By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The United States has faced widespread condemnation for a “crime of aggression” in Venezuela at an emergency meeting of the United Nations security council (UNSC).
Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Eritrea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Spain were among countries that on Monday denounced Donald Trump’s decision to launch deadly strikes on Venezuela and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to stand trial in the US.
The UNSC held an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the US attack on Venezuela.
The UNSC has met twice – in October and December – over the escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela.
In October, the U.S. justified its action as consistent with Article 51 of the founding U.N. Charter, which requires the Security Council to be immediately informed of any action states take in self-defense against armed attack.
Trump’s UN ambassador, Mike Waltz, defended the attack as a legitimate “law enforcement” action to execute long-standing criminal indictments against an “illegitimate” leader, not an act of war.
Waltz cited Article 51 of the UN charter, which enshrines the right to self-defence, and said the evidence against Maduro would be presented openly in US court. He described the Venezuelan leader as “an illegitimate so-called president” and claimed that millions of Venezuelans, including exiles in Florida, were celebrating his arrest.
“I want to reiterate President Trump gave diplomacy a chance. He offered Maduro multiple offerings he tried to de-escalate. Maduro refused to take them.”
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, warned that the capture of Maduro risked intensifying instability in Venezuela and across the region. He questioned whether the operation respected the rules of international law.
“I am deeply concerned about the possible intensification of instability in the country, the potential impact on the region, and the precedent it may set for how relations between and among states are conducted,” Guterres said in a statement delivered to the council by UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo.
He urged Venezuelan actors to engage in “inclusive and democratic dialogue” and offered UN support for a peaceful way forward.
The meeting had been requested by Colombia, which delivered a carefully calibrated rebuke of Washington. The country’s ambassador, Leonor Zalabata Torres, condemned the US action as a violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity.
Democracy cannot be defended or promoted through violence and coercion, and it cannot be superseded, either, by economic interests,” she said. “There is no justification whatsoever, under any circumstances, for the unilateral use of force to commit an act of aggression.” She added that the raid was reminiscent of “the worst interference in our area in the past”.
Russia and China, both permanent security council members, were less restrained and called on the US to immediately release Maduro and Flores. Vasily Nebenzya, Moscow’s ambassador, described the intervention as “a turn back to the era of lawlessness” and urged the 15-member council to reject the methods of US military foreign policy.
The Cuban ambassador, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, told the meeting: “The US military attack against Venezuela has no justification whatsoever… This is an imperialist and fascist aggression with objectives of domination.”
The security council meeting also heard from Venezuela’s ambassador Samuel Moncada, who described the US action as an “illegitimate armed attack lacking any legal justification” that included “the kidnapping of the constitutional president of the republic, Nicolás Maduro Moros and the first lady Cilia Flores.”
Moncada added: “No state can set itself up as a judge, party and executor of the world order … Venezuela is the victim of this attack because of its natural resources.”
South Africa’s , Acting Deputy Permanent Representative Jonathan Passmoor, said, “South Africa has condemn the United States’ military action in Venezuela, saying the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro violates international law and the UN Charter.
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of United Nations.