It is deeply shocking and profoundly disturbing that the United States of America, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, is alleged to have launched an aggressive assault on Venezuela, reportedly bombing the country, abducting its sitting President and his wife, and transporting them to an undisclosed location, while openly celebrating what amounts to a brazen violation of international norms and state sovereignty.
Even more alarming are reported claims attributed to President Trump that the United States intends to assume control of Venezuela, administer its affairs, and hand over its oil infrastructure to American companies. If true, these statements represent a chilling confirmation of imperial ambition and a reckless disregard for international law, national sovereignty, and the fundamental right of peoples to self-determination.
History offers no shortage of warnings. The so-called interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, resource-rich nations subjected to foreign military and political engineering, stand today as grim monuments to destruction, prolonged instability, and immense human suffering. These are not success stories; they are cautionary tales. To repeat such experiments is to ignore the painful lessons of recent history.
It is profoundly disappointing to witness such apparent contempt for international law from a country that once positioned itself as a defender of a rules-based global order. With the ongoing carnage in Gaza and the prolonged war in Ukraine already eroding confidence in international norms, the reported abduction of a sitting head of state would mark an unprecedented low. It signals a dangerous weakening,if not collapse, of the very foundations upon which international law is built.
This is not about defending Nicolás Maduro as an individual or endorsing his leadership. It is about defending the sovereignty of the Venezuelan state and upholding the principle that no nation, regardless of its power, has the authority to appoint itself the world’s police or to determine the political and economic destiny of another people by force.
The United Nations, regional bodies, and all nations committed to justice, peace, and lawful international conduct must rise to defend these principles. Silence in the face of such actions is not neutrality, it is complicity. This moment demands clarity, courage, and firm resistance. Anything less is unacceptable.
