Ouedraogo Sampa Wendé, a member of the International Thomas Sankara Memorial Committee, expressed solidarity with the Venezuelan people during a gathering of the Landless Workers’Movement (MST), held this week in Salvador, in Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia.
According to Wendé, on January 17 the people of Burkina Faso mobilized to reject what he described as “international banditry that the United States is perpetrating in Latin America, especially in Venezuela.”
The activist linked the exploitation experienced by countries in Latin America and Africa, including the three members of the Alliance of Sahel States – Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali – to coordination by imperialist powers such as the United States.
“We are driven by the same ambitions, the same determination and the same commitment, and both in Latin America and in Africa we are exploited by the same imperialists,” Wendé told BdF.
Burkina Faso recently faced an attempted coup. In early January, the country’s security minister, Mahamadou Sana, detailed how intelligence and defense services dismantled a plot to assassinate President Ibrahim Traoré and eliminate senior government officials, with the aim of destabilizing the country and triggering an external military intervention in the Sahel.
In a televised address, Sana confirmed that the coup attempt, orchestrated by both military and civilian actors, was financed from abroad, specifically from Ivory Coast, where a recent transfer of 70 million West African CFA francs (approximately US$125,000) was made. The plot was dismantled on January 3.
Burkina Faso has been steadily advancing a process of regional integration alongside Mali and Niger through the creation of the Alliance of Sahel States. The initiative has a strong anti-colonial character and seeks to strengthen national sovereignty under pan-Africanist ideals, confronting resistance from former colonial powers that have historically exploited the African continent.
The bloc proposes concrete unification measures, including the creation of a joint development bank and the issuance of a unified passport for citizens of the three countries.
Beyond economic and administrative cooperation, the integration project also covers strategic areas such as communication and infrastructure, with plans to establish a radio and television network dedicated to the Sahel, improve air and rail connectivity, and directly promote regional trade and investment.
In the field of security, the alliance plans to form a joint military force of 5,000 soldiers with the specific goal of combating armed terrorist groups operating in the region.
This defense pact is reinforced by a commitment to mutual military support in situations where the sovereignty of any member state is threatened by external actors.
Against this backdrop, Wendé argued that Africa is experiencing an extremely difficult context marked by terrorist attacks, which he described as another expression of imperialism acting through its agents. “Today, Africa is practically under the domination of French imperialism and U.S. imperialism,” he said.
The MST gathering, according to Wendé, provides space for dialogue with other organizations, helping to forge ties and build militant, political and international solidarity between the peoples of Latin America and Africa.
“Therefore, we need a form of solidarity that gives peoples the tools necessary to confront imperialism and allows our states to live in sovereignty and full independence, initiating shared development with their peoples. Yes, imperialism operates in the same way in almost all states,” he stated.
Finally, the activist from the International Thomas Sankara Memorial Committee called on the peoples of Latin America and Africa to condemn aggression by Donald Trump against national sovereignty. “We unreservedly condemn this aggression and call on all peoples in struggle to mobilize in support of President Maduro and to strengthen the fight of the popular masses, who aspire only to live with dignity, honesty, independence and full sovereignty.”
