President Trump’s shocking operation capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife polarized the international community on Saturday.
Exiled opposition figures welcomed the overthrow of a dictator, while authoritarians cried foul and democratic leaders fretted over the precedent.
In Latin America, Trump’s critics condemned the U.S. military operation as a call back to American interventionism and disregard for national boundaries and legal sovereignty.
“The Government of Mexico strongly condemns and rejects the military actions carried out unilaterally in recent hours by armed forces of the United States of America against targets in the territory of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in clear violation of Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations (UN),” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum posted on X in Spanish.
Likewise, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva condemned the U.S. operation as crossing “an unacceptable line.”
“These acts represent a most serious affront to Venezuela’s sovereignty and yet another extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community,” he posted on X. “Attacking countries, in flagrant violation of international law, is the first step toward a world of violence, chaos, and instability, where the law of the strongest prevails over multilateralism.”
Lula said Trump’s action “recalls the worst moments of interference in the politics of Latin America and the Caribbean and threatens the preservation of the region as a zone of peace.”
Colombia’s outgoing President Gustavo Petro said the national government had mobilized to “preserve stability on the Colombian-Venezuelan border,” institute security and respond to humanitarian or migratory needs.
Petro said Colombia observed with “deep concern” the initial reports of the U.S. operation and said it rejected “any unilateral military action that could aggravate the situation or put the civilian population at risk.”
“Colombia’s Foreign Ministry must maintain open diplomatic channels with the involved governments and will promote, in the relevant multilateral and regional spaces, initiatives aimed at the objective verification of the facts, and the preservation of peace and regional security,” he wrote.
El Salvador’s President Nayeb Bukele, a close ally to Trump, was more cryptic, reposting on Saturday a July 21 statement attacking Maduro at the time as indignant following negotiations for Venezuela to accept migrant deportees from the U.S. Bukele’s July statement said the Venezuelan strongman had “run out of hostages from the world’s most powerful country.”
Venezuela’s opposition and other figures fighting against authoritarian regimes struck a celebratory tone.
Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, wrote on X that “the hour of freedom has arrived.”
Machado, who had secretly escaped the country last month to travel to Norway and accept the international prize, was recognized for her efforts to certify the 2024 Venezuelan presidential election and prove that opposition figure Edmundo González was the rightful winner of the contest.
While in Europe, Machado said she planned to return to Venezuela, but her whereabouts are currently unknown.
Other exiled opposition figures were quick to voice support for Maduro’s ousting.
“Dictators are not eternal — and today, it seems [Belarus’s President Alexander] Lukashenka has lost yet another illegitimate crony,” Svetlana Tsihanouskaya posted on X.
Tsihanouskaya was recognized by Western countries as the legitimate winner of Belarus’s 2020 presidential contest but fled the country at the time amid Lukashenka’s crackdown and claim to power.
“Today my heart is with the people of Venezuela. I hope recent events will bring justice, freedom, and the rule of law that Venezuelans have long deserved and bravely fought for,” she wrote.
Likewise, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha underscored Maduro’s illegitimacy, pointing to the Venezuelan leader’s reliance on Russian President Vladimir Putin as an ally. But Sybiha also pointed to respect for “principles of international law, prioritising democracy, human rights, and the interests of Venezuelans.” Kyiv has worked to hold Russia to account under international law for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022.
“Democratic countries and human rights organizations across the globe have emphasized his regime’s widespread crimes, violence, torture, oppression, abuse of all basic freedoms, stolen votes, and destruction of democracy and the rule of law,” Sybiha posted on X.
“Ukraine has not recognised Maduro’s legitimacy following rigged elections and violence against protestors, along with dozens of other countries in different parts of the world,” he continued.
“The people of Venezuela must have a chance for a normal life, security, prosperity, and human dignity. We will continue to support their right to such normality, respect, and freedom.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of committing an “act of armed aggression against Venezuela” and said “the pretexts used to justify these actions are untenable.”
European countries offered measured reactions, aware of Maduro’s crimes against the people and the global community but cautious in putting its support behind the U.S. for a military strike that risks undermining international law.
“Following very closely the situation in Venezuela. We stand by the people of Venezuela and support a peaceful and democratic transition. Any solution must respect international law and the UN Charter,” President of the European Union Commission Ursula von der Leyen posted on X.
Likewise, Spain’s President Pedro Sánchez, whose government had provided amnesty to González, the opposition presidential contender, called for respect of international law and the principles of the United Nations charter, but said Madrid was “conducting a thorough monitoring of the events in Venezuela.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot warned that the U.S. military operation violated international law and contributed further to the weakening of global institutions meant to avoid armed conflict between states and promote dialogue.
“The military operation that led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro contravenes the principle of the non-use of force that underpins international law. France recalls that no lasting political solution can be imposed from outside, and that sovereign peoples alone decide their future,” he posted on X.
“The growing number of violations of this principle by nations vested with the primary responsibility of permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council will have grave consequences for global security, sparing no one,” he continued.
“Guided by the lessons of history, France is preparing for this reality but cannot accept it. It reiterates its attachment to the United Nations Charter, which must continue to guide the international action of states, always and everywhere.”
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