TRADE unionists gathered in a meeting today to say no to US President Donald Trump’s war on Latin America and kick off the TUC Congress.

Opening the fringe event in Brighton, General Federation of Trade Unions general secretary Gawain Little highlighted how the struggles of Latin American nations have risen under the Trump administration and said it was the duty of the left to “put forward alternatives.”

He said: “Part of finding those alternatives is the solidarity we show and the learning that we take from the left in Latin America on the front line faced by US imperialism.

“We must stand for these movements and governments that are offering a better way forward.”

Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union general secretary Sarah Woolley said that international solidarity “isn’t and can’t be something that sits on the edge of trade unionism,” warning that “history should make us extremely cautious.”

She said: “When workers are being exploited, wherever trade unionists are being attacked, or people are being denied democracy, dignity, or the right to determine their own future, that is absolutely our business.”

Academic and Venezuela solidarity campaigner Francisco Dominguez spoke about the US’s interests in Latin America amid its declining market capability and internal structure, saying that one way it attempts to resolve issues is by waging war.

He urged trade unionists to “defend the national sovereignty” of Latin American countries.

The meeting came after MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Burgon, handed a petition into the Foreign Office demanding the government release the 31 tonnes of Venezuelan gold being illegally withheld by the Bank of England.

Venezuela Solidarity Campaign national secretary Francisco Dominguez and Labour peer Baronness Christine Blower also handed in the petition, which has reached more than 14,000 signatures, on Friday.