten, choked, drowned, starved, poisoned – hosed down.

51,000 fathers, brothers – sons died a torturous death because they were fighters against the fascist murder regime.

51,000 mothers, women, and hundreds of thousands of children are decrying.

We the survivors, we the witnesses of the Nazi beastly activities in faint anger saw our comrades fall.

If there was something that kept us alive, it was the thought: The day of revenge will come!

Today we are free!

We thank the allied Armies of the Americans, English, Soviets and all Freedom Armies who fought for our as well as the freedom of the entire world.

We remember at this position the great friend of the anti-fascists of all countries, an organizer and initiator of the fight for a new, democratic, friendly world.

F.D. Roosevelt. Honor his memory!

We Buchenwalders, Russians, French, Polish, Czechoslovaks and Germans, Spanish, Italians and Austrians, Belgians and Dutch, English, Luxembourger, Romanian, Yugoslavs and Hungarian fought together against the SS, against the Nazi criminals for our liberation.

One idea inspired us: Our cause is just – victory must be ours!

In many languages we lead the same, hard, merciless fight that yielded many victims. And this fight is not over yet.

Hitler flags are still waving.

The murderers of our Comrades are still alive!

The sadistic torturers are still walking about.

For this reason we swear in front of all the world at this Appellplatz (roll call place of concentration camp) at this city of the fascist greyness:

We will cease our fight when the last guilty person stands before the judges of the people.

The eradication of Nazism as well as its roots is our guiding principle.

The rebuilding of our new world of peace and freedom is our goal.

That is what we owe our murdered comrades and their families.

In demonstration of your cooperativeness with this fight, lift your hand in the oath and repeat after me:

WE SWEAR!

Translation goes here …