Second front: How a socialist cell in the US mobilized pro-Maduro foot soldiers within 12 hours

As the U.S. military carried out a daring operation to capture Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, a second front opened up within minutes in the United States: an information warfare, psychological and propaganda operation run by a hardened cell of self-described Marxist, socialist and communist leaders.

For years, this cell has fomented anti-American hate in the U.S. under the cover of “anti-war” protests, rallying activists after the 9/11 attacks to condemn the U.S. response, appropriating “anti-racism” protests after the 2020 killing of George Floyd, marching with Antifa agitators, organizing antisemitic campus encampments following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas and now activating “working class Americans” to support Maduro and his regime in a war against “U.S. imperialism.”

A Fox News Digital analysis of their minute-by-minute moves overnight reveals how this network activated a coordinated ideological and information warfare campaign, moving through digital social media channels with quickly-produced posters to mobilize foot soldiers to the streets for an “EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION” in New York City, Washington, D.C., and an estimated 100 other cities, moving with the speed and discipline of an organized military operation.

At 1:35 a.m., as U.S. special forces teams had just landed in Venezuela, BreakThrough News, a socialist propaganda arm of the network, published some of the first video from the U.S. military strikes, blasting the Trump administration for waging an “illegal bombing campaign of Caracas,” the capital of Venezuela. It was a talking point that was going to stick.

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Ten minutes later, at 1:45 a.m., one of the key leaders of this network, Manolo De Los Santos, executive director at The People’s Forum, a proudly socialist 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in New York City, echoed the narrative on social media of an “illegal bombing.” 

Less than an hour later, at 2:29 a.m., the ANSWER Coalition, a nonprofit co-founded by a proud Marxist, Brian Becker, published a red-siren alert on the social media platform X with a slick new poster, calling supporters to the streets at Times Square for a protest on Saturday to support Maduro.

“NO WAR ON VENEZUELA! STOP THE BOMBINGS,” the poster screamed, on brand.

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Minutes later, at 2:34 a.m., The People’s Forum shared the call-to-action, screaming: “EMERGENCY PROTEST”

Soon after, at 2:43 a.m., the Party for Socialism and Liberation shared the poster on X, saying, “Stop the bombings…!” 

Congressional lawmakers are already investigating this socialist network for its ties to Neville Roy Singham, a United States-born technology executive who relocated to Shanghai after selling his software firm and starting work that critics say is aligned closely with interests of the Chinese Communist Party. Singham didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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By 3:21 a.m., Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, a research institute chaired by Singham that examines issues through the lens of “national liberation Marxism,” posted a message, denouncing the military action, declaring, “Down with US imperialism.”

Within a few hours, at 6:09 a.m., CodePink, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, condemned the “terrorist United States…”

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From a military intelligence perspective, experts say the overnight sequence bears the hallmarks of a pre-positioned influence network executing a rapid-response operation. The synchronization of messaging, the staggered release of content across aligned platforms and the immediate transition from online agitation to physical mobilization point to an ecosystem designed not for spontaneous protest, but for ideological warfare.

In this framework, experts say, the nonprofit leaders are foot soldiers in Maduro’s war on the United States, acting as civilian operatives advancing the strategic interests of a foreign ideological project. Their role is not to fight with weapons, but to contest legitimacy, shape public perception, apply internal pressure on U.S. decision-making during moments of external conflict and further the cause of communism, experts say.

At the center of this domestic front is an international coordination structure known as the International Peoples’ Assembly, which functions as an umbrella organization and political command-and-control hub linking communist parties, socialist movements, activist organizations and state-aligned media outlets worldwide. One of its media arms, People’s Dispatch, has explicitly framed its mission as mobilizing global resistance against “American imperialism,” including repeated calls to action on behalf of Venezuela. It lists Singham’s Tricontinental as one of its “partners.” The North America members of its “coordinating committee” include CodePink, the “Popular Education Project,” an initiative of The People’s Forum, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Its Venezuela member is a group called Francisco de Miranda Front, which works closely with its U.S. allies.

At 7:49 a.m., the International People’s Assembly shared the poster for the “EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION.”

It quickly published a statement, condemning the U.S. military action as reflective of the country’s “increasingly militaristic and hyper-imperialist orientation” and calling on members to “resist this pursuit of hegemony by any means necessary.”

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The assembly operates in close alignment with Tricontinental, the SIngham organization that functions as an ideological production center, generating narratives, research and messaging disseminated through aligned media platforms and activated through street-level organizations. Singham’s wife, Evans, sits on the International People’s Assembly, tightening the operational loop between messaging, mobilization and leadership.

Experts say the ideological doctrine guiding this network is shaped in part by Prashad, who also serves as editor of People’s Dispatch. 

On the operational side, De Los Santos, executive director at The People’s Forum, has emerged as a visible field organizer. He is listed as a researcher at Tricontinental and has repeatedly appeared at regime-aligned events in Venezuela, functioning as a liaison between the ideological center and street-level mobilization abroad and at home.

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In 2003, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and then-Venezualan leader Hugo Chávez backed a new group in Venezuela, the Francisco de Miranda Front, laying the groundwork for an international solidarity apparatus that joined the International People’s Assembly, working with U.S. groups. That infrastructure matured over time into a durable support system for Maduro when he was elected president in 2013.

By March 2019, that relationship was well-entrenched when De Los Santos organized a pro-Maduro protest outside Venezuela’s consulate in New York, physically denying opposition figures access to the building.

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That month, the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Claudia de la Cruz jetted to Venezuela for a four-day conference of the International Peoples’ Assembly in Caracas, urging socialists to “collectivize” their efforts to fight the “capitalist crisis” in the world, according to a video shared from the meeting with the hashtag #HandsOffVenezuela..

“Venezuela is the epicenter,” she declared. “Venezuela is the personification of the anti-imperialist struggle.”

The next month, The People’s Forum hosted Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza in a talk where he demanded the U.S. end sanctions on the country, according to an article in “Fight Back! News,” a publication by members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “The evening concluded with Arrezea thanking the crowd and urging people keep fighting and protesting,” the article noted, adding, “Manolo de los Santos, the Executive Director of The People’s Forum, took up Arrezea on his request and called the crowd to action.”

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In May 2019, when a coup attempt failed, De Los Santos appeared on teleSUR, the state-funded TV network in Caracas, saying he’d organized a press conference with religious leaders in New York City to “engage in the battle of ideas” against “imperialist aggression.”

Two years later, in November 2021, Prashad and De Los Santos shared a photo with Maduro, all of them flashing thumbs-up signals, with Prashad writing, “Elections in Venezuela today!” He noted that he stood with De Los Santos and Maduro,  supporting “sovereignty against imperialism.” 

The next month, De Los Santos participated in a Caracas conference live-streamed on Maduro’s X account, speaking at the 59-minute mark, holding up a manifesto, “Plan para salvar la humanidad,” or “Plan to save humanity.”

He returned to Caracas in April 2022 for the “International Anti-Fascist Summit,” posting a photo with Eugene Puryear, a senior figure in the Party for Socialism and Liberation, further reinforcing the operational linkage between U.S.-based activists and foreign political structures.

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The pattern intensified the next year when De Los Santos and De la Cruz attended a conference sponsored by the Maduro government to explicitly preserve the ideological legacy of “Comandante Chávez,” their term of reverence for Chávez.

In late April 2024, Maduro even recognized De Los Santos as he thanked attendees of a conference of the “Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America,” established by Cuba and Venezuela in 2004 to unite communist economic interests.

This past fall, a wide network that included the Communist Party USA, the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party and the “Struggle for Socialism Party” supported an “urgent call for a week of coordinated protests” to support Maduro. Last month, the network took to action again, organizing “NO WAR ON VENEZUELA” protests.

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The newest overnight campaign to support Maduro will likely send foot soldiers into the streets to support Maduro and his wife during any trials they face, not just as an expression of protest but as a continued campaign of information warfare on the domestic front. 

Experts say the network that spent decades legitimizing and defending communist regimes abroad and now functions as a rapid-response influence force inside the United States in a new threat matrix that amounts to something the FBI and intelligence agencies investigate as malign foreign influence.

Its members operate as ideological foot soldiers, advancing a foreign-aligned narrative during moments of conflict, seeking to fracture public consensus, delegitimize U.S. action and apply pressure from within.

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By day’s light on Saturday morning, at 8:49 a.m., CodePink invoked a slogan used last year as a theme in anti-Trump protests, declaring, “HANDS OFF VENEZUELA,” and issuing a statement dismissing criminal proceedings against Maduro as a “sham” prosecution. 

By 8:57 a.m., the Democratic Socialists of America, which just saw its star politician, Zohran Mamdani, inaugurated as mayor of New York City, shared a message from Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a member of the organization, condemning the U.S. strike as “illegal.” At 10:29 a.m., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another member of the Democratic Socialists of America, chimed in, saying, “It’s about oil and regime change.”

On cue, at 1:06 p.m, Mamdani repeated the refrain established overnight by the socialist network that brought him to the mayor’s office in New York City, blasting the U.S. for the “military capture” of Maduro, calling it an “act of war” and “blatant pursuit of regime change.” 

The talking points of politicians, activist groups and foot soldiers in the socialist, communist and Marxist network in the U.S. echoed the statements that the two strongest communist powers in the world expressed about their ally, Maduro. China issued a statement saying it opposed the “blatant use of force” by the U.S. in Venezuela. Russia called the news an “act of aggression” against Venezuela.

By afternoon, within 12 hours of first hearing about the military operation in Caracas, the pro-Maduro network started churning out fast clips of their information war on the Trump administration.

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At 1:34 p.m., the social media team at the ANSWER Coalition posted a closely cropped video of protesters, holding the ANSWER Coalition’s distinctive yellow-and-black signs, chanting in front of the White House, “Stop the war machine!” The Party for Socialism and Liberation immediately shared the video.

A little over an hour later, at 2:42 p.m., The People’s Forum shared a video of Becker, the co-founder of the ANSWER Coalition, from Times Square in New York City, a camera filming him from behind, as he declared, “This is a capitalist war! It’s a rich man’s war! The kidnapping of Maduro is an imperialist war for a capitalist class!”

MSNow, the new name for MSNBC, reported from the Times Square protest and its reporter only shared a throwaway line about the ANSWER Coalition having a “speakers’ program going on behind us,” without cluing viewers into the group’s proud Marxist politics. 

Online, at 3 p.m., wearing a black-and-white checkered collared shirt, the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Puryear hosted a YouTube live stream, joined by Tricontinental’s Prashad and others. BreakThrough News promoted the live stream with a new piece of graphic propaganda, showing Trump with a mouth gaping open and Maduro with his chin high, appearing stoic and regal.

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At 3:02 p.m., The People’s Forum shared a video clip on its X account of De Los Santos at the TIme’s Square protest, a microphone in his hand as he scanned the crowd and railed against the U.S., calling the Trump administration a”criminal enterprise” for “kidnapping” Maduro.

“Shame!” the crowd responded, in a typical refrain for the group’s protests.

Back on the BreakThrough News live stream, Puryear asked Becker about the “quick turnaround” on organizing the protests.

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 Becker spoke about the night before, like a field marshal. “A few of us stood up all night last night when we heard the news, conferring with each other, conferring with other organizers and by 3:30, 4 o’clock this morning, we put out the call for demonstrations to happen today, Saturday, January 3rd,” he said. 

Between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., he said leaders of anti-Trump groups, including 50501, which organized “HandsOff” and “TakedownTesla” protests, reached out to the pro-Maduro organizers to join their protests and the protest numbers swelled with the “entrance” of the groups more closely aligned with the Democratic Party.

Now, he bragged, the results were protests in “100-plus cities.”

As the jet with Maduro and his wife touched down in the U.S. at Stewart Airport in New Windsor, N.Y., agents with “DEA” across their jackets boarding the plane, the caption on the live stream said proudly: “ANTI-WAR PROTESTS SWEEP U.S.”

“We should be raging!” Becker declared, stoking the “working class” to join the “class war, global war, anti-imperialist war.” 

The protests today, he warned, “are a harbinger of what’s coming.”