In response to a US attack on Venezuela that abducted President Nicolás Maduro and killed 80 people, Puerto Rico's Madres Contra La Guerra organized protests urging local youth to resist enlistment. The group, founded in 2003 amid Iraq War recruitment drives, sees the incident as a repeat of past aggressions using Puerto Rico as a military hub. Activists highlight the reactivation of bases like Roosevelt Roads amid escalating regional tensions.
Sonia Santiago Hernández founded Madres Contra La Guerra in May 2003, driven by her son Gabriel's deployment to Iraq following intense US military recruitment in Puerto Rico. The island, a US territory since the 1898 Treaty of Paris, has long served as a launchpad for regional interventions, including invasions of Guatemala in 1954, the Dominican Republic in 1965, Grenada in 1983, and Panama in 1989.
The latest escalation began with US strikes on Venezuelan ships in early September 2025, reviving the Roosevelt Roads naval base in Ceiba, dormant since the early 2000s. By January 2026, 15,000 US troops were stationed there, conducting the largest military buildup in the Caribbean since the 1994 Haiti invasion. Residents report constant noise from F-35s, V-22 Ospreys, and UH-60 Black Hawks.
On January 3, 2026, the US invaded Venezuela, abducting Maduro and killing 80, an event Santiago likened to the false pretext of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. "Once again, they are trying to justify their aggression under the rhetoric of narcotrafficking," she stated in a press release. Madres coordinated a demonstration outside San Juan's federal building with the Venezuelan Solidarity Network, blocking Roosevelt Roads' entrance for the first time in 20 years. Protesters chanted "Basta ya, No a guerra criminal" amid bomba rhythms, joined by drummers from Tambores Por Palestina.
The group's activism extends to solidarity with Palestine, with weekly protests outside San Juan's Israeli consulate since October 2023, and demands for reparations over the Treaty of Paris. Santiago rejects the term "remilitarization," calling it "reactivation." "They’re doing the same thing they always did. They were just passive for a while. But they never left."
Echoing Latin American "militant mother" movements, Madres emphasize revolutionary love. "Maternity is life," Santiago said. "War is death. We fight for peace." Despite FBI scrutiny, they persist, viewing Venezuela as a sister nation under imperialist threat, tied to shared liberation histories from figures like Simón Bolívar and Ramón Emeterio Betances.
Persistent issues from past bases, like Vieques' contamination—where cancer rates are 30% higher—underscore their call for decolonization and peace.
